Did Naftali Bennet make a Faustian Pact with the Devil in order to become Israel's Prime Minister?

 

Even before Naftali Bennet replaced Benjamin Netanyahu as Israel's Prime Minister, many in Israel wondered if Bennet's new "coalition' government was more a political  'oddity' than anything else. After all, the coalition's very existence was only possible because Bennet had convinced (or, bribed--see below) the Islamist-Arab Party, Ra'am,to bring its minuscule 4 Knesset seats to Bennet--in exchange for receiving an unprecedented seat at the governing table. 

Typically, in Israel, Islamist Arabs are not invited to participate in running Israel's government. The reason for this is self-evident--and that reason is not, 'racism': "Islamists" today are openly hostile to Israel. They question Israel's right to exist. 

Israel has the right to exclude such people from its halls of government. Why give any insider advantages to those who express such hatred of your very existence?

Bennet appears to have ignored this reality. He invited an Islamist Arab Party, Ra'am, to join with him to make his Premiership possible.  

Was this a 'Faustian' Pact? 

A Faustian Pact is an agreement with the Devil. If the Devil will give the petitioner what that petitioner wants, then the Devil will get what he wants--the petitioner's soul.

It is a dangerous Pact. In the end, the petitioner loses everything. 

Is this what Bennet has done? Will his Pact with the Islamist Arab Party, Ra'am, destroy not only his ruling coalition government, but his entire political career 

Bennet's coalition isn't yet two months old. But, already, Ra'am doesn't look anything like the benign Party we were told it was

We were, essentially, led to believe that Ra'am had broken away from the anti-Israel Joint List Party because Ra'am's leader, Mansour Abbas, was far more moderate that the Joint List. We were led to believe that he wanted to work with Israel's government, not oppose it at every step.

Once Ra'am agreed to join the coalition, Bennet reached the minimum number of Knesset seats (61)  he needed in order to be declared Prime Minister. Without Ra'am, Bennet would not be Prime Minister. With the Ra'am Party, he was sworn in as Israel first Prime Minister to follow Benjamin Netanyahu here.

Politically conservative Israelis were immediately concerned about Ra'am. Their questions about Ra'am were both simple and focused: would an Islamist Party inside the ruling coalition have access to such inside information about Israel's security arrangements that Israel's security would be negatively affected? What were Ra'am's attitudes towards Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon?  Indeed, would Ra'am actually promote not just Israeli-Arab issues, but Palestinian (and potentially anti-Israel) issues also?

 Would Ra'am remain loyal to the coalition's political agenda?  Most important, however, was how, exactly, would Ra'am react to another war with Hamas? 

Ra'am and its Islamism inside Israel's government were a new and unknown factor for Israel's governance. It was a huge risk for Israel. 

Did Bennet's decision to grant Ra'am 50+ billion shekel (the gift--or bribe--that convinced Ra'am to join the coalition) constitute a 'Pact with the Devil'? Would that Pact lead to disaster for both Bennet and Israel?

Bennet almost did not become PM--because one of Ra'am's MK's abstained in the vote that made Bennet PM. That abstention meant that Bennet became PM with just a razor-thin 60-59 vote. You couldn't make that vote any closer.

That almost-loss happened because one MK from Ra'am refused to vote. If another Ra'am MK's had abstained, the Knesset vote would for the PM would have 59-59. Bennet would not be PM today. 

Ra'am is powerful. It is certainly far more powerful than its minuscule 4 Knesset seats might ordinarily suggest. 

Why is it so powerful? It has the power  to collapse this coalition--easily. It is a power it seems willing to use.

The original Deal (Devil's Pact?) with Ra'am committed Bennet to do at least two things for Ra'am. First, it committed Bennet to grant to Ra'am 50+ billion shekel--for "development" within Israel's Arab-Israeli community. 

This was unprecedented. 50+ billion? 

