Against Team
Lapid-Bennett, Israel
The Lapid-Bennet
alliance intensifies the danger that sovereign Israel
will finally be defeated by the Israel
The Lapid-Bennett alliance is a
win-win-lose situation. The big winner is Naftali Bennett: By joining with Yair
Lapid, the leader of the new settlers forced Benjamin Netanyahu to accept him,
won legitimacy and emptied the Israeli political center of all content.
A smaller victory belongs to Yair
Lapid: By joining with Bennett, the leader of the new bourgeoisie has become a
big opponent of the Haredim who attracts anti-Haredi people from all parts of
the spectrum.
But the loser is the State of
Israel: The Yesh Atid-Habayit Hayehudi alliance is making Israel Israel
will finally be defeated by the Israel
The opportunities that Israel
Diplomatically – Following the re-election of Barack Obama, Netanyahu knows he must move toward the center and offer the world some sort of peace initiative – one that is based on freezing construction in isolated settlements outside the large settlement blocs.
Politically – After the landslide in the elections, the Likud realized that the settlers have taken control of the party from within, attacking it externally and laying waste to it. In light of this, the thread that connected the moderate right and the far right has been ripped out. Within the ruling party, many people are emotionally ready to rebel against the tyranny of the settlements.
Personally – Netanyahu's troubled relationship with Bennett and Haybit Hayehudi MK Ayelet Shaked has created a situation where the prime minister would be happy to form a government without Habayit Hayehudi.
Thus, a combination of diplomatic,
political and personal circumstances has created a rare situation this year in
which the Zionist center has an opportunity to slash the Gordian knot between
the ruling party and Judea and Samaria
The danger of their alliance,
therefore, can be seen in three ways:
First, the new occupation in Israel Samaria ,
they are now liable to conquer Jerusalem
Second, the new occupation is in the mind. When the settlers succeeded in creating the impression that the settlements were a fait accompli, they made many of
Third, the new occupation is generation-wide. By blinding the eyes of many of the young people, the settlers made them feel like brothers and that the post-Zionist settlement enterprise was an integral part of Zionism. A combination of political, psychological and physical processes has led to a situation in which, 45 years after settling in the Park Hotel in
Both the opportunity and the danger presented by Bennett and the settlers have been laid at the doorstep of four people: Lapid, Shelly Yacimovich, Shaul Mofaz and Tzipi Livni. In the name of the 42 Knesset members whom they represent, these four people could make Netanyahu an offer he could not refuse: adopt the partition of the country or wither; turn your back on the settlers or end your political career.
But three of the four refused to do what should have been obvious. They pushed their own personal agendas without dealing with the clear and present danger of the country and taking advantage of this one-time opportunity.
By not forming a united front against Bennett, they served him. Now the historical mistake shared by Lapid, Yacimovich and Mofaz joins the historical mistakes that Yigal Allon made in
