Feb 16, 2009

Israel’s Leadership Precariously Perched

By Terry James

It becomes increasingly obvious that just as the rest of the world is reconfiguring for some profound geopolitical repositioning outcome, Israel stands at the center of the strange goings-on. Everything revolves around matters involving war and peace, particularly in the Middle East.

The Israeli elections reflect those dynamics as perhaps no other single issue and/or event of the present can do. Since the election of Tuesday, February 8, the tiny but most exigent nation on the planet has been embroiled in a quagmire that is the nightmare scenario of parliamentary-type governments. The various elements (political parties) are of such diverse ideologies as to make forming a coalition capable of governing extremely problematic.

As of this writing it, is not certain who won the election. Some thoughts from this report, perhaps, provide insights into Israel’s future governance.

“Who won the election on Tuesday night and what do the results tell us about the composition of the next government? Israeli voters decided two things on Tuesday. First, they decided that they want the political right to lead the country. Second, leftist voters decided that they want to be represented by a big party so they abandoned Labor and Meretz and put their eggs in Kadima's basket.

These two decisions--one general and one sectoral--are what brought about the anomalous situation where the party with the most Knesset seats is incapable of forming the next governing coalition. Despite Kadima leader Tzipi Livni's stunning electoral achievement, she cannot form a coalition. Binyamin Netanyahu will be Israel's next prime minister. The Likud will form the next coalition.

But what sort of governing coalition will Netanyahu form? That is today's sixty-four thousand dollar question” (Enter the Netanyahu Government - Caroline B. Glick).
The opinion of the writer of the above report, at least, is that Binyamin Netanyahu, leader of the Likud party, has been given the commission of the electorate to take Israel on somewhat of a road to the political right. But he has no mandate, only a narrow pathway—one that he must walk hand-in-hand with indeed strange political bedfellows. The Likud leader has no broad-based support.

Netanyahu must include left-leaning parliamentarians in a coalition of some flavor. Ehud Barak’s Labor Party–whose founder and champion was David Ben Gurion—was deserted by the majority of the left, many of whom joined with the Kadima Party led by Tzipi Livni.

Netanyahu finds himself between the proverbial rock and hard place if he wants to form the coalition necessary to achieve the prime ministership. It will be a character tester for sure.

The easier road to go, from the standpoint of putting together a government that might win favors with the international community and the Barak Obama administration would be to bite the bullet and bring the Kadima bunch into the coalition. This would be partially palatable for the Likud leadership because Livni and much of the Kadima leadership look at the developing Iranian situation in much the same way as the Likud membership. Surprisingly, they do not rule out preemptive action against the threats of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to wipe Israel off the map, once they are ready to do so.

The rub, of course, is that Livni and the Kadema Party leadership are for making nice with Hezbollah, Hamas, and other of the Islamic terrorists to some extent. Ms. Livni is for a two-state, divided Jerusalem solution to the “Palestinian question,” and is, according to the writer of the article above, willing to give up Judea and Samaria for the peace process, and even to give the Golan Heights to Syria.

The less acceptable alternative in trying to construct a viable government coalition–from the perspectives of the international community and the Obama administration—would be to embrace the right-leaning parties within the parliamentary mix. Such a choice will bring the collective ire of the globalist elites for sure. Nonetheless, a coalition of Likud, Yisrael Beiteinu, Shas, United Torah Judaism, the National Union and the Jewish Home parties would constitute a stable governing majority that could assure that Likud maintain its ruling status against the leftist Katima party’s assaults in the Knesset.

Much more importantly, a coalition that would not only stand against Iran’s insane hatred, but against the fanatic Islamic terrorists such as Hezbollah and Hamas, Syria and that nation’s lust for the Golan would go much farther in assuring Israel’s security. Mr. Netanyahu would be infinitely wiser to choose a government that will face down Israel’s enemies while resisting at all costs the world's incessant attempts to force the division of Jerusalem and further divide the land God gave Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their heirs forever.

God’s Word pronounces His wrath upon end-times Israeli leadership that crawls in bed with the leadership of earth’s satanically controlled governments:

"Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves… And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it” (Isaiah 28:14-15, 18).
Bible prophecy foretells that Israel’s leaders will, at the beginning of the tribulation, give in to the international community and its great leader. They will enter into a seven-year covenant with the man who will be Antichrist (Dan. 9: 26-27). A word of caution, Mr. Netanyahu, Ms. Livni, or whoever becomes prime minister of whatever coalition government when the political dust settles: You are precariously perched on God’s end-times timeline.