For those of us who care deeply about the American and Israeli futures, last week was a double gut punch.
First, it appears Benjamin Netanyahu will not be given the first opportunity to form a coalition. Although he beat Eisenkot 23 to 21 seats, and his bloc had a 53-to-48-seat advantage over Eisenkot and his Yashar party, Eisenkot nonetheless cobbled together 67 recommendations, which was enough to convince President Herzog to offer Eisenkot the opportunity to form a coalition.
Netanyahu, with all his flaws, is definitely the stronger leader of the two party heads. And strong leadership is what Israel needs at this critical point in its history. Dealing with a critically wounded President Trump over the situation with Iran is essential for Israel’s perseverance.
Make no mistake about it: No matter who becomes prime minister of Israel, the world will continue to hate Israel. Remember when Shimon Peres, the darling of the left, while prime minister, ran a campaign against Hezbollah known as Operation Grapes of Wrath? He was soundly condemned by the UN and Europeans for being too aggressive. When Yitzhak Rabin stranded a couple of terrorists in the Jordan Valley, he was equally criticized for mistreating an innocent pharmacist who was among the terrorists detained.
So, we have a lot to be concerned about with the future of Israel, especially if the weaker Eisenkot comes into power.
Then came the American midterms. To say that it was a disaster for Republicans would be putting it mildly. It boggles the mind how the electorate could put into power a party that does not want border control, wants to abolish ICE, and wants to give transgender people full rights to play in girls’ sports. Most ominously for us, it seeks to cripple Israel.
Some of the results can be understood, such as James Talarico winning over Ken Paxton in Texas for United States Senator. Paxton did carry quite a bit of personal baggage, but it still was a stunning victory for the Dems in a deep-red state. Even more shocking was the fall of popular three-term Governor Greg Abbott to an unknown and underfunded candidate named Gina Hinojosa, who pledges to open the border and not cooperate with ICE. Mind-boggling. Equally upsetting is the defeat of New York Congressman Mike Lawler, a big supporter of the Jewish community.
Then there is our greatest nemesis, Abdul El-Sayed, whose hatred for Israel was on full display. He refused to say which was worse, Hamas or Israel. He refused to say that Iran was a bigger threat to America than Israel. His rejection of Jews became very apparent when he campaigned with notorious Jew-hater and America-hater Hasan Piker. Of course, there was the nasty commercial blaming Israel for the high price of eggs and bananas. And we cannot forget his refusal to condemn the terrorist who barged into Temple Israel. “Hurt people hurt people” was his response at the time. Yet, somehow, he managed a comfortable victory over Mike Rogers, who was a commonsense candidate supportive of Israel.
Most upsetting was to read that about 67% of Jews voted for El-Sayed. I saw one middle-aged Jewish woman saying we must do everything we can to stop Trump and the Republicans. I would like to ask her: What was so terrible about Republicans and Donald Trump? What did they do to make your life miserable? Fight anti-Semitism, especially on college campuses? Give total support to Israel?
Pray tell, why are you so deranged with your hatred of Republicans and Donald Trump?
I saw a very disturbing New York Times newspaper clipping from August 1934, which stated, “The League of Jewish Voters in Berlin issued a summons today for all Jews to vote for Chancellor Hitler in the plebiscite Sunday.”
Only Jews are crazy enough to vote for their own enemy, perhaps with their naïve notion that voting for our enemies will soften their stance against us. Never happened and never will. Maybe that was going on in Senator Schumer’s mind when he viciously condemned Haley Stevens for dropping her support of El-Sayed due to his anti-Semitic stances. Great shomer you are, Chuck!
Unfortunately, people such as JD Vance are blaming the Iranian war for the GOP losses. As one meme said, “The Iranians managed to get regime change in America before Trump managed to change the regime in Iran.” Of course, Vance managed to suggest we change our policy toward Israel.
Ari Fleischer, press secretary for former Pres. George W. Bush, reminded Vance that perhaps it was Vance’s failed effort to secure a meaningful ceasefire or his futile Memorandum of Understanding that gave the impetus for the Iranians to keep dragging the war along. We should have finished them when we had the chance.
Only G-d knows what lies in store for the Jewish people. But in the meantime, daven!
Rabbi Yoel Schonfeld is the Rabbi Emeritus of the Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills, President of the Coalition for Jewish Values, former President of the Vaad Harabonim of Queens, and the Rabbinic Consultant for the Queens Jewish Link.