Time for a reality check
How convenient it is for the coalition that characters like Joint Arab List MKs Ofer Cassif and Ahmad Tibi are part of the opposition. When they are caught on camera hitting a police officer or disrupting police in the line of duty, then the coalition can adopt its combative tone. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Public Security Minister Omer Barlev can put on a grave expression and condemn the opposition MKs for crossing a red line, and they can back up the police and the security forces while deputy minister Abir Kara collects signatures to impeach Cassif for his "anti-Israel" comportment.
But the maelstrom surrounding Cassif's slap of a police officer is no more than a veil, and an efficient one at that, for the government's other chagrins. Cassif is the same Cassif and Tibi is the same Tibi – both of them are at the far end of the opposition and are well known for their constant and flagrant provocations against the core values of Israeli statehood. The very same statehood that the "government of change" swore to rehabilitate.
If we wish to pretend to be shocked by an anti-Israel stance and debasement of the security forces then we should do so with regard to someone who was allowed to walk into the halls of Israeli statehood thanks to a "political accident." I am referring to Ra'am MK Waleed Taha who said: "How ugly and pitiful is the face of the damned occupation! The occupation murdered Shireen Abu Akleh in cold blood, and also prevents the masses from participating in the pain of her death."
Yamina MK Nir Orbach immediately responded "the fundamental error is in the word 'occupation'" adding, "enough of this mendacious terminology." This led his coalition colleague Meretz MK Mossi Raz to suggest that he look up, "the definition of the term occupation before claiming it does not exist." While it's nice that the opportunity has been found to conduct a symposium on the semantics of the Israeli-Arab conflict, occupation or not, the key term in Taha's tweet was "murder in cold blood."
JPost Editorial: Rinawie Zoabi can no longer represent Israel in China
It’s too early to say for sure whether Meretz MK Ghaida Rinawie Zoabi got what she wanted out of the coalition crisis she manufactured last week – other than attention. But the case shines a light on many problems both in the country’s political system and in the way that diplomatic appointments are made. Rinawie Zoabi surprised Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and his partners when she suddenly announced that she was leaving the coalition to protest what she claimed was a series of problems within the Arab community. Among other things, she cited recent clashes on the Temple Mount, Sheikh Jarrah, settlements, house demolitions, the Citizenship Law and land confiscations in the Negev. The last straw, she said, was the clash between police and the Palestinians who carried the Palestinian flag-draped coffin of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in Jerusalem.New Dialogue and Collaboration between EU and Israel
Rinawie Zoabi is no stranger to making bold protest measures. In January, she voted against the government’s bill on the ultra-Orthodox military draft, which as a result did not pass. She said then that she was voting to protest JNF tree planting on land which Bedouin residents of the Negev claim is theirs. Largely as a result of this protest gesture, instead of being punished within the coalition, Rinawie Zoabie was rewarded with a prestigious diplomatic appointment meant to remove the unpredictable lawmaker from the Knesset. She was, the government decided, to become Israel’s consul-general in Shanghai. Tellingly, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid gave the appointment to a Meretz MK, rather than to a member of his own Yesh Atid list. This was another reason to suspect that the appointment was largely a means to remove Rinawie Zoabi from the Knesset where she could endanger the government’s survival.
Her decision to resign from the coalition (but not the Knesset) was interpreted as a protest at what she sees as stalling over her appointment as consul-general, which still has to go through different channels for approval, like any official diplomatic appointment.
Although the position is considered to be more focused on commercial and financial ties, a field in which she is indeed qualified, the fact that she frequently attacks the government and the country makes her unsuitable for a post representing it. During a barrage of Hezbollah rockets from Lebanon in August, she went as far as telling KAN Radio that “Bennett knows that if the government enters into a military confrontation, the coalition will fall because Meretz and Ra’am will not agree to such a thing.” It was an open warning to the government that it could not respond to attacks from the terrorist organization and survive.
European Parliament President Roberta Metsola is visiting Israel and will address the Knesset on Monday, symbolizing an encouraging and dramatic change in Europe's tone and approach in its relations with the Jewish state.
Europeans have become much more suspicious of Iran. The danger of Iran's nuclear and hegemonic ambitions was amplified after the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Russia's nuclear threats, which shook the Europeans at their core. Statements criticizing anti-Zionism as a disguise for anti-Semitism are also becoming more prevalent among Europe's most influential voices. The EU has withheld funds from UNRWA due to the incitement against Jews and Israelis in Palestinian textbooks.
Moreover, a number of European nations have experienced acts of radical, Islamic terror and are wary of shifting demographics within their own societies that could be susceptible to further Islamic radicalization. At the same time, Israel's economic success and its pioneering prowess in the high-tech sector have increased its stature in Europe.