Minister Amichai Eliyahu of Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) announced on Wednesday that he would vote against the legislation to adopt language of the Trump initiative – which led to the Israel-Hamas ceasefire – after it is introduced in the Knesset members for an official up-or-down vote.

Lapid (Yesh Atid) initiated the measure, stating, "I will bring a motion to the Knesset plenum for a vote on a resolution for the Knesset of Israel to accept and adopt the 20-point plan of United States President Donald Trump."

Lapid elaborated, "The entire Israeli people is grateful to President Trump for having led a courageous deal for the release of the Israeli hostages. We support President Trump and strengthen his hand in his efforts to implement the plan's stages. I expect all parties to vote in favor of the President's plan."

Minister Eliyahu told the radio station Galei Tzahal, "We will certainly vote against – if Lapid wants to embarrass the state, that's his business. A Palestinian state will not be established." The plan, however, includes a "path to the establishment of a Palestinian state."

The opposition previously embarrassed the government from the right last month when a bill to apply sovereignty was passed. Vice President JD Vance, who was visiting Israel at the time, criticized the move. Following the support of MK Yuli Edelstein (Likud) for the move, which went against the directive of the Coalition, he was removed from the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

The post Netanyahu's ally poised to embarrass Trump as 20-point plan heads to vote appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Video: US ambassador Mike Huckabee arrives at the courthouse on July 16, 2025 / Credit: Elinor Shirkani-Kofman

Speaking at the MUNI EXPO 2025 Local Government Center conference regarding Netanyahu's trial, Huckabee observed "This matter is highly sensitive. The President addressed what we perceived as fundamentally a witch hunt in America, and it's extremely challenging to perform the duties voters elected you for while constrained by legal proceedings that divert attention from your responsibilities."

I stopped by the trial of @IsraeliPM in Tel Aviv today. My conclusion? @realDonaldTrump is right…again. https://t.co/Y5wBHnmKkS pic.twitter.com/zgcmzvlf9u

— Ambassador Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) July 16, 2025

Huckabee elaborated, "The President comprehends the difficulty when during such an intense tenure you devote extensive time in courtrooms before biased judges. I believe the President isn't attempting to choose sides regarding Israeli affairs, yet he acknowledges from his personal experience how extraordinarily difficult it becomes to fulfill the role citizens elected you to perform. I plan to attend Netanyahu's trial proceedings today to observe, which promises to be quite fascinating."

The post US ambassador's surprise court appearance in Netanyahu trial appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

1.

More than eight months have passed since the October 7 massacre, a relatively short period in historical terms, even more so when it comes to the history of our people. On that day, the barbarians invaded our borders and massacred, raped, and burned alive women, children, and the elderly; they wiped out entire families and destroyed whole communities – communities where many had previously worked for the welfare of Gazans. They kidnapped hundreds of Israel, alive and dead, and murdered some of the hostages in captivity. Had they been able to, they would have continued their murderous path and killed all of us.

They didn't carry out these atrocities because of the "occupation" or due to "repression" or to economic problems. Today we know, despite the enemy's propaganda and lies, that there was no siege of Gaza. Via huge tunnels crossing into Gaza from Egypt, Hamas smuggled in everything imaginable. There was no occupation of Gaza: In the summer of 2005, Israel withdrew from Gaza taking with it even its dead who had been buried there. The only repression that existed in the Strip was that imposed by the Hamas reign of terror which used its citizens as human shields, hid arms and missiles in kindergartens, schools, mosques and hospitals, and, of course, in the offices of the UNRWA aid agency.  Over the past twenty years or so, all these places served as launching grounds for the tens of thousands of rockets fired at Israeli towns and communities during that time.

Hamas's motives are discussed in detail in the Hamas Charter, the group's founding document, where it speaks of a total commitment to the destruction of Israel and the killing of Jews wherever they may be. The reason is explicit: their religious beliefs, which explains our longstanding blindness as we analyzed the motives of our enemies in terms of rational interests.

