By J. Zel Lurie
DELRAY BEACH, Florida — Prime Minister Binyamin “Bibi” Netanyahu knows that he can’t win the election on March 17th. The arithmetic is against him from the left and the right. The new Arab party, which unites Islamists, Nationalists, Communists and just plain Arab citizens who will vote for the first time, will deliver the fatal blow.
But he will go down fighting. He will leave Israel two weeks before the elections on March 17th to fly to Washington to accept the invitation of Republican Speaker of the House, John Boehner, to attack President Barack Obama before both Houses of Congress.
Such hutzpa is unprecedented and completely unacceptable. American Jews have twice voted overwhelmingly for the Democratic President. The Democratic minority in Congress has announced that they will give the White House two months to conclude a nuclear deal with Iran before voting for additional sanctions.
The Republicans want more sanctions now. They think that any deal that Obama will make with Iran may slow Iran down in making the bomb, but will not stop it. Netanyahu agrees. He has wanted to unleash his powerful air force to bomb Iran from the beginning of his term. He has been stopped by the White House. Now is his last chance as Prime Minister.
The fact that he is insulting the bulk of American Jews who have been Israel’s bulwark for many decades does not stand in his way. The Forward points out that he has succeeded in uniting Jeremy Ben Ami, the founding president of J Street, and Chris Wallace, the right wing commentator on Fox News, in opposition to his trip.
Isaac Herzog will be the new Prime Minister of Israel. At some point he will announce that Moshe Kahlon will be the next Minister of Housing. Kahlon is an ex-Likudnic who will gather votes from the right and center. “I am a man of the right,” he says, but he has a history.
Kahlon was high on the Likud list and the 2012 elections. Five days before the election Netanyahu announced his appointment as head of the Israel Land Authority, which owns most of the land in Israel and would have a budget to construct thousands of units inside Israel.
What happened was just the opposite. Another Likudnic was appointed Minister of Housing and fully one- third of his budget went to the settlements.
Kahlon left the Likud and took his reputation with him. As Minister of Communications, he had broken the cell phone monopoly and reduced prices by about 50 percent. He will do the same in housing if given a chance. Herzog will give him a chance.
High prices of housing is the first priority of all voters. Security came in second.
Herzog will form a coalition government that will reach from Meretz on the left of Labor to Kahlon on the right. Don’t expect this to happen until sometime in March. Check me out then.
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President Rivlin in the United States
President Reuven “Rubi” Rivlin is a remarkable man. He has been a Likud politician all his life who advocated one state for Jews, Muslims, and Christians in Israel. Although the state would have a Jewish majority, the rights of the minorities would be protected. As President he has continued in the same vein. He attended the annual memorial to the massacre of Arab citizens in Qassem in 1956, the first Israeli president to do so. He made a speech on protecting Arab rights in Israel.
A couple of months ago the Arab-Jewish school, run by Hand in Hand in Jerusalem was attacked by Jewish fascists.
There are now seven Arab-Jewish primary schools with equal numbers of Arab and Jewish students learning the 3-Rs in Arabic and Hebrew. The first was built by me 25 years ago in the Arab Jewish village of Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam, The Oasis of Peace. Five more, run by Hand in Hand in the three cities and two in the Galilee. Two are independent in Beer Sheba and Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam.
The Jewish fascists came in the dead of night, overcame the guard, and succeeded in burning two classrooms for the first and second grades. Anti-Arab graffiti “Death to the Arabs” was scrawled all over. The Jewish Arabic communities were aroused. The mayor, the minister of education, and other public figures came to visit. Several schools including one yeshiva sent delegations carrying signs “Jews and Arabs are not enemies” and singing songs. Volunteers quickly repaired the damage.
President Rivlin did something most remarkable. He invited the first and second graders, with their Jewish and Arab teachers to the Presidential palace. He made a little speech on Jewish and Arab cooperation and coexistence but he added that the Arabs will always be a minority without actually using these words.
Two states for two peoples will largely solve the problem of the Arab minority in Israel. President Rubi will bring the same message to American Jews, Christians, and Muslims throughout the United States. His message will be most welcome.
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Lurie, still writing columns at age 101, resides in Delray Beach, Florida. Your comment may be posted in the space provided below or sent to jzel.lurie@sdjewishworld.com
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