Wednesday, March 18, 2015
From: Gary L. Bauer
Bibi Wins
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — despised by the Obama White House, demonized in a massive ad campaign in Israel by left-wing American political operatives using the same slash-and-burn tactics they have used so well against conservative candidates in recent years, hated by Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran — defied all the odds and won yesterday.
Israel has a multi-party parliamentary system, so a coalition government will likely be formed. But by Israeli standards, Netanyahu’s victory was close to a landslide.
Four days ago, when public polling had to legally stop, it appeared that Netanyahu’s main opposition, Isaac Herzog of the Zionist Union, was going to win four more seats in the Israeli parliament than Netanyahu’s Likud Party and be given the first chance to form a coalition government. Instead, Netanyahu’s Likud won six more seats than the Zionist Union.
If Bibi Netanyahu is the obvious winner, then President Obama is one of the obvious losers. For the last six and a half years, no matter how many times Netanyahu agreed to do what Obama demanded (for example, freezing construction in Judea and Samaria), he got no thanks.
And every time Netanyahu refused to go along to get along, he was attacked by White House aides using rhetoric they have never used against the mullahs of Iran, the Castro brothers or Syria’s Assad.
The administration did everything it could to prevent Netanyahu from coming to Washington to tell the truth about the bad nuclear deal it is negotiating with Tehran.
Kudos again to Speaker John Boehner for inviting Netanyahu to address Congress and for standing his ground. I believe the prime minister’s powerful speech contributed to the outcome of yesterday’s election.
Don’t Expect A Truce
The knives are already out, and they will stay out for the remaining months of Obama’s presidency. The administration and much of the media are furious that Netanyahu said there would be no Palestinian state on his watch.
But here’s the reality: There wasn’t going to be a Palestinian state in the next several years, regardless of whether Netanyahu said so or not.
The reasons are simple. First, Israel has nobody to negotiate with. The Palestinian leadership makes demands that no Israeli prime minister could ever accept. Dividing Jerusalem in half and evacuating 350,000 Israelis out of Judea and Samaria in order to provide land for the new Palestinian state are non-starters.
But the final coup de grace to Israel is the demand of a so-called “right of return” for Palestinian refugees — not to their new state, but to Israel proper. Taken together this does not create a Palestinian state — it ends the Jewish Israeli state.
Here’s another reason it would not happen in the foreseeable future. Day by day, Israel is being surrounded by Iranian military forces and its allies.
Hamas, dedicated to Israel’s destruction, controls Gaza.
Iranian units are operating on the Golan Heights.
Iranian forces are massing on the border with Jordan.
Iranian military leaders have announced, Palestinian state or not, that they are going to be operating in Judea and Samaria.
Israel is facing an existential threat. Meanwhile, European bureaucrats and the Obama White House demand that Israel give up more land for peace. If your friend tells you to jump off a cliff, is he really your friend?
The second round of attacks against Netanyahu comes in response to his warning that his political enemies were busing large numbers of Arab Israelis to the polls. Netanyahu suggested that his opponents were hoping to form a coalition government that included the Arab parties. For this Netanyahu is being accused of race baiting.
The attack is disgusting and laughable at the same time. Israel is one of the most racially diverse countries in the Middle East. Muslim Arab Israelis have been voting for decades. The last election in Gaza was a decade ago.
Here’s the point Netanyahu was making, which his critics are intentionally distorting: Significant numbers of Arab Israelis sympathize with Israel’s enemies. The prime minister would have been derelict if he did not alert voters to what they could have woken up to this morning.
It has been reported that left-wing American political operatives were working to drive up turnout among Arab voters after the splintered Arab parties united in the hopes of toppling Netanyahu’s government. As it stands now, the Arab bloc finished third, behind Likud and the Zionist Union.
How Netanyahu Won
Israeli and American politics are very different. But they are alike in this respect: In both nations there are large numbers of conservative voters who have grown increasingly frustrated that no matter how many times they cast ballots for conservative candidates things never change.
There has been frustration among Israeli conservatives that Netanyahu was not being strong enough in recent years. Many were planning to vote for smaller, more conservative parties or just stay home.
Netanyahu’s understood that problem, and in the closing days of the campaign he did not try to move further to the center. Instead, he staked out solidly conservative positions that energized these frustrated voters.
Another Reason To Celebrate
Had Benjamin Netanyahu lost, the new prime minister would have replaced Israeli Ambassador to the United States Ron Dermer. That would have been a shame in and of itself.
Dermer is an incredibly effective voice for the people of Israel here in America. And, like Netanyahu, he has been targeted by the left.
The next 22 months are going to be difficult. If anybody can navigate these waters and keep the U.S./Israeli alliance strong, it is Prime Minister Netanyahu and his extraordinarily talented ambassador, Ron Dermer.
If you are interested in receiving Mr. Bauer’s daily report by e-mail, please call 703-671-9700, visit SIGN UP FOR GARY BAUER’S “END OF DAY REPORT” or simply send a reply e-mail titled “Subscribe” and include your name and address.
Visit End of Day archives to share reports on Facebook. Follow Gary On Facebook And Twitter.
To be removed from Gary Bauer’s End of Day distribution list, please reply to this message with “Remove” in the subject line.
As a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, donations to American Values are tax deductible for federal income tax purposes. You may donate online by visiting our website or by using the following address in your web browser: https://www.ouramericanvalues.org/american-values-contribution or you may mail contributions to the following address:
American Values
2800 Shirlington Road
Suite 950
Arlington, VA 22206
Phone: 703-671-9700
Fax: 703-671-1680
