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Netanyahu Nixes New Elections in Bid to Save Gov’t; Cites Severe Security Threat

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Most Israelis were skeptical regarding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claim that he thwarted the toppling of his government because of a severe security threat. Rather, they believe he did so for political reasons, a new poll indicates.

Netanyahu, in an address to the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Monday, said that Israel is “in a military campaign that has not yet ended. At this sensitive security time, it would be irresponsible to topple the government.”

Israeli politicians, Minister of Justice Ayelet Shaked (left) and the Education and Diaspora Affairs Minister Naftali Bennett, both of the Jewish Home party. In a major turn of events, Bennett has said his party will remain in the government coalition, despite threats last week that he would leave if not given the Defense Minister position. Photo Credit: Shutterstock

“Whether our partners decide to topple the government or not, we will continue to take action to ensure the security of our state and of our people. We will do so sensibly, responsibly and with determination,” he added, emphasizing the security threat that is dictating his decisions.

While Netanyahu has been successful in saving his government for the time being, a Monday poll shows he has failed to convince the public of his motives, according to a report on the World Israel News web site.

A poll conducted by Mina Tsemach and Mano Geva shows that 58 percent of the public believes Netanyahu was motivated by politics in his battle to save his coalition, while only 31 percent said he was genuinely concerned by an unspecified security crisis; 11 percent said they were unsure.

In related news, a poll on the current political scene shows that Netanyahu’s Likud party has maintained its lead and that the latest political crisis did little to affect the public’s vote.

Respondents were asked for whom they would vote if elections were held today, and the results show that the Likud would take control of a quarter of the Knesset with 30 seats. Trailing far behind is Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party with 18 mandates, and the Zionist Union-Labor party would lose significant power with only 12 seats.

If elections were held today in Israel Avigdor Liberman’s party would gain two seats, a show of support for his move to resign as minister of defense last week over the government’s security policies. Photo Credit: Shutterstock

Avigdor Liberman’s party gained two seats, a show of support for his move to resign as minister of defense last week over the government’s security policies, according to the WIN report.

The extreme left-wing Meretz party barely makes it into the Knesset with only four seats.

Many variables are still shrouded in obscurity. The parties’ final configuration is yet unclear, and therefore these poll results are reflective only of a short-term trend.

Kulanu Chairman Moshe Kahlon told a meeting of his Knesset faction Monday that he expects elections to take place as early as March despite the Jewish Home’s decision to remain in the government, according to a report on the TPS web site.

“It’s hard to believe this business will hold,” said Kahlon, “we are in preparations for elections in March.”

Kahlon’s comments came just hours after Jewish Home Chairman Naftali Bennett said he was “withdrawing all political demands” and would keep his party in the government.

In a major turn of events, Bennett has said his party will remain in the government coalition, despite threats last week that he would leave if not given the Defense Minister position, according to the TPS report.

During a press conference on Monday morning, the Education and Diaspora Affairs Minister heavily criticized Prime Minister Netanyahu and his defense policies, but said he would “stand by the prime minister’s side” in an attempt to fix Israel’s “deep security crisis.

“The ship of Israel’s security has sailed in the wrong direction,” he said. “Israel has stopped winning. We think that there is no answer to terror, to rockets and mortars. But there is an answer, we can get back to winning.”

Kulanu Chairman MK Moshe Kahlon told a meeting of his Knesset faction Monday that he expects elections to take place as early as March despite the Jewish Home’s decision to remain in the government. “It’s hard to believe this business will hold,” said Kahlon, “we are in preparations for elections in March.” Photo Credit: Shutterstock

He added that “the ball is in the Prime Minister’s court.

“Will we stop being startled by Hamas? Will we stop being afraid and dismantle Khan al Ahmar? The real test is now. The public is sick of words,” Bennett said. “If the Prime Minister is serious in his intentions, I am saying now, we will remove every political demand and we will stand here to help if it means that Israel win once again.”

Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked added that “it was no secret that the Prime Minister didn’t want us to be a part of his government, despite the fact we are the natural partners in ideology. “We were wrong,” she said, “We had to partner with Yair Lapid [Yesh Atid] to become a part of the coalition.”

Shaked added that the Jewish Home party sees politics as a tool to enact policy and serve the public. “We are public servants with responsibility. We will not run away from it. Naftali Bennett will make sure we win and our enemies will fear us again.”

Prior to the press conference, Netanyahu addressed the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting on Monday by reiterating his stance following his speech on Sunday night.

“As I said last night, we are in a battle that has not yet ended. In such a sensitive period of security, it is irresponsible to topple the government,” he said. “Whether our partners decide to overthrow the government or not, we will continue to act to ensure the security of our country and the security of our citizens.

“We will do this with all reason, responsibility and determination,” Netanyahu added, saying that he trusts the IDF, the security forces, and the citizens of Israel.

“Together we can meet any challenge – and we will ensure the security of Israel,” the prime minister concluded.

Hamas last Monday night and Tuesday unleashed a barrage of some 500 rockets from Gaza aimed at civilian targets, killing one man and wounding some 80 Israelis at various locations throughout the south. Some 150 rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system. However, some 25 structures inside Israeli communities were hit by the rockets. Israeli were forced to run for cover while sirens repeatedly blared. Photo Credit: Shutterstock

Bennett and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked had previously given an ultimatum to Prime Minister Netanyahu that if he were not given the defense portfolio vacated last week by Avigdor Liberman he would pull out of the coalition forcing early elections. However, Netanyahu said Sunday night that he would take up the position of defense minister himself, adding that Israel was in a “complex” security situation and that any party that pulled out would be acting irresponsibly and possibly handing power to the Left.

Addressing his Likud faction, after Bennett’s morning press conference, Netanyahu reiterated his stance that the government must be allowed to complete its term.

“I told coalition party leaders we can’t topple the coalition, they need to show responsibility,” said Netanyahu, “I am pleased the efforts bore fruit. We have a whole year until the election.”

Netanyahu urged his party members to exercise discipline due to the fact that the current coalition consists of only 61 MKs – a razor-thin majority in the 120 seat Knesset.

“We have to show coalition discipline. No rebels, no personal deals. The Security Cabinet cannot be leaky or turn into a political bartering ram. We can’t mix politics and security,” Netanyahu said.

Taking a swipe at Bennett in the wake of criticism levelled against his security policy levelled at him by the Jewish Home leader, Netanyahu said: “I don’t need supervisors from the right. I am protecting us, our country, our children. I’ve led the country for 11 years. No PM faced the pressures I did to not build in Judea and Samaria and stood up to it.”

Netanyahu also hit back at Bennett over his claim that IDF soldiers “are more afraid of the Military Advocate General than they are of [Hamas military leader] Yahya Sinwar.“ “IDF soldiers are not afraid of anything,” Netanyahu said.

Hamas last Monday night and Tuesday unleashed a barrage of some 500 rockets from Gaza aimed at civilian targets, killing one man and wounding some 80 Israelis at various locations throughout the south.

Some 150 rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system. However, some 25 structures inside Israeli communities were hit by the rockets. Israeli were forced to run for cover while sirens repeatedly blared.

However, Palestinian Authority (PA) head Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah Movement found this nightmarish reality a cause to mock the fleeing Israelis.

On Nov. 13, Fatah posted on its official Facebook page a photo showing Israeli ambulances and an emergency medical team in the street at night, apparently in one of the towns hit be rocket fire, with the text: “Going down to the shelters, their hearts filled with fear.”

Another two images posted by the Palestinian Information Center, an independent Palestinian news website affiliated with Hamas, emphasize the terrorizing aspect of the missiles aimed at Israeli civilians who, according to these images, were forced to flee their towns, which in turn became “ghost towns.”