2.

The Gaza Strip was the biggest attempt at setting up an independent Palestinian state. What this attempt has shown is that territories that Israel vacates become terror fortresses and citadels of death both for Israel and for the residents of these territories. Moreover, evacuation of territory under pressure of terrorism was interpreted – and rightly so – as a display of weakness by Israel: Perhaps under pressure the Jews will abandon all the land. Compare this with Judea and Samaria where in 2002 in Operation Defensive Shield we restored security control and in the years that followed we methodically purged the territory of its terror nests and prevented the possibility that a terror entity would be established on the mountain ridge right opposite our population centers.

So little time has passed since October 7, yet already there are voices among us who call for an end to the war, for compromise, for the release of murderers from their jails and, most importantly, for the establishment of a Palestinian state. It is unbelievable how memory can fade and deceive us.

The current military campaign requires time and patience. We have to maneuver not just between terror tunnels and terrorist nests as we try not to inflict harm on the civilian population, but we also have to maneuver amidst enormous international pressure to end the war before we have achieved our goals. Even our most faithful ally pressures us with public statements against our military measures and with bureaucratic slow-downs of arms deliveries. And we must not forget that another campaign awaits us in the north, and we must also deal with the head of the octopus, Iran, which finances and supports Hamas and Hezbollah, as well as the Shi'ite militias in Iraq and Syria, the Houthis in Yemen, and other hostile elements.

3.

Sinking Europe is afraid of millions of its Muslim immigrants and is trying to gain a few more years of quiet by scapegoating Israel. The credit we received at the beginning of the war stemmed from the massacre we experienced. For a brief moment, we returned to our "traditional" role – eternal victims, crucified like Jesus. But as soon as we rose from the dust and fought back, global support began to erode: the deep antisemitic currents that are thousands of years old negatively influence how the world reacts when Jews refuse to be victims and refuse to be crucified, but instead slay their attackers. Jesus came down from the cross, wrapped himself in a prayer shawl and returned home to be a Jew in Galilee. This time he is no longer willing to be crucified; He has weapons, and he knows well how to use them.

As in the 1930s, Europeans will find themselves facing the bitter truth, and then we will see their moral standards as they fight for their lives in the streets of their cities. About one million Jews live in Europe. Why do they cling to a dream that is over? Why do they not come to Israel, what are they waiting for? Dear Jews, danger is already knocking on your door. Stop grazing in foreign fields, come home.

4.

Were someone unfamiliar with the situation to browse social networks or watch almost all the news channels, they would get the impression that the war with our external enemies is over, and in fact the real enemy is within us, in the form of a political rival, even though his sons too are fighting for the security of the people. A certain group, the same group that led the protests in the dreadful year preceding the massacre, is once again disseminating appalling messages against their brethren (even if they are political opponents), especially against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

A certain person who received a religious education, calls the prime minister "Satan," compares him to Saddam Hussein, and polishes off by saying, "We will erase the memory of Netanyahu." Shame on him. What blasphemy to quote the eternal biblical commandment [to erase the memory of Amalek] that is appropriate for the Nazis and the Hamas terrorists and apply it to those who lead the military and diplomatic campaign against our enemies and would-be murderers. Why didn't the media and the intelligentsia cry out that we must eradicate evil from our midst? And where is the Attorney General? After all, people were arrested on charges of incitement and sedition for far less than that.

5.

This Shabbat we will read about the spies that Moses sent to scout Canaan and gather intelligence ahead of its conquest. The spies returned from their mission and spoke in praise of the land, but instead of concentrating on the facts that Moses had asked for, they made themselves advisors and expressed reservations at what they had seen: "However, the people that dwell in the land are fierce, and the cities are fortified, and very great; and moreover, we saw the children of Anak there."Moreover, the land was full of might peoples, and they "spread an evil report of the land which they had spied out." The people were swayed by the spies' report, and they blamed the leadership for bringing them out of Egypt only to kill them in a war for "this land" (the land had become a hateful object). What use did they have for war and international pressure? The peoples of the region want to remove us from our land and the effort required amidst this reality to maintain a strong society with Torah and science, economy and education, cultural foundations, is enormous. We would be better off in the desert or in Germany, France or the United States, and live at the mercy of others, they say.

