Bella Davidov

Two Roadblocks to a Unity Government

April 20, 2020 By Bella Davidov Leave a Comment

At present, the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) is still an interim government. However, the coronavirus crisis has now forced the two larger parties and their blocs to attempt to form an emergency unity government. Two main roadblocks are hindering the formation of a unity government. The Likud and Blue & White, continue to meet despite their disagreements.

The First Roadblock: DESTROYING OUR DEMOCRACY

One roadblock is Likud’s demand for legislation preventing the High Court of Justice to rule on Netanyahu’s right to serve as Prime Minister as he faces three charges of corruption.

Gantz, leader of Blue & White and currently Knesset speaker, wants legislation that would bar an MK under indictment from serving as Prime Minister (meaning Netanyahu.) This would change the ‘Basic Law’, which can only happen by winning a vote. At least 61 Knesset Members must vote for the change. ‘Basic Laws’ form the roots of democracy in Israel. Clause 18 stipulates that the Prime Minister may continue in office even if under indictment. The law also states that the Prime Minister can remain in office even if a district court convicts him of a crime carrying moral turpitude because the ruling can be appealed before the Supreme Court. He would only be removed from office if the Supreme Court rejects such an appeal and the ruling becomes final.

In most democracies, the accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond any reasonable doubt. If found guilty and convicted, the accused can still appeal. In the case of Israel’s Basic Laws, the decision by the administrative authority to try someone doesn’t make the elected official guilty. The lawmakers rightly believed that a public official (unelected judges, or Attorney General) should not be empowered with the authority to dismiss a Prime Minister. In a democratic country, the will of the people is the foundation of democracy. The Prime Minister is chosen by the public. An Attorney-General or a court cannot and should not intervene in the political arena and dismiss an elected official. This is what the Likud and Netanyahu are objecting to.

Israel needs to maintain its strength and stability during the storm that rages around us. Just before the current coronavirus crisis, Israel faced the possibility of a government coalition that would include the Joint Arab List with its anti-Jewish leaders. The Joint Arab List is made up of Israeli Arab factions whose leaders reject Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state. Israel, being a democracy, allows ANY elected Israeli citizen to serve as a Knesset member (a member of the Parliament,) even when they openly support Palestinian terrorism and the Palestinian cause. Some of them publically object Israel’s right to self-determination and accuse an Israeli army general of war crimes against the Palestinians in the international court. Hence, it was surprising that the Blue & White party, which is made up of three Israeli army generals would admit those Arab leaders in their bloc. Many Israelis objected, and even within the bloc, there was an outrage, causing some members to leave the party.

Leader of Blue & White, Benny Gantz and another former IDF chief, Gabi Ashkenazi agreed to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s call to try to form a unity government with Netanyahu’s right-wing bloc. The Arab Joint List pulled out, thereby the disaster that would have endangered Israel’s identity as being the State of the Jews was avoided.

The Second Roadblock: ESTABLISHING BORDERS

Gantz announced very proudly that without him, Netanyahu cannot form a government. The thought that Netanyahu needs him, gave him the power to increase his demands, which were disproportional to the size of his bloc compared to the Likud. He may have had the interest of the nation in mind and the urgent need for unity at this crucial time, but he is taking advantage of the situation to try and force Netanyahu to give in to his demands.

Does Gantz understand the need at this time for clear, bold strategic actions to maintain Israel’s stability in the region? Israel must fortify the borders, making clear Israel’s intention to defend them. Our neighbors must know exactly where Israel’s red lines are and not to cross them.

Israel’s borders with Egypt and Lebanon are clear, and by annexing the Golan heights a few years back (and thanks to US recognition of Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights), the border with Syria is clear. These neighbors know where the line is located, but not so on the eastern border. The eastern border is problematic as well as Judea and Samaria.

Now we have the opportunity to apply national law (annexation) to the Jordan Valley and Northern Dead Sea region. This will prevent confusion and uncertainty. With the help of President Trump’s peace plan, Israel can expand its communities, and direct transportation, road infrastructures in the Valley to link the eastern area to the rest of the country.

