Gantz never told the voters he was a Leftist

There are those in Israel today who promote the forming of a government that includes anti-Israel Arabs. These Arab Members of Israel's Knesset are part of the political Party called, the Arab Joint List. These politicians are decidedly, vehemently anti-Israel and anti-Zionist (here).

Arabs from the Joint List (and its predecessor Parties) have never been part of an Israeli coalition government. Never. Even Israel's Left has recognized how dangerous it would be to include in a government such anti-Israel representatives. 

But now, Benny Gantz, the head of the Israeli Blue-White Party, seeks to change that narrative. He says he wants Arabs from the Joint List to be part of his coalition government. Israel's Left cheers. Israel's Right is horrified.

Leftists have been fighting against Israel's Jewishness and its Jewish religion for decades. The Left prefers 'democracy' over 'Jewish', as if the two ideas must be mutually exclusive.

They are not. A real democracy welcomes religion. A real democracy protects religion. A real democracy doesn't seek to end a religion's presence in its national life.  

But that's exactly what Israel's Left wants--to take the Jewish out of Israel. Is this where Gantz is headed? 

Consider what Gantz is doing by asking yourself a question: do you really believe anti-Jewish Arabs will support a more Jewish Israel?

As you consider Gantz's plan for his coalition, you should note that Israel's founding document--its Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel--has very little to say about 'democracy'. But it has a lot to say about 'Jewish' in Israel. In fact, you should know that Israel's founding Declaration never uses the word 'democracy'. Never (here). 

But the Left is obsessed with 'democracy'. It wants to see Israel embrace 'democracy'. Actually, the Left obsesses over both 'democracy' and 'Jewish' in Israel. 

It wants to replace what's Jewish in Israel with 'democracy'--again, as if the two are mutually exclusive. The Left wants to do this even though that same Declaration cited above never uses the word 'democracy' at all, but uses such phrases as 'Jewish', 'Jewish people' and Israel as the "Jewish national homeland' not just once or twice, but dozens of times.

'Democracy' is absent from that Declaration. 'Jewish' saturates it.

If you wish to understand what Israel is all about, you cannot ignore what's in that Declaration: Israel is, through-and-through, both Jewish and Zionist. 'Democracy' doesn't appear in that document.

Israel's Left doesn't care. The Left ignores Israel's founding document. The Left would destroy what's 'Jewish' about Israel. It would celebrate only 'democracy'.

Remember, Gantz made campaign promises that he would not invite anti-Zionists (Jew or Arab) into his government. He campaigned that he would only include those who were both Jewish and Zionist in his government (here). 

But Gantz lied.

By embracing a hostile-to-Israel Arab Joint List, Gantz has proven he is as far Left as anyone can get in Israel. Did those of you who voted for Gantz know this about him when you entered the voting booth?  

This is what happens when a politician lies about what he believes. Israelis didn't vote for Gantz because he was a Leftist. They voted for him because he was a Centrist.  

But he lied.

Gantz campaigned as a political Centrist. He openly courted Israel's Right and Religious Right to vote for him; that makes sense for a Centrist Israeli campaign. It's what Centrists do in Israel. They try to appeal to all, especially the Right. 

But Gantz lied.

Gantz has done something no Israeli Leftist has ever done--ever: he invites the anti-Israel (and anti-Zionist) Arab Joint List into his government.

We know the Arab List is both anti-Israel and anti-Zionist because of the words they have used openly to describe Israel. Indeed, we heard such words yet again just yesterday, from an MK of the Arab Joint List. This MK says, she will work to 'divest Israel from its Jewishness and its Zionism' (here). 

This divestment concept echoes what Israel's Left wants. If this divestment succeeds, it would mean the end of Israel as 'the Jewish State'. It would make Israel's founding Declaration irrelevant. It would cancel the very existence of Israel as the Jewish homeland. 

Does Jewish Israel want that? Israel's Jewish voters didn't know that's what Gantz wanted because he'd spent so much time during his campaign assuring everyone he would not sit with Arabs in a government--and when Netanyahu said he was lying, Gantz retorted, Netanyahu was lying. 

Netanyahu was not lying. Gantz was. 

Israel's Left doesn't care. It chooses anti-Israel Arabs. The Left--including Gantz--want nothing to do with 'Jewish'. Nothing. They choose anti-Israel Arabs first--and forget about 'Jewish'.

Benny Gantz does not recognize the world's only Jewish state. He says he does. But his actions speak louder. He wants what Israel's Left wants. He wants to form a coalition government that will include those who are not Jewish, not Zionist. He wants the Arab Joint List. He wants his government to be built with Israel-hating Arabs and Jewish Mks (Leftist Party members and the Party of Avigdor Liberman) who hate what's Jewish about Israel. 

For his own political ends, Gantz will bring chaos--and uncontrollable division--to Israel through such a coalition (here). For his own power, he jumps into bed with those who hate Jews, Israel and the Jewish state. 

Is this what Israelis voted for?

Gantz wants to be the next Prime Minister of Israel. But this political drama hasn't ended. Gantz may not get enough support for such a coalition as he would build. It's extremist. His Leftist gamble may yet fail--or, perhaps more likely, backfire on him. 

Stay tuned.