The people said: "Let us make a captain and let us return into Egypt." They had forgotten in little time that they had come from the House of Bondage, from the concentration and labor camps, from newborn males being thrown into the Nile, from the cruelties and the horrors they had suffered for so long. At that moment, fear dictated their thoughts. The night that the Children of Israel cried and despaired they would never enter the Promised Land has since been marked as the root of all our troubles; our sages noted the date, Tisha B'Av! (the 9^th of Av) Since then and throughout history, the sin of the spies hung as a sword over the people, disenchantment with the land our fathers yearned for, a poison chalice for the destruction of the first and second temples and for our long exile.

The great test was the atonement for this sin, returning from exile despite the dangers, and clinging to the land while settling in it and making it bloom. The test is not over. Hamas and Hezbollah, the Palestinian Authority and Iran and other enemies seek to expel us from our country. The war does not end with eradicating evil and destroying terrorists; it requires us to strengthen our hold on all parts of the Land of Israel and deepen our roots there. In the face of cries of despair, we repeat today the immortal cry of Joshua and Caleb: "The land that we traversed and scouted is an exceedingly good land."

The post For we shall surely overcome appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Israel Police on Sunday responded to criticism over a video from Saturday's mass protest in Tel Aviv showing a mounted police officer repeatedly hitting a woman with a baton.

According to police, orders were given to disperse the demonstrators, who were illegally blocking the Ayalon Highway. The protesters were warned that force would be employed if they refused to clear the highway.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

"Two protesters waved protest signs and a flagpole at the head of a police horse in a way that endangered the horse, the rider, and themselves. The mounted officer pushed the protester away using reasonable force from the horse," the Israel Police spokesperson said in a statement. Photographic evidence was also provided of another horse they said was wounded by protesters using wooden poles for signs and flags on the Ayalon Highway.

The protester seen in the video, Yael Reuveni, told Channel 12 News that "the police officer was looking for someone to take his frustration out on. He found the weak link, and that's where he chose to focus, to block me and hit me."

Video: Use under the terms of Israel's Intellection Property Law, Article 27a

"I work with horses as a therapist," said Reuveni. "The last thing I would do is attack a horse. I held a cardboard sign in front of me to protect myself from the horse after it stepped on my leg, and the police officer continued to hit me with his baton."

The video, published on social media, caused a strong reaction, with Israel Police Chief Yaakov Shabtai on Sunday ordering Tel Aviv District Chief Ami Eshed to investigate the incident.

Labor Chairwoman Merav Michaeli wrote a letter to Shabtai, calling the incident an "outrage" and urging the police commissioner to "act with any means to make sure the incident is taken care of severely and that these sorts of incidents are not repeated."

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has defended police actions during the ongoing mass demonstrations against the government's judicial reform initiative, said on Sunday that the incident was disturbing and that he would demand clarification about the incident from Eshed.

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

"At the same time, I strongly condemn the shocking calls of incitement that were heard towards the police such as 'Nazis,' which cause the denigration of the Holocaust, along with serious damage to police horses, and I call on the prosecutor's office to prosecute the instigators and lawbreakers," the minister said.

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org

The post Israel Police claim protester beaten by mounted officer had attacked his horse appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

The Israeli defense minister whose dismissal by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu brought the country's constitutional crisis to a boil this week may still keep his job, two sources told Reuters on Thursday.

