Friday, November 04, 2022
Elder of Ziyon
The headlines in Haaretz alone makes one wonder when they will be predicting a plague of locusts in the wake of the Likud bloc victory.
All of these are from today.
Yes, Bibi has destroyed Judaism!
The thing is, we've seen this before. We saw similar warnings from the media, pundits, "experts" and American Jewish leaders every single time a right wing government won an election in Israel.
Yet is was the Israeli Right that made peace with Egypt, the helped drive the Abraham Accords, that has given record amounts of monetary support for Arab Israelis.
I cannot predict what this government will do. However, the fears are quite clearly overblown, and too many people are buying into the insane and inane predictions.
Here's what I do know:
* Israel is a strong democracy with checks and balances in its government. It cannot turn fascist because of a minister or two.
* Netanyahu is a brilliant politician and the leader of the largest elected party. He will make deals to keep his larger agenda moving, but if there is something he opposes, it will not happen.
* Netanyahu already has a long record of leadership. We know his opinions and positions. The concern that he will suddenly change his political opinions - which have been quite moderate, despite the media coverage - is ridiculous.
* Newspapers and pundits gain readers by making up predictions that are extreme, and they rarely get punished for being wrong - so there is little incentive for sober analysis in the the more prominent outlets.
My opinion of Netanyahu has gone down since the previous election, but he has made his positions and vision clear. He is not going to be manipulated by any other MK or minister - he's the one who manipulates them. Things will largely be the way they were during his previous terms, which were largely pragmatic.
The sky isn't falling, and those making the overblown predictions are as unreliable as the ones that predicted Begin and Sharon were going to start wars.
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