Gantz is concerned that this move will jeopardize the peace with Jordan. Therefore, he thinks Israel must first receive Jordan’s approval before applying its law to the border. But empowering Jordan with the right to define Israel’s border, will also empower the most extremist among the Jordanians and will contribute to Jordan’s instability. It is therefore in the best interest of Jordan and of maintaining the peace with Israel that the eastern border is clearly set. The same is true regarding the Palestinian Authority in Judea and Samaria.

There are more than 300,000 Israelis in Judea and Samaria who must be connected to Israel proper. Even the Health Ministry agrees that annexing Judea and Samaria will provide better care in the coronavirus crisis for all its citizens.

The PA authority in the territory also benefits from Israeli know-how and guidance in dealing with this crisis, thereby increasing the stability of the region. The more certainty and stability Israel conveys, the more the Palestinians in Judea and Samaria will agree to live in peace with Israel. By opposing the application of Israel’s sovereignty in these areas at this time, Gantz and his bloc uphold the left’s naive and false belief that the only way to peace is through appeasement.

The worst period of Palestinian terror occurred when Israel compromised the most, and failed to determine clear boundaries. We must not allow this to happen again.

2020: Result of the Third Election

March 14, 2020 By Bella Davidov Leave a Comment

Netanyahu’s Likud party is the clear winner in this most recent election, which won 36 seats. Second is centrist party Blue and White that won 33 seats. Blue and White, headed by former Chief of Staff Benny Gantz is comprised of Moshe Ya’alon’s Telem’s party, Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid, and his own Israel Resilience Party.

The Arab Joint List political alliance, now the third-largest party in Israel drew 15 seats. The Shas Sephardic religious party has 9, United Torah Judaism 7, and the right-wing Yamina, headed by Defense Minister Naftali Bennett, has six seats.

Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu has 7, and the alliance of Israel’s left-wing parties – Labor-Gesher-Meretz – both won 7 seats.

The right bloc under Netanyahu’s leadership has 58 seats and the center/left bloc under Blue and White has 55, which includes the Arab Joint list of 15 seats. This leaves Lieberman’s Israel’s Home party with 7 seats alone in the middle.

PM Netanyahu may be 3 seats short

Interim Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s block of right-wing seats is three short of the 61 seats needed to form a viable coalition government. Lieberman is once again in the role of potential kingmaker. With his 7-seat party, he could determine, by recommendation to President Reuven Rivlin, who would be the one to form a government.

Up until the evening of the elections, the second-largest party headed by Benny Gantz, composed of three ex-military generals and one popular ex-newsman, did all they could with their ‘anyone-but-Bibi’ platform. They tried three times before and couldn’t beat him. Once again, they lost. Would it be different on the fourth try?

Everyone agrees on one thing–a fourth-round is unnecessary. It isn’t efficient or logical. Three elections have confirmed that the majority of Israeli voters support the Prime Minister and his policies and that the other parties can’t beat him at the ballot box.

However, rather than admit defeat, Blue and White has chosen the irresponsible undemocratic way–instead of what’s best for the Jewish nation’s welfare. They have chosen not to end this stalemate and join with Netanyahu to form a coalition.

A strong legitimate government is needed at this time. Historic and critical decisions are pending, such as the ‘Deal of the Century’. The State of Israel has a short window of opportunity to impose sovereignty over the Jordan Valley and communities in Judea and Samaria.

The result of this election show that the right-wing block has the majority of the votes and can be expected to implement right-wing policies (excluding the anti-Zionist Arab Joint List). For the sake of the country, it is imperative to quickly form a national government that guarantees the implementation of the right-wing policies. Whoever agrees with this vision should be welcome to join. Netanyahu has started his negotiations to find Knesset Members from the opposition who might be persuaded to join with the right.

Lawfare

However, since the opposition Blue and White hasn’t beaten Netanyahu at the ballot box, it has chosen to try to defeat him by making him step down by using his legal issues as an excuse. By this, they completely ignore the basic law which states Netanyahu can serve as Prime Minister while he is on trial, which could be years. With this election, the public gave Netanyahu a mandate to continue at his post.