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant came out on Saturday against the pace of the government's hotly contested push to overhaul the judiciary and spurred Netanyahu to announce his dismissal on Sunday, triggering a surge in street protests and foreign alarm.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

But aides said Gallant never received a formal dismissal letter from Netanyahu, who has since faced rare public censure from the United States over the justice drive, according to two sources familiar with the situation said lawmaker Aryeh Deri, leader of the Shas party in Netanyahu's nationalist-religious coalition government, was working to keep Gallant in office.

His dismissal and the fury it caused underlined the concern among many in Israel that the crisis around the justice overhaul is opening up social divisions, including in the military, that is posing a serious risk to Israel's future while the government's plan to control judicial appointments has triggered some of the biggest protests in Israeli history, with opponents calling the move a threat to democracy.

One of the sources said Deri, a longtime Netanyahu ally, was looking to stabilize the government and calm domestic anger, the second source said officials in Washington and within the Israeli defense establishment were troubled by Gallant's dismissal and the ensuing upheaval at a particularly sensitive time in the region.

In a sign he was conducting business as usual on Thursday, Gallant's office said he raised a Passover holiday toast with domestic security officials and distributed a photo of himself smiling at the event, where he said Israel's security was at a "complex" point in time. On Wednesday, Netanyahu voiced confidence he would find a compromise with the political opposition over the judicial overhaul after the move drew strong reproach from US President Joe Biden.

As of Saturday, Gallant – whose criticism of the Netanyahu-led government's planned judicial reform led to his dismissal – was still on the job, apparently in limbo. According to reports in local media, he is willing to apologize for the timing of his call to halt the controversial legislation, made without coordination with Netanyahu, who was on an official visit to London.

It was unclear whether he was willing to issue a more extensive apology for the contents of the speech.

i24NEWS contributed to this report.

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post 'Fired' defense minister may yet keep his job appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Something really sad is going on when it comes to the Israeli public's relationship with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. For the past three months, the public has been consumed by the whirlwind of the judicial reform protests along with social strife that we have never seen before, but Netanyahu's presence – the leader, the responsible adult, and someone steady at the wheel –  is almost non-existent. 

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

This cannot be simply explained away by the fact that he is legally barred from dealing with the reform as the attorney general ruled this would be a conflict of interest (due to his ongoing trial). The no-showing of Netanyahu is much deeper than that. In fact, in the past, he has proved that when he wants to overcome legal obstacles, he knows how to find his way to the media. But for whatever reason, throughout this crisis, his public appearances have been few and far between, and he has not spoken to main media outlets. He is almost unseen and unheard. This deafening silence sends the wrong message to the public: incompetence or even worse – lack of leadership. 

Where is the Netanyahu who threw his weight everywhere he went during the first months of the coronavirus pandemic; where is the Netanyahu who dominates the public limelight with vigor and leadership on Iran? What we have seen so far is just a shadow of his former self. 

Netanyahu has so far shown anything but all this during the judicial reform crisis, refusing to go to Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Simcha Rothman, thump on the table, and make it clear in no uncertain terms that it's time to strike a compromise (perhaps this is because he fears this will lead to his parliamentary coalition unraveling). He has even failed to strong arm Levin into pausing legislation for a week, as he has suggested in the past, possibly because he doesn't want the minister to resign. 

But the big challenge he has yet to muster enough strength is with the attorney general, whose insistence that he has no legal way of dealing with this matter only reinforces the perception that legal advisors wield too much power. Why hasn't he stormed into her office and told her that although her opinions should be taken into account, this is an exception because there are some moments in a nation's history where national responsibility trumps potential conflict of interest and require him to take the reins; that he must lead rather than be led. 

Netanyahu has been involved behind the scenes in pushing for a compromise, fearing the High Court and the attorney general, rather than just declaring for everyone to see, "I won't have it anymore; the situation is intolerable." 

Over the course of his career, Netanyahu has thrown out the political playbook more than once, even when he didn't have to. But for some reason, precisely at the moment when the circumstances warrant a departure from protocol, he has refused to do so. Why? 