How, exactly, would that money would be used? Would there be any accountability for its use? Why that specific amount? For what was it to be allocated?

No one had answers for these questions. Bennet didn't help. He revealed very little about this 50 billion. 

So the question was, was the amount agreed to actually the result of a selfish but irresponsible decision, or not? No one knew. The details of the deal were not revealed. It was not a transparent decision. 

The second commitment Bennet promised to Ra'am was, potentially, dangerous. It was the promise to grant to the Islamist Ra'am Party control over Bedouin affairs in Israel, including, most important, in the Negev. 

Bedouin behavior in the Negev has been deteriorating for decades. Bad behavior by Negev Bedouin had become so bad that the IDF had been forced recently to cancel army training maneuvers in the Negev because of ongoing Bedouin lawlessness and brazenness. By teaming up with Ra'am, had Bennet abandoned Israeli control of the Negev to Islamists? Would Israeli security be compromised by such a decision? Would Ra'am ever attempt to ban the IDF from the Negrev?

To illustrate the potential dangers of Bedouin behavior. A wealthy Bedouin has recently been arrested for sharing intelligence with Iran, especially intelligence regarding "the whereabouts of Defense Minister Gantz" (here).

This was a serious security breach. Israel's security apparatus is believed to have already used targeted killings in Iran. Sharing real-time information about Israel's Defense Minister's whereabouts might entice Iran to try its own targeted killing--of Israel's Defense Minister. 

By the way, do you know why that one MK from the Ra'am Party did not vote for Bennet in the vote that made Bennet PM (see above)? That Ra'am MK, a Bedouin, was angry because Israel had scheduled to demolish some illegal Bedouin housing in the Negev.  His abstention was a message: he would not vote at all in the Knesset (to help the coalition achieve its political agenda) until the new government stopped all demolitions of illegal Bedouin housing in the Negev. He even suggested he was willing to vote against the coalition until that happened.

For a month after that declaration, the government did not act against that Bedouin housing problem. It simply stalled all decisions about Bedouin housing in the Negev. 

But now, a month later, that arrangement has ended. Now, Israel has stated publicly that there will be no new demolition of Bedouin housing in the Negev for one month, until negotiations with Bedouins could begin (here, here). The goal, it was suggested, was to resolve Bedouin housing issues now.

To put even more pressure on the coalition government, a Ra'am MK has in the meantime declared that, should Israel attack Gaza, he will "collapse the government" (here).

That would be fun  to watch, right? Think about that scenario: Hamas again starts firing rockets into Israel, Israel orders the IDf to attack Gaza--and Ra'am pulls out of the coalition, thereby ending Bennet's coalition rule just when stability is desired (during war with Hamas)--and instantly creating the need for another election?

How do you think that would be received by Israel's voters? Not well, I assure you. 

Just days ago, Ra'am has also declared that all of the Temple Mount--all 144 dunams of it--is called, the Al Aqsa Mosque (here). Then, echoing what Islamist Hamas has said many times, Ra'am  stated that all of the Temple Mount "belongs only to Muslims" (ibid).

This is a dangerous statement because it suggests that both  Hamas and Ra'am may in fact operate under the same ideological umbrella. Was this who Bennet had invited to Israel's governing table--Israel's sworn enemy? 

It is nearly impossible for a person who has made a Pact with the Devil to remain uncorrupted by the Devil. Will Bennet be corrupted by his Pact with Ra'am? Has he already been corrupted? 

Stay tuned. Watch Israel's news. Perhaps one day you will find out who has determined the fate of Bennet's coalition.

Israel's first Tisha B'Av was a day of historic tragedy; do American Jews see their own historic tragedy developing?

 

Most readers of this blog, I would guess, know what Tisha B'Av represents: a commemoration of the destruction of Israel's two Holy Temples. These two Temples, while separated in time by more than 400 years, were nevertheless both destroyed on the same day--the ninth day of the Hebrew month, Av; or, to use the Hebrew term, on Tisha [the ninth] B'Av [of Av].

