Full disclosure: In a last-minute decision, I voted for Yamina in the last election. I thought this was something of a three-for-one deal: After all, I figured, Naftali Bennett is on the Right, and he will do everything in his power to establish a government. He'll also know how to manage the kind of complex situation the state has found itself in.
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I let his talks with Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid slide, but he crossed the line when he met with Ra'am leader Mansour Abbas. Abbas may have toned down his Hebrew-language rhetoric, but he continues to conceal figures and an ideology that undermine our very existence here. The party he heads is the dangerous Muslim Brotherhood in the flesh.
To Abbas, Israeli Independence Day is "Nakba Day." When the siren blares on Memorial Day, Abbas, as well as Labor party MK Ibtisam Mara'ana, don't stand in honor of the fallen soldiers but in memory of Palestinian murderers. Ra'am refers to the Israel Police as the "occupation police."
Abbas believes that up until the establishment of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, there was nothing on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City. Following the recent Arab Israeli riots in Jaffa, Ra'am party representatives there recently declared: "In spirit and blood, we will redeem the city."
Senior Ra'am officials, including Abbas, have a photo album with pictures of terrorists and their families. No. 3 on the party list, Walid Taha, has called imprisoned terrorists "prisoners of conscience." He has said the real terrorists are those who conquer other people and set up blockades between Palestinian villages.
True, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acted shamefully when he himself considered relying on Abbas' outside support to form a coalition. Many told him as much while he was acting to this end. But if the goal is to correct Netanyahu's damage, why would you do the very same thing?
The establishment of a government with the support of the Muslim Brotherhood and in which the radical Left plays a central role would gnaw at the very foundations of the Zionist project. Should she be made education minister, Labor leader Merav Michaeli will see to it that the radical left-wing nongovernmental organization Breaking the Silence has access to high-schoolers across the country. As energy minister, Meretz head Nitzan Horowitz will make sure to keep Israel's natural gas out at sea, and don't get me started on the potential appointment of Meretz member Yair Golan – a man who has compared Israel to Nazi Germany – to the role of deputy minister or tasking him with heading a Knesset committee. Is this the kind of government Yamina voters had in mind on Election Day? I should think not.
Bennett tends to think outside the box, but the state is not a political party. We cannot risk its existence the same way he did with the establishment of the New Right.
Yes, I voted for Yamina. I still want Bennett to form the next government, but that government needs to be Zionist and legitimate, and include either the Likud or the Haredim. Otherwise, we would be better off calling another election and sticking with the current transitional government in the meantime. Some red lines simply shouldn't be crossed.
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