Bibi’s Not Out

I listened to a fascinating discussion about Israel’s volatile political situation. Hosted by the Washington Institute, this discussion featured David Makovsky and Dennis Ross. The former is with the Institute and Ross of course has been a negotiator/diplomat going back to the Clinton administration.

I don’t exactly think Ross is a bad guy, but he does appear to be naïve and locked-into humanistic models for diplomacy. In other words, it was clear from the conversation that the Bible plays no part in Washington policy.

Makovsky focused on the positive things from Naftali Bennett’s brief tenure. This, according to Makovsky, was that Bennett brought great diversity—historic—that the Knesset had not had before. That this includes the Islamist party Ra’am seems not to bother centrists.

Makovsky also said that Bennett brought “normalcy” back to the government, along with deepening ties with neighboring Arab states. Ross later also gave Bennett props for “building on” what Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump had forged with the Abraham Accords. As for the elections scheduled for October, Makovsky predicted it will continue to be close (“World War I trench warfare, with no one able to land a knockout punch”) and that perhaps only 100,000 voters (out of a nation of nine million) will decide who gets to be prime minister.

Ross contrasted Bennett’s style with that of Netanyahu’s (still Israel’s longest-serving PM), saying that the younger politician wanted to emphasize how differing parties could get along. Bennett feels that “We all agree on 70 percent” of the issues facing the country, so the remainder shouldn’t cause final divisions.

The Post’s editor Yaakov Katz doesn’t like Netanyahu, and he makes no secret of that:

“Netanyahu might be coming back. That is a fact of life. The government he will potentially form is one that should have Israelis concerned. It will be a government that will have one key purpose – getting him out of court and stopping the legal proceedings against him.

“To those who think that it is too late because the trial has already started, think again. Be sure that Netanyahu’s foremost goal will be this – finding a way out of his trial.”

And of course, there are those that support Netanyahu largely because he brings security in an age of terrorism. And Ross, though he worked for Clinton and Obama, he said something very interesting about the prospects that Netanyahu will return to the PM’s office. We write-off certain candidates at our own peril. For example, in the 1982 Lebanon War, Ariel Sharon (then defense minister), was castigated for murders that took place in the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps. The ensuing investigation caused Sharon to resign. Yet 20 years later, he became prime minister.

Likewise, three years into Netanyahu’s first stint, he lost widely to Ehud Barak. He was gone from the political spotlight for 10 years…then returned and is now the longest-serving prime minister in Israel’s history.

Sadly, until we get to the point of knowing whether Bibi will return, Israel will be led by caretaker PM Yair Lapid. I’m not thrilled by that choice, but it’s part of the deal he struck with Bennett a year ago.

In summation, Makovsky and Ross seem to favor a “more modern” (my term) PM, one that will be willing to compromise with the Arabs.

But they’ve been compromising for decades. Still terrorism. The trick for Netanyahu will be to garner enough support to avoid yet more new elections. In October, Israel will hold its fifth such election in three years. In some ways, the Knesset is an impossible model, with scores of small parties wielding a lot of power because they can bring down a government; that’s just what happened to Bennett’s fragile coalition.

Netanyahu, now past 70, will need to convince enough younger voters that he’s the guy.

Let’s pray that’s the case.

Jim1fletcher@yahoo.com

Lack of Vision 

One of my favorite topics, in a very sad way, is the absolutely vicious enemy that Israel has…from the Christian community. I have written about it extensively recently. 

This week came word that an employee for World Vision was convicted by an Israeli court of being a terrorist and aiding terror organizations, namely, Hamas. Before commenting further, I want to post two quotes from entities I consider to be anti-Israel: Christianity Today and World Vision. First, CT’s statement: 

“An Israeli court convicted Mohammad el-Halabi, former Gaza director for World Vision International, on terrorism charges Wednesday. The Beersheba District Court ruled that he is guilty of being a member of a terror organization, providing information to a terror group, taking part in forbidden military exercises, and carrying a weapon. 

“Halabi has not yet been sentenced. He is expected to appeal the ruling. 

“Israeli state prosecutors accused Halabi of aiding Hamas terrorists by diverting millions of dollars from World Vision International to arm militants in Gaza. Halabi and his supporters adamantly denied these charges and claim the Israeli authorities were merely looking for a way to disrupt humanitarian aid that was going to Palestinian children.”

Now, World Vision:

 “World Vision acknowledges with disappointment the decision issued by the Beersheva District Court convicting Mr. Mohammad El Halabi. 

 “We have previously expressed our significant concerns about this case, as noted in our prior statements (see below). In our view there have been irregularities in the trial process and a lack of substantive, publicly available evidence. We support Mohammad’s intent to appeal the decision, and call for a fair and transparent appeal process based on the facts of the case.

“As followers of Jesus Christ, World Vision is accountable to the children and families we serve, to our donors, and most of all to God to be faithful stewards. We strongly condemn any act of terrorism or support for such activities, and reject any attempt to divert humanitarian resources or exploit the work of humanitarian organisations operating anywhere. 

 “We are saddened that our work helping Gaza’s most vulnerable children has been disrupted for so long, and we hope to return to Gaza. We remain committed to improving the lives of vulnerable children in the region, and hope we will be able to advance our humanitarian work in the context of our longstanding cooperation with the relevant Israeli and Palestinian authorities.

 “World Vision is a global Christian relief, development and advocacy organisation dedicated to working with children, families and communities to overcome poverty and injustice. World Vision serves all people, regardless of religion, race, ethnicity, or gender.”

Notice both storied Christian organizations in essence accuse Israel of lying. World Vision has a long history of working with Palestinian terror groups, under the guise of course of helping children. 

El Halabi was convicted mainly by evidence gathered by the intelligence communities, including the Shin Beit. But of course CT and World Vision reject that, because of course they know, right? Haha.

I was on to World Vision years ago and what I hear most often is, “But they are such a wonderful humanitarian organization!” I’m not quibbling about what else they do. My issue is that they should not be working with Hamas, Murder, Inc. 

 World Vision is headed by people that have a problem with Israel. Center-leftists that either are duped by the Palestinians, or are complicit in their hatred of Jews.

 Frontpage noted World Vision’s flirtation with terror entities:

 “The Obama administration’s decision to provide funding to ISRA [Islamic Relief Agency] in the face of such evidence of terrorist links was not the product of some inadvertent bureaucratic blunder. It turns out, according to the National Review report, that ‘government officials specifically authorized the release of at least $115,000 of this grant even after learning that it was a designated terror organization.’ World Vision Inc. notified USAID in November 2014 of its belief that ISRA had been designated as a terrorist organization, which the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) confirmed. However, World Vision still wanted to continue working with ISRA because of its ‘excellent’ performance. After OFAC denied World Vision a license to engage in transactions with ISRA because of the terrorist designation, World Vision appealed directly to the Obama administration’s director of USAID’s Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance for help with OFAC. It wanted a new license to pay ISRA what ISRA claimed to be owed for work performed. OFAC relented, authorizing a one-time transfer of $115,000 ‘for services performed under the sub-award with USAID.’ According to the National Review article, an unnamed World Vision official described OFAC’s decision as a ‘great relief as ISRA had become restive and had threatened legal action, which would have damaged our reputation and standing in Sudan.’” 

Several years ago, then-World Vision employee Mae Cannon was instrumental in bringing pro-PLO speakers into American churches. Much of this kind of activity occurred during the tenure of Rich Stearns as head of World Vision. Several World Vision reports white-washed Hamas activities in Gaza.

 Pay close attention to how Christian media treat this story. They are as anti-Semitic as anyone.

 Jim1fletcher@yahoo.com