Other calamities have appeared in Jewish histories on this same day. But the main calamity was the destruction of our two Temples. 

Many, however, do not know about Israel's very first 'ninth of Av'. That day was indeed a true 'Day of Infamy' for Israel because it changed Israel's Destiny, forever. Do you know what that day was, and what happened on that day?

Israel's first Tisha B'Av, our Talmud tells us (in Tractate Taanit, p. 29a), is linked to the incident of 'the spies', in our Torah (in Bamidbar [Numbers], chapters 13-14). In this incident, the Jewish people (referred to here as 'Israel') were on the verge of entering the land of Israel for the first time. Moshe, their leader, had sent spies to reconnoiter the land. The spies returned to Moshe on the ninth of Av, and gave a report to him and to his brother Aaron before the entire assembly of Israel.  

Twelve men had been chosen for this mission, one from each of the twelve tribes. These men weren't just any men. They were leaders. Each man was important to his tribe.

Their mission had taken 40 days. Now, the ninth of AV, they gave their report.

They began with a positive message. They reported that the land "flows with milk and honey". To prove their point, they presented a heavy cluster of grapes they had picked.

Yes, their message was clear. This land was indeed good. It was fertile. It had much to offer. 

But it was what they said next that changed Israel's Destiny--forever. The tragedy on that first ninth of Av (literally, Tisha B'Av) began with a single, simple word. After giving a brief report on how good the land was, they said, "But". 

They said, 'but' the people in this land are powerful. Their cities are fortified. The cities are great. The spies even reported that they had seen offspring of "the giant". 

Remember now, these men, along with all of Israel, had been promised this land by G-d. G-d had taken this people out of slavery. He had brought them to the very edge of this land. This is to say that G-d had made a Promise; and He had kept that Promise.

But the people's faith in that Promise failed them. The spies were frightened. The people heard their fear and they became frightened. They cried out in anguish, essentially crying, 'what have you done to us?' 

These people had seen G-d do the impossible--take them out of slavery and defeat what was arguable the best army in the world, at the Red Sea. They had even seen G-d split the Red Sea for them.

G-d had protected them in their travels. He had done everything one could have imagined for them. But these people now lost their faith in Him--and that is what changed Israel's Destiny.

Many say that faith is powerful. It is. It can move mountains. The loss of faith is just as powerful. Perhaps even more powerful. A loss of faith can destroy. It can destroy everything: it can change the course of history.

Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik says that, if Israel had not lost its faith at this moment, everything in Jewish history would have been different: Moshe would have immediately led Israel into the land. Moshe would "in effect" have become the Jewish Moshiach (Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik, Chumash Mesoras HaRav, Sefer Devarim, the Neuwirth Edition,the OU Press, p. 11). Plus, "Israel's possession of the land and the Temple would have been permanent, with no destruction and no subsequent exiles" (ibid).

Permanent Redemption: what a concept for the Jewish people! It meant permanent peace permanent good fortune and permanent security. 

It had all been theirs. This incredible gift from G-d was at their fingertips, proverbially close enough to touch. Israel was set to achieve its Destiny. All the people needed to do was to believe in HaShem--and enter the land. Period. 

But they had lost their faith. Fear had done them in. With that fear, they turned against G-d. Fear made them forget their faith.

In essence, their fear caused them to reject G-d--and His Promise. 

Think about that loss. Think about all the destructions Jews have experienced--all the massacres, the pogroms, the anti-Semitism and all the raw Jew-hate we see even--or, especially--today. 

There would have been no Holocaust. If the Jews had gone into the land back then, there would today be no Arabs throwing stones at Jews on the Temple Mount (here); no Arab accusations that Jews ascending to the Temple Mount on Tisha B'Av was a "dangerous escalation" and a "serious threat to security" (here). There would be no Arab declarations that the entire Temple Mount area--all 35+ acres/144 dunams of it--belong to Muslims, and to no one else (here).

