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.
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