Netanyahu has justifiably fought against the effort to declare him incapacitated and have him temporarily step down but for all intents and purposes, his conduct has been that of someone who is already been all but put in incapacitation, precisely when the public needs leadership and involvement – and most importantly, visible presence – on the part of the prime minister. 

Netanyahu should be the one to handle the messaging on the reform, not Rothman or Levin. He should determine its pace, he should decide whether a compromise is in order and what it should look like. Netanyahu, not Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, should meet with IDF reservists to discuss their threat of refusing orders and should show cabinet members their proper place by preventing them from making inflammatory statements. But above all, he must communicate with the public, which wants to know where the prime minister has gone. 

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post Where has the old Netanyahu gone? appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

President Isaac Herzog said on Thursday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government should abandon proposed legislation to overhaul the country's judiciary in favor of a model with broad national support.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

The government's proposal has sparked mass protests across Israel and Herzog has been mediating between the sides.

"There are agreements over most issues, yes, not all, but the vast majority. Certainly enough to abandon the legislation currently proposed and bring in its place for discussion ... a different agreed upon piece of legislation," Herzog said in a televised address.

The plan, Herzog noted, was "wrong and heavy-handed, and undermines the very foundation of our democratic society." He said the government must shelve the current language and start from scratch.

The government's proposal has sparked mass protests across Israel and Herzog has been mediating between the sides.

Netanyahu had to be airlifted on Thursday to the country's main international airport for an official overseas trip after throngs of cars and protesters prevented him from driving there.

The demonstrations were part of nationwide protests underway for more than two months against Netanyahu and his government's contentious plan to overhaul the judiciary.

Demonstrators had made blocking Netanyahu's route to the airport a centerpiece of their efforts, and the optics of the Israeli leader having to make alternate travel plans were a win for the protest movement.

The helicopter ride, far from the snarling traffic triggered by the protest, was also sure to deepen Netanyahu's reputation as being out of touch with Israelis at a time when the country finds itself torn apart over the government plan and the economy is slowing.

Thursday's disruptions also disrupted a visit by US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, whose schedule was rearranged to keep his engagements close to the airport.

Austin briefly waded into the Israeli domestic turmoil during a news conference, where he repeated President Joe Biden's recent comments that the "genius of American democracy and Israeli democracy is that they are both built on strong institutions, on checks and balances and on an independent judiciary."

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post President calls judicial reform 'wrong,' urges gov't to start from scratch appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Tens of thousands of Israelis took to the streets on Saturday for a fifth week of protests against judicial overhaul plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's new government, which critics say threaten democratic checks on ministers by the courts.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

The plans, which the government says are needed to curb overreach by judges, have drawn fierce opposition from groups including lawyers, and raised concerns among business leaders, widening already deep political divisions in Israeli society.

The protesters say Israeli democracy would be undermined if the government succeeds in pushing through the plans, which would tighten political control over judicial appointments and limit the Supreme Court's powers to overturn government decisions or Knesset laws.

Additional protests and partial strikes are called for Monday when a first reading of the proposals is set to take place in the parliament.

The post Israelis take to the streets over judicial reforms appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Ninety-three percent of American Jews are concerned with the current levels of antisemitism in the United States, with nearly half of US Jews (42%) experiencing antisemitism either directly or through family and friends over the past five years alone, according to a new panel survey commissioned and released Thursday by the Ruderman Family Foundation.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

The two-part survey, conducted by the Mellman Group, examined 2,500 Jewish American adults in December 2019 and a further 1,000 Jewish adults from October-November 2021. Despite being conducted before the synagogue hostage crisis in Colleyville, Texas, the newly released survey amplifies the renewed fears over antisemitism nationwide in the aftermath of that attack.