None of these things would have happened. Jewish history would have been completely different.

The tragedy of this 'spy' incident is that it wasn't foisted upon the Jewish people by outsiders or by war. It was brought upon the Jewish people themselves. Worse, it had been created and led by Jewish leaders--because of their fear and their own loss of faith.

Jewish leaders (the spies were 'Jewish leaders') created that first Tisha B'AV tragedy. Do we now see another historic Jewish tragedy, one perhaps again led and fostered by Jewish leaders--in 2021 America? 

Perhaps. In the week leading up to Tisha B'Av, 2021, we saw a new US survey revealing that 25% of American Jewish respondents believe that modern Israel is an Apartheid State (a hoax if ever there was one) (here). Among American Jews under 40, 20% agreed with the statement. "Israel doesn't have the right to exist" (ibid)--and one third of these under-40 Jews agree that Israel commits genocide (another hoax) (ibid).

Have America's Jews lost their faith? Are their Jewish leaders at fault?

Maybe. Right now in America, some 38% of Jews do not feel any emotional attachment at all to Israel (ibid). How did that happen? 

Since a belief in Israel is fundamental to Judaism, these poll numbers suggest that a high percent of American Jews may in fact be removing themselves from Judaism. It's not an idle thought. Other American polls have already suggested that Jews in America increasingly raise their children with no faith at all. How did that happen? 

More important, where will that loss of faith lead? 

American Jews leave behind their religion because they choose to  assimilate. Assimilation is a religious cancer. It will lead to the death of Judaism in America. 

Kill off Judaism in America, and Jews disappear. It's that simple. That's the developing tragedy we see in America. Has the Jewish people's sojourn in America ended? 

On top of assimilation--but related to assimilation--almost 90% of American Jews are concerned about a growing antisemitism in America. Why is it that, as assimilation increases, antisemitism increases? 

I do not know the answer to this question. But I do know this: as assimilation and antisemitism in America increase, Jewish fear increases; and as Jewish fear increases, the prospects in America for a thriving Jewish community decreases. 

Do American Jews even care about what assimilation and antisemitism mean to them? I don't know if they care. But if they don't care, then they are done as 'Jews'. They will be lost.

Where are America's Jewish leaders? Do they care about the fear and the loss of faith among US Jews?

Tisha B'Av is all about Jewish tragedies. This Tisha B'Av, there is a clear American Jewish tragedy developing in America. Will America's Jews see this tragedy unfolding? 

Chances are, no--they will not see it. Maybe it's time for US Jews to leave what looks increasingly like a sinking ship. Maybe it's time they make aliyah.

Will they? You tell me.

Have an easy fast.

This is how those "evil Zionist Israelis" deal with the oppressed Palestinian people

 

Today, I present to you the contents of a short speech given by a man who identifies himself as a Palestinian. I do not know when, exactly, this man gave this speech. But it was uploaded to youtube in February, 2020.

This man speaks to a gathering of the EU Parliament.  He speaks about the oppression of the Palestinian people.

This speech is short, only about 4 minutes long. It is a speech you should hear. It is a speech you should remember.

After a brief introduction, the speaker begins the main text of his speech by declaring that “The Palestinian people are the Chosen People of the European Parliament. People in the European Parliament love the Palestinians. They care for them. They dream about us in their sleep. How beautiful! They care about how we are oppressed by the evil Zionist Israelis”.

Then, he changes direction. Unexpectedly, he says this…

                                                                   

In this speech, this Arab says, yes, "the people of the European Parliament care about how the Palestinians are oppressed by the evil Zionist Israelis, while, in fact, those evil Zionist Israelis are the ones giving us jobs, while Lebanon bans us from all forms of jobs....most of you are seeking to destroy the only source of income and stability that we have, which is the Israeli Jewish State".  

