Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has successfully managed the Government of Israel for over eight months and has navigated his broad coalition with impressive political finesse. Until now all the bumps were minor; domestic, regional, as well as global. Israel and the world await the results of the prolonged, possible re-negotiation in Vienna of the Iran nuclear weapons deal which President Trump abrogated. In addition, the tense, nerve rattling confrontation in Ukraine, has drawn the attention of the entire world as Vladimir Putin toys with the world’s superpower and its allies.
The Israeli Prime Minister, meanwhile, is travelling to Bahrain to expand and enhance Israel’s place in the Arab world. Playing up the success of the Abraham Accords for Israel is clearly a lofty goal, but Bennett has issues simmering at home which he ignores at his peril.
The confrontation between Jewish settlers and Palestinians has produced casualties on the West Bank and this situation has been escalating now for some time. Similarly, the stand-off since May 2021 outside of the Old City of Jerusalem in Sheik Jarrah has now erupted again this week. Politically, Bennett is being attacked from many in the international community when they take their eyes off Ukraine, but the Prime Minister has avoided condemning these demonstrations and skirmishes. His failure to address these problems head-on could provoke another intifada as well as drive his coalition off the cliff.
There are two major underlying issues at the source of both of these confrontations which the Prime Minister must resolve. First, Bennett needs to restore trust among the Arabs living on the West Bank that the rioting hill-top settlers and their supporters will be controlled. Generally, it is the law-abiding Palestinians, their land, and their homes that are being attacked. This has triggered reprisals from the Palestinians against the Jewish settlers. The Palestinians need some form of protection to be provided to them from a police/military/border control force. Permitting the Israeli settlers to provoke actions and to walk away unpunished is unacceptable.
Politically, if Bennett fails to establish credibility and eliminate these random, pointless attacks against Arabs, then Ra’am, the Arab party in the coalition, might dissolve their political agreement with Bennett. (It is clear that the party already achieved its primary goal in joining the Government, with major budgetary increases for infrastructure, schools, roads, etc., in Israeli Arab towns and villages.)
Second and equally difficult, will be how the Prime Minister addresses the extreme, right-wing, ultra-nationalist, Religious Zionist Party (RZA), which, although not in the Government, is rallying many of Bennett’s own right-wing supporters. The leaders of the RZA and Members of the Knesset, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, are stirring up support for the hilltop settlers. This week Ben-Gvir opened a pseudo-office in Beit Jarrah inciting reprisals. He demanded that the Israeli police protect his tent office him at the expense of the Arabs living there. As the country awaits a judicial/political settlement of the right of ownership in Beit Jarrah, Ben-Gvir is inciting anti-Arab demonstrations.
At the same time Smotrich arrived in London only to be greeted by a request from Anglo Jewry that he return to Israel. Smotrich contended that he was travelling to persuade British Jews not to assimilate and that they urge the Israeli Government not to implement a more lenient approach to conversion. Even the historically staid leadership of British Jewish Board of Deputies charged Smotrich with instigating racism and hate against Reform Jews, Arab Israelis, and the LGBTQ community. They said in part that his “far-right politics of hatred and division... have no place in our country nor in our community….”
Bennett is undoubtedly operating from the premise that people in power—especially in a coalition Government--rarely relinquish their power unless absolutely necessary. Some of the members of smaller parties in the coalition—including those in his own seven seat Yamina faction—do not want to make any concessions to the Palestinians or to the Arab residents in Beit Jarrah.
Bennett formed a government with the center, the left, and the Arabs, despite his own personal right-wing allegiances. The Prime Minister now may well seek to appease the right-wing parties, but his left—Meretz and Labor—may eventually bring down the Government. Bennett needs to regain control and stem the violence which is escalating in Jerusalem as well as the cities and towns on the West Bank.
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