According to the findings, 75% of American Jews believe that there is more antisemitism today in the US than there was five years ago. Almost all American Jews (94%) say they see at least some antisemitism in the US over the past five years. One in three younger Jews (18-39 years old) say they have personally experienced antisemitism and 60% say they know a family or friend who has. Older Jews (over 60 years old) are more likely to have seen "a lot" of antisemitism (62%) than younger Jews (47%).

The survey also explored the notion of shared fate among American Jews. When asked how much they thought what happens to US Jews would have something to do with what happens in their own life, 82% acknowledged a shared fate. Even among those who do not value being Jewish, a majority (65%) feel what happens to other US Jews also has some effect on them. Additionally, the survey found that 9% of those who are uninvolved in the Jewish community view antisemitism as a reason for involvement, showcasing that the issue is strong enough to engage a demographic unconnected to Jewish life.

"Our survey reinforces the urgent need for American leadership to formulate new strategies to confront the surge of antisemitism and increasing hate crimes against the Jewish community," said Ruderman Family Foundation President Jay Ruderman. "Accordingly, we hope that these findings spur local and national leaders into action on this critical issue. Antisemitism is a threat to American society as a whole and only in tackling this issue as one unified nation will it ever be truly addressed."

In addition to antisemitism, the survey explored multiple topics pertaining to American Jewry. When it comes to US politics, American Jews perceive both parties as pro-Israel; 69% stating this was the case for the Democratic Party and 71% for the Republican Party. Yet when delving further into this support, the majority see Democrats as pro-Israel but critical of the Israeli government's policies, while the majority see Republicans as pro-Israel and supportive of its policies. Interestingly, both parties are seen to be moving in opposite directions with their support for Israel, with 54% believing the Democratic Party has become less pro-Israel and 39% stating that the Republican Party has become more pro-Israel.

When exploring their connection to Israel, approximately one-third (34%) of respondents believe the relationship between Israel and US Jews has weakened in the last two years, including 40% of Republicans and 31% of Democrats. Only 12% identified Operation Guardian of the Walls in May 2021 as a reason for that weakened relationship, with 32% naming the increasing power of right-wing or ultra-Orthodox Israeli political parties; 25% the treatment of Palestinians; 24% the mutual ties between Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu and former US President Donald Trump, and 24% Israel's settlement policies.

Reinforcing many American Jews' gaps in basic knowledge about Israel, 41% of respondents are unaware that Israel's Arab citizens have voting rights, with 27% incorrectly asserting that Arab citizens cannot vote and 14% stating they were unsure on the topic. Fifty-nine percent of respondents correctly identified Naftali Bennett as Israel's prime minister, with 16% saying that Netanyahu still holds the position and 20% unable to recall who is currently prime minister.

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

The post Poll: US Jews worried about antisemitism, ignorant about Israel appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett held a primetime press conference about his COVID-19 policies Monday evening. It went poorly for him.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

Channel 12 News reporter Ofer Hadad spoke for many Israelis when he said, "Mr. Prime Minister, on the one hand, you're signaling urgency and fear, and on the other hand, confusion.

"You decide to require a Green Pass for entry into shopping malls, and then you do an about face. You call for children to get vaccinated and then we discover that the education minister is – at best – refusing to mobilize the school system to this end. You ask the citizens of Israel not to travel abroad. And then your family flies off to the Maldives. You're confusing us."

Bennett's confused and contradictory policies on COVID-19 are of a piece with his confusing and failed policies in every other major policy sphere. From his dealing with the Biden administration, the Palestinians, Iran, Diaspora Jewry, the economy and beyond, Bennett's policies are a muddle of self-defeating contradictions.

Consider the situation with the Biden administration. Bennett said that by forming a radical ruling coalition dominated by the Left and the Islamist Ra'am Party, he would vastly improve Israel's relations with the administration. Bennett and his partner, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, insisted that then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had brought Israel-US relations to a crisis through his close relations with then-President Donald Trump and the Republican party. Bennett and Lapid claimed that once they took charge, ties with the Biden administration would vastly improve.