The words of this man represent the dirty, hidden truth about Palestinian life that Palestinians know. Palestinians are oppressed, all right. But not by Israelis. Palestinians get good-paying jobs, all right, but mostly not from anyone in the Palestinian Authority. Rather, they get those kinds of jobs only from Israel.

But, worst of all, Palestinians are forced to live under an tyrannical regime called the Palestinian Authority. They are ruled by a tinpot despot, Mahmoud Abbas—who serves, by the way, in the 16th year of what was supposed to have been a four-year term.

Abbas is a tyrant. He rules with an iron fist. He lies. His henchmen kill his own people. His henchmen torture his own people. He steals from his own people. He lies about the Jewish State in order to incite riots against Israel, so as to deflect riots against himself.

What can an Israeli Jew say about such a neighbor? Perhaps it is best only to say, may it be G-d's will that Americans and Europeans hear this man’s message, and begin to listen to his words.

Truly, may it be G-d’s will that Americans and Europeans actually begin to act on this man’s call for a change that begins with helping Israel, not a tyrannical Palestinian Authority. 

In time, more brave Palestinians will speak up. That is inevitable. Many who do so will suffer. But, in time, that suffering won’t matter to them because they will know that speaking up may be the only road to their own salvation.

The only question is, will the West’s mainstream media (and the elites who work for and support that media) print what these Palestinians will say? Will the West answer their calls for help?

Don‘t hold your breath. The West’s elites who control both Western media and culture do not care about anyone in the Middle East, Arab or Jew. These Western elites call themselves Liberal Humanitarians. Apparently, that means the only thing they care about is racism.

Ilhan Omar, the "Squad" and one Palestinian named, Bassam Eid

 

On June 30, 2021, I published an essay for this blog to ask a question: who oppresses Palestinians, Israeli Jews or the world's "Progressives"? (here). App 18 hours later, Palestinian-born Bassam Eid published his own version of this topic (here). The title of his essay was, "It's time Illhan Omar and "the Squad" learned the truth about Israel and Hamas". 

Mr Eid was born in a Palestinian refuge camp. He reads, writes and speaks Arabic, English and Hebrew. He knows how Palestinians live. He knows how--and why-they suffe 

 I want to tell you about his essay because, while I feel I can comfortably write about the human rights violations--and lies--of the Palestinian Authority (PA), it is quite another thing to hear the same thing from a native-born Palestinian 

After a brief introduction, Mr Eid turns his attention to his  essay's real subject. He begins with,

"Politicians like Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez spend a considerable amount of time attacking Israel for the supposed harm it inflicts on Palestinian Arabs. If they truly care about the wellbeing (sic) of Palestinians, they ought to focus their attention elsewhere. These days, the vast majority of suffering Palestinians experience is the direct result of the corruption of the Palestinian Authority and the influence of the terrorist group Hamas" (ibid).

While this was my own focus in the June 30, essay, Mr Eid elaborates on it. He speaks of PA corruption as one who has seen it from the inside. It is quite a story.

Where does corruption reveal itself in the PA? In a word, everywhere. It affects every aspect of Palestinian life (ibid). It cripples the economy, mostly, he suggests, by keeping jobs within the control of PA bureaucrats: you cannot get a job without PA approval. 

Jobs, you see, are hard to come by in the PA. The PA has no true modern 'economy'. Instead, most jobs are not created by the marketplace. Jobs are based on connections, not qualifications (or education).

Eid cites as one recent example of corruption in the PA the fact that corona vaccinations were cornered first by bureaucrats, not medical workers or the elderly. He asserts that the PA has finally admitted this to be the case. Who vaccinated these bureacrats? Unvaccinated medical workers. Nice. 

Turning to human rights violations, he describes how Hamas uses child soldiers (here). Hamas recruits and trains children in organized 'summer camps'  to teach them how to kill and kidnap Israelis (ibid). 

