WhatsappNot even a day into his role as the new Prime Minister of Israel, Naftali Bennett is now facing a new flare up of hostilities between Hamas led Gaza and Israel.
With the Jerusalem flag march expected to once again ignite tensions in Jerusalem, Hamas is looking for an opportunity to exploit cracks in the new coalition by launching explosive laden balloons. The IDF has already moved iron dome batteries to the Gaza area in anticipation that some sort of conflict could breakout.
The Bennett-Lapid-Abbas coalition is shaky and within 24 hours already lost definitive control over at least two of its 61 members – making it a minority government.
If Bennett reacts with a weak hand, he will prove that a minority government backed by Arab support is untenable. If he reacts in a strong manner he very well could see the end of his coalition through the abandonment of the Arab Raam party.
In fact the head of Raam has already said the following today: “The flag parade in Jerusalem today is a restrained provocation, consisting of shouts of hatred and incitement to violence, and an attempt to set the area on fire for political purposes,” Abbas said, adding: “The Minister of Internal Security and the police should have abolished it. I call on all parties not to escalate and maintain maximum restraint.”
Given all of this, one has to wonder if Bennett understood what he was getting himself into. More than that, running a country like Israel is not some sort of musical chairs where just anyone gets to sit in the Prime Minister’s chair just because there is a loophole to be toyed with.
The understandings of the present “Change” Coalition are supposed to help the grouping focus on internal issues, but like anything else in Israel, nothing exists in a vacuum. Ignoring ongoing security issues as well as geopolitical landmines like Judea and Samaria is effectively pretending to be running a Costa Rica, not the Jewish State.
Today’s Jerusalem flag march may not take down the coalition, but effectively already sets it on a path for dismemberment. The real question why Bennett would enter a coalition and effectively eradicate his political career. The very question reveals just how unsuitable the newest Prime Minster really is for the job.