But the opposite has occurred. On Tuesday, Channel 13 News reported that for the past three weeks, President Joe Biden has refused to speak with Bennett. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken refuses to engage in any serious discussion of the administration's Iran policies.

In a phone call with Bennett three weeks ago, Blinken reportedly refused to seriously discuss Iran's nuclear program and the nuclear talks in Vienna. Instead, he focused obsessively on Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria and Jewish neighborhoods in northern, eastern and southern Jerusalem, to which the administration passionately objects. Blinken escalated the administration's demands that Israel stop construction for Jews in Jerusalem's northern Atarot neighborhood.

Blinken's animosity reinforced the already strong sense that the Biden administration views Israel as an irritant, not an ally. For Blinken, Biden and their colleagues, Israel is the problem in the Middle East. As for their supporters on the radical left, Biden and his team wrongly view Israel as the "occupier" in its capital and national heartland.

Biden's National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan arrived in Israel on Tuesday. Whereas Bennett's advisors told the media that the purpose of his visit was to discuss Iran, a US official insisted that Sullivan's primary goal was to step up the pressure on Israel to stop Jews from building homes in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria, and only after that would he discuss Iran.

Following Sullivan's meeting with Bennett Wednesday, Israel Hayom reported that as far as Iran was concerned, far from coordinating positions and reaching a joint plan of action to block Iran from becoming a nuclear power, Sullivan merely presented a vague plan of increased sanctions and Security Council condemnations of Iran that the US might implement against Tehran at some point in the future if the Iranian regime fails to agree to reach a nuclear deal in Vienna.

Bennett has no policy for managing relations with the most hostile US administration in history. Although Bennett ostensibly opposes Washington's dictates on nullifying Jewish property rights, Defense Minister Benny Gantz is essentially toeing the administration's line. After Yehuda Dimantman was murdered last Thursday by Palestinian terrorists on his way to his yeshiva in Homesh in Samaria last week, Gantz didn't order the destruction of the terrorists' homes. He ordered the destruction of Dimantman's yeshiva.

Gantz has given retroactive approval for thousands of illegal buildings in Area C that the Europeans built for the Palestinians, and approved the construction of thousands more.

This brings us to Iran's nuclear weapons program. According to Gantz and Lapid, Iran's achievement of independent military nuclear capabilities is imminent. Yet Bennett has no policy for dealing with this state of affairs. Once a week the media report the IDF's detailed operational plans for destroying Iran's nuclear installations. Twice a week the media report that Israel lacks the capacity to attack Iran's nuclear installations and needs America to take care of Iran for us.

These opposing views presumably reflect the points of view expressed in Bennett's security cabinet. There, apparently preventing Iran from achieving independent military nuclear capabilities is presented as an all-or-nothing deal, with no middle ground. Israel has no diplomatic options. It has no option to help the Iranian people bring down the regime. Sabotage is apparently off the table.

Either the entire Israeli Air Force flies to Iran to destroy all of its nuclear sites, or America will rescue Israel – at the cost of Israel's sovereignty and national identity.

What is the source of Bennett's strategic confusion?

Bennett's COVID-19 policies provide a clue. To date, Bennett has only fully implemented one clear-cut decision. He barred all non-Israeli citizens from entering Israel.

Whether you are a grandparent who wants to see your Israeli grandchildren, or a high school class scheduled to spend a year in Israel, if you don't have an Israeli passport, Bennett says, "Keep out."

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

To date, criticism of Bennett's ban on tourists has focused on the economic price Israelis are forced to pay. According to the Israel Association of Travel Agencies and Consultants, by banning entry to foreigners, Bennett has caused severe economic distress to 100,000 travel agents, tour guides and their families.

But there is an additional, much deeper cost: the Jewish cost.