Teaching children these particular skills is a human rights crime. Doesn't matter. The world's "Progressive" news outlets apparently saw nothing wrong with this behavior. Not one of them condemned it (ibid).

Eid says that calling for boycotts, divestment and sanctions (through the BDS movement) against Israel simply does not create positive change for Palestinians. It has the reverse effect. 

The real anti-Palestinian culprits in the region, it would seem, is not Israel. Israel helps Palestinians. It hires some 100,000+ Palestinians each day. 

Boycotting Israeli companies for political reasons does and has hurt Palestinian workers, not helped them (here). For example, the company called, Sodastream, once had its main factory in what is called, the West Bank. It employed dozens, if not hundreds, of Palestinian workers--paying Israeli wages to them. 

Compared to PA wages, these were excellent jobs for Palestinians. But the company was placed under intense pressure from the BDS movement --because the factory was located in the West Bank; an Israeli company in the West Bank is anathema to the Palestinian Cause. 

So pressured, Sodastream closed the factory. It moved to another, less controversial part of Israel. 

The result? Dozens, perhaps hundreds of Palestinians, lost their jobs. No "Progressive" company anywhere in the world offered to open a similarly-paying factory for the displaced employees. Not one. 

These Palestinian employees were out of luck. They were hurt by their "Progressive" friends, not helped.  

To borrow a phrase from someone else (writing about another topic), I can confidently--if indiscreetly--suggest to you that PA leader Mahmoud Abbas has "a long history of incompetence, nepotism, mismanagement and corruption" (here).  In fact (in my opinion), Abbas's political behavior vis-a-vis Israel has for years demonstrated that he is nothing more than a diplomatic version of a (proverbial) bomb-throwing, feces-flinging, Jew-hating hysteric (paraphrased and borrowed from here). 

This truth about Mahmoud Abbas is no secret. We even saw yet another example of this recently (here). 

When things in the PA get too quiet, or when anti-Abbas sentiment rises too high, Abbas can be counted upon to stir his Israel-hate 'pot'. He smears Israel--and expects the chatter he creates to change the political atmosphere in the PA from an anti-Abbas climate to an anti-Israel climate. His anti-Israelism seems at times such as these more cynical than real. 

For anyone in the West to support such a political monster suggests either a kind of willful political blindness that comes from an inbred Jew-hate--or, perhaps, from plain stupidity instead. In either case, any suggestion that Abbas is a leader qualified to lead anybody to help his own people should be disregarded out-of-hand. Bassam Eid's essays simply opens the door a little wider to this horrific revelation. 

You can see more of Mr Eid's views on the truth about both the PA and Hamas here, here, here and here.

Mahmoud Abbas receives billions of US dollars and Euros from donors in the EU and elsewhere, to do what? To line his own pockets as the PA itself turns into a living hell for his people (here)? Or, to buy his own 50-million dollar 737 (or equivalent) private jet while Palestinian children threaten to starve (here)? 

Abbas cries to the world about those "Apartheid Israelis", and  attracts billions in annual donations so he can 'help' his people. But he uses these donations first to pay Jew-killers a life-time monthly income (his pay-to-slay program)--and then splurges on some 50 million-dollar private jet?

Abbas validates the dirty, corrupt truth about himself each and every year with some outrageous action or other. How do the "Progressives" of the world react? They react by gathering at his door with smiles, cheers and accolades--while a neglected PA economy collapses into an economic sh**hole.

Bassam Eid is correct. People like Omar Illhan, Rashida Tlaib, et al ("Progressives" all) don't know a single thing about Palestinian life under Abbas. Here's a question: is calling out these "Progressives" for their ignorance the same thing as calling them 'cruel liars who hurt the very people they say they want to help'? 

I think so. What do you think?

More important, if these "Progressives" actually hurt the people they say they want to help, what do you think is their real purpose--to help Palestinians, or to destroy them?