While we sing "Sad birthday to you, the 36th government of Israel," we wonder what is going to be remembered of you, as you disintegrate into yourself, and your political paint is peeling off from its foundations? What heritage are you leaving after you?
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
Most of all, this will undoubtedly be the crux of the "experiment": the precedent of the legitimacy for a partnership and political dependence on anti-Zionist members of Knesset, who, to this day, regard the establishment of the State of Israel as a disaster and undermine its existence as a Jewish state; give legitimacy to a political alliance, that in fact trains MKs who support shahids as partners; for whom Zionism equals racism and colonialism, and who practically seek to exercise the "Right of Return."
All that the State of Israel has refused, over the years, to grant to "foreign Palestinians" and which it would not accept under any circumstances – an exemption from recognizing Israel as the State of the Jewish People and their relinquishing of the "Right of Return" – was granted de facto this year by the Bennett-Lapid government to a party that, for the first time, is representing "local Palestinians" (Israeli Arabs), using the exact same criteria. The vow that was considered taboo when dealing with Mahmoud Abbas, was permitted vis-à-vis Ra'am and Mansour Abbas, and this deceptive partnership managed to "blind many eyes."
Only last year Bennett and Kahana appealed to the Central Election Commission requesting to disqualify Ra'am and Ibtisam Mara'ana from participating in the Knesset elections, as they deny the existence of the State of Israel as a Jewish state and even support the armed struggle of the terrorist organizations against it. Only months later, this experimental government already purged this contaminated entity.
For the first time ever, the position of the chairman of the Knesset's Interior Committee is filled by a senior member of the "Israeli branch of the Muslim Brotherhood" (Walid Taha), which is equivalent to the Gaza branch of the same organization, known as Hamas (quoted by Bennett himself in January 2021). Taha, who believes that terrorists are "prisoners of conscience and freedom," that Zionism is a "racist and cruel enterprise," and that "the Palestinians are the owners of this land" – succeeded the late Said al-Kharoumi, who insisted on commemorating the Memorial Day for the murderers of Jews in 1929, in office.
Their colleague, MK Maazen Ganaim, as mayor of Sakhnin, presented a certificate of appreciation to Azmi Bishara, the MK who fled to Qatar after being suspected of aiding Hezbollah, while their peer MK Iman Khatib-Yassin demonstrated in Acre against the arrest of Aya Khatib, who was accused of transferring funds to Hamas.
'Mistress' or 'partner'?
The "experiment" included a group of those who embrace terrorists in the leadership of the national home established here by Ben-Gurion and the founding fathers, and there are many examples of this. Even Abbas was a partner. Yes, Abbas, when he went to Acre to comfort the family of Fawzi Nimer, leader of the cell that carried out 22 attacks in the Haifa region and murdered three Jews; when he visited the home of a family whose sons assisted a suicide bomber at the Meron Junction; or when he attended a reception for Lina Jarboni, who assisted the Jihadists' plans in Jenin to murder Israeli citizens.
No, Bennett. They have not changed, even if Netanyahu only wanted them as a "mistress," as you defined them, and you brought them "like a partner" through the front door, into the state living room. Abbas and his buddies, like Arab MKs from the Joint List, Meretz and Labor parties, continue to regard the establishment of the State of Israel as a disaster – "al-Nakba" – and carry on weaving their dream of returning to their homeland. Many today even disregard Jewish immigration to Israel and continue making historical calculations with us, trying to get the best of both worlds: to both justify the rejection of the Partition Plan and the attack by Arab armies to destroy the Jewish state, but also to protest that during that war the Arab population suffered exactly the same fate it seeks to bring upon the Jewish population.
In the name of "democracy" and "freedom of expression" they stretch their understanding of the Palestinians and their aspirations to the point of sympathy and empathy for terrorism and its perpetrators, while, on the other hand, they expect us to disregard this fact in the state's attitude to them. Abbas and his buddies may be willing to live by state laws and benefit from its resources, but at the same time they still refuse to accept the "structure" of a Jewish state. Although Abbas recognized the existing situation as a fact, he is still striving to change it. From the point of view of the Arab political representation in the Knesset (and not only of Ra'am), the state should not have been established at all and should not continue to exist as a Jewish state.
All this was given a "kosher stamp" in the past year, and even on the surface of the situation: the fundamental problem is our reliance on parties and MKs who identify with our most vehement enemies, who seek to undermine our Jewish national existence - even if they temporarily fake a mask of civil agenda.
Wearing Away at the Zionist Compass
The most tangible damage caused by this government (which has also done good things) is its acclimation to this insane reality; an acceptance that was forced upon us in favor of the exclusion and removal, at all costs, of [Benjamin] Netanyahu. The dependence on subversives and shahid supporters – if to use MK Yair Golan's medical language - is "malignant" and abnormal. The fact that many today have "accepted it," and the speed at which this has happened, is a badge of shame to us all.
The damage that this "experiment" has caused is both conscious and practical alike. Ra'am's coaches, which Bennett and his peers attached to the Zionist train, have derailed it off course. This happened on the Temple Mount and in the Negev, in the Triangle and the Galilee and it affected budgetary priorities for various projects, as well as in the sidelines to Israel's foreign policies and security. Even the general atmosphere "in the street" has changed, whether in reaction to the Ra'am partnership or inspired by it. In the past year, the number of displays of authority and savage takeover by mostly young Israeli Arabs of large parts of our public space has increased; on campuses, in hospitals, on highways, in hiking and nature sites and on city streets, in a demonstrative, blatant, loud, wild, and mainly conflicting and rebellious manner, with distinctly nationalistic and religious tendencies.
The Likud party was also a partner in eroding the Zionist compass. The "love affair" it had with Ra'am after the last elections eased the way for Bennett and Lapid to plow through the same furrow. Even when overthrowing the previous government, the Likud relied on anti-Zionist parties that strive to undermine the very existence of Israel as a Jewish state.
Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!
The longer the dependence on these parties, for any political purpose, continues, whether for the formation or overthrow of a government, so their anti-Zionist appetite grows. Therefore, in the run-up to the upcoming elections (with or without the Defendant's Law), there is an urgent need to break the existing paradigm and political alliances, in addition to reaching consent on new rules of the game; those who prefer Jewish-Zionist unity over party separatism, which focuses exclusively on victory over the rival political camp.
Whoever continues to sanctify the government, or the overthrow of the government, at all costs – even at the cost of dependence on those who prefer that the State of Israel not be founded at all and often support its enemies - will sooner or later, find themselves in a state of civic nationalism, and, ultimately, the end of the Zionist dream.