Over the past week, expressions of outrage at Bennett's blanket ban among Diaspora Jews have multiplied. Jews worldwide express feelings of hurt, outrage and humiliation at what they perceive as an abandonment and betrayal. Israel is the homeland of the entire Jewish people – wherever they dwell. Despite this, Bennett is making a distinction between Jews based not on the COVID-19 status, but on the passports they hold.

After South African native Eliyahu Kay was murdered last month as he made his way to work at the Western Wall, members of the South African Jewish community flew to Israel to pay their respects. While their flight was in the air, the government announced a ban on entry to non-Israelis arriving from Africa. The first people to be turned away were the Kay family's friends. They arrived on a Friday morning and were forced to return to South Africa, in violation of Shabbat.

South Africa's Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein lashed out in anger at Bennett's actions.

The ban on Diaspora Jews, he said, "is causing terrible human suffering. It's dividing families, people can't come for family celebrations, or just to see their relatives. It's a moral disgrace, and cannot be defended on the grounds of medical safety."

Bennett's move, Goldstein and many other Diapsora Jews say, is a betrayal of the central foundation of Zionism.

As Goldstein put it, "The future sustainability and success of Israel depend on if it fulfills the reason for its existence. That is to be a Jewish state. If you violate the Jewish identity of the Jewish state, if you take away its reason for being, that is a strategic threat to the state of Israel."

At the outset of his Coronavirus cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Bennett said, "We are discussing the heart of the policy. We who are responsible, have no good options."

Bennett's statement touched the essence of leadership – deciding between imperfect options in an environment of uncertainty, and implementing policies whose ultimate outcome is unknowable.

To succeed at policymaking in conditions of deep uncertainty, every leader requires three things – core convictions, experience, and public support. Unfortunately, Bennett lacks all three.

In the past, Bennett presented himself as a conviction politician. He wrote a book on how to fight COVID-19. He published a plan to apply Israeli sovereignty over Area C and another one to destroy Hamas. When Bennett abandoned his ideological camp to form a government with the left, he abandoned all of his books and plans and any glimmer of a conviction. Now, as prime minister, he has no ideological foundation to guide him.

When Bennett abandoned his ideological camp, he also abandoned his voters. And thus he lacks public support.

Public support is important for two reasons. First, leaders without public support lack the ability to convince their colleagues in government to stand with them. Second, leaders with a public behind them are expected to serve that public.

As for experience, Bennett never held real executive office. Bennett's experience was as a pitchman. He sold start-ups. He set out perfect policies he never had to implement in the real world. He ran campaigns.

So when Prime Minister Bennett talks to his ministers about choosing between bad options, he has no convictions and no experience to guide him. And he has no constituents to whom he owes allegiance. Bereft of all three components of leadership, Bennett is the apotheosis of an empty suit.

Bennett's blanket ban on entry for tourists demonstrated his lack of all three.

To be sure, with the advent of the highly contagious Omicron COVID-19 variant, Israel, like all other states, is compelled to take steps to limit insofar as is practicable the spread of the virus. At the outset of the pandemic two years ago, lacking sufficient COVID-19 tests and treatment protocols, and with no vaccines in sight, the government's decision to temporarily close the borders to non-citizens – like its decision to enact a national shutdown – were understandable.

But today, tests, treatments and vaccines are abundant. An experienced leader guided by Zionist convictions and sensitive to the cost his policy would impose on voters and other important stakeholders, would look at the situation and recognize that there are more options than having the country completely open or completely closed to tourists. For instance, the government could require tourists entering the country to abide by the Green Pass requirements of vaccinations, PCR tests and quarantine. Such a policy would reduce the danger of contagion, while limiting the damage to the economy and relations with Diaspora Jewry.

Bennett can repair the damage he has caused Diaspora Jewry fairly easily by cancelling his entry ban and applying the Green Pass criteria to foreign visitors. Repairing the damage his inexperienced, conviction-free and unsupported positions in all other spheres are causing will not be so simple.

The post The empty suit at the head of the table appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.