“The Palestinian resistance is turning the occupied settlement of Ashkelon into a ghost town as a result of the repeated missile attacks,” one image says, while another claims “Ashkelon is a ghost town.”

Another text states: “emigration from Palestine under the resistance’s missiles.”

The image shows a woman sitting with a doll in a rocking chair with ghosts around her in the middle of a street. As if to emphasize Hamas’ power to scare Israelis into fleeing, the Hamas-affiliated news site took the image of the woman in the chair from the 2013 American horror movie The Conjuring.

Another cartoon shows a woman and child leaving the city of Ashkelon, which is marked by a sign with the city’s logo and its name in English and Hebrew. A building with the IAI logo and “IAI” (Israel Aerospace Industries) written on it is sending signals through a transmitter to aircraft flying overhead. The aircraft appear to be drones, possibly launched by Hamas. Transmitters are also seen sending signals from on top of residential buildings in the background.

The text says: “The army is using the city [of Ashkelon] in the cruel operations against us, and therefore we will respond to this. It is preferable to move as far away from the city as possible.”

Another show of support from Fatah to Hamas came from the Deputy Chairman of the Fatah Movement, Mahmoud Al-Aloul, who stated that while Hamas was firing wildly at Israel, “the differences” between Fatah and Hamas are “nothing but a secondary disagreement.”

“The Fatah Movement has always adhered to the principle and will never deviate from it – the only conflict is with the Israeli occupation, and the distinctions and differences between the Fatah Movement and the Hamas Movement are nothing but a secondary disagreement,” he stated, according to the official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida.

Western countries often differentiate between the allegedly moderate Fatah and the terrorist Hamas group. Al-Aloul, one of the Palestinian officials considered a possible replacement for Abbas, disagrees.

Others who have a bone to pick with Netanyahu are a significant number of Ethiopian Jews who feel that promises made to them by the current government in Israel were not fulfilled. Tazpit Press Service reported that in a bid to encourage the Israeli government to act, hundreds of Ethiopian Jews protested in the capital Addis Ababa on Monday, accusing Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Likud-led government of “failing” them after being promised they would be allowed to move to Israel.

According to the TPS report, community representatives from Addis Ababa and Gondar told those taking part in the demonstration that the Israeli government “were dragging their feet in coming to their rescue.”

Leaders said Ethiopian Jews are starving, ostracized, and deprived of basic needs in Africa.

Eyayu Abuhay, a community organizer, told the Associated Press that 50 Ethiopian Jews have died since 2015, while waiting to join their family members in Israel.

“We want Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to come to our rescue before we all die here,” he said.

Neggousa Zemene Alemu, head coordinator of the Ethiopian Jews in the Ethiopian cities of Addis Ababa and Gondar said that Ethiopian Jews, including lawmakers, living in Israel should think twice before voting for the Likud party, “because the party’s leader [Netanyahu]…is not keeping his words to help us emigrate to Israel.

“I don’t believe the Israeli government has a financial problem to bring the remaining Ethiopian Jews back to Israel,” he said, adding that he thinks “it is a political move or racism.”

Those taking part in the demonstration are classified as Falashmuras, who claim to be descendants of Ethiopian Jews, but are not recognized by Israel because many underwent conversion to Christianity although they remained close to their Jewish roots.

Last month, the government decided to allow 1,000 Ethiopian Jews to move to Israel, while in September, Netanyahu said some 1,300 could also make aliya.

Many of those slated to move would be leaving many family members behind, the community leaders said at the demonstration.

Prior to this, in 2015, the government compiled a list and said it would allow 9,000 Ethiopians to immigrate to Israel within five years on the basis of family reunion, but community leaders emphasized that the Israeli government has not kept its word.

There are between 8,000 and 10,000 Falashmuras still in Ethiopia. The Ethiopian Jewish community in Israel numbers at about 140,000.

(WIN, TPS, UWI)

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