The opposition claims he can’t do his job while busy with legal matters. Netanyahu has proven repeatedly that he can function while under great pressure. He isn’t required to attend every court hearing, so his lawyers will be able to do their work at court until a final judgment is rendered, which could take years. Meanwhile, he can manage the country as the law explicitly permits. The Israeli public concurs since the majority voted for him—again!

Conspiring to create new legislation

Blue and White Party, Avigdor Lieberman, and the Arabic Joint List conspire to create new legislation that would ban a politician under criminal indictment from becoming Prime Minister. This effort to topple a serving Prime Minister on sketchy charges, or just inappropriate behavior, is clearly an act of desperation on the part of those who despise Netanyahu and are determined to topple him by any means possible.

The draft legislation can only be presented in the Knesset once the new parliament has been sworn in, some two weeks from now.

To guarantee the bill’s passage, Gantz of Blue and White will have to muster the largest number of MKs to back him as the next Prime Minister, receive the mandate to form a government from the president, and then take control of the Knesset’s Arrangements Committee. A new Knesset speaker would have to be elected to replace the present speaker, Likud’s Yuli Edelstein to ensure that the bill makes it through within certain deadlines.

In this dramatic move, Lieberman’s announcement shows for the first time he is clearly taking sides in the battle between the center-left and right.

Israel is a democracy!

Right-wing politicians have denounced the law, claiming that it is a personal legislation specifically designed to prevent Netanyahu from forming a government. Netanyahu also assailed the draft law, saying, “The move led by Gantz and his associates undermines democracy.”

If passed into law, it will be an undemocratic move. It will take the power to decide who would run for the office of PM away from the people, and put it in the hands of the unelected Attorney General. The majority of the people voted for Netanyahu even with a criminal indictment against him, because they believe he is not guilty and that he is best suited for the position. Therefore, the bill will cancel the results of this recent election, when two million Israelis voted for Netanyahu’s Likud party and his right wind block. This will make the voters irrelevant, which is not what democracy is all about. For Israel to remain the democracy it claims to be, the power of the vote must stay with the people.

At present, the elected bodies of Israel’s governing system, meaning the Knesset (Israeli parliament) and the government are being checked by the legal system, but there is no one above them to check them. They can, and they do override government ruling that doesn’t suit them.

Dealing with the Arab Joint List

**Benny Gantz meeting with Aymen Odeh and Ahmad Tibi of the Arab Joint List**

As it stands now, the new Knesset will be sworn on March 17. Parties will give the president their recommendation of either Netanyahu or Gantz to form the government. He will have 42 days or the decision will go over to the other candidate. Lieberman and the Arab Joint List will probably recommend Gantz. But then they will negotiate and give him their demands to actually join him in a coalition. The Arab Joint List has already hinted that their list will include more demands than last time as they feel they have more power this time because without them Gantz will not be able to form a coalition. Among their demands is that the government refuse to accept Trump’s deal.

Blue and White’s party has a two-step plan to avoid a fourth round of elections. The initial phase is to form a minority coalition with Labor-Gesher-Meretz and Yisrael Beiteinu, with outside support by Arab Joint List, and a second phase that assumes, once a minority government is formed, that members of various right-wing parties would be willing to join the coalition. During the whole campaign, the Blue and White party claimed they would not sit with the Arab Joint List in a coalition and would not rely on their votes to form one. Gantz declared very definitely: “No, we don’t need them. Everyone should know: we won’t sit with Arabs.” Now that they have no choice, they’re starting to negotiate with members of the Arab Joint List – at least some of them.

Will some MKs changes sides?

Meanwhile, Blue and White MKs Tzvi Hauser and Yoaz Hendel refused to back a minority government relying upon a coalition with the Arab Joint List. Without Hendel and Hauser, Gantz’s majority over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing block would fall to 60-58 and make it necessary for Gantz to rely on the three MKs of Balad, the most extreme Arab party in the Knesset whose past MKs have been convicted of aiding terrorist groups. Now another MK member, Orli Levy-Abekasis from Gesher party, who reluctantly joined the left bloc, refused to join a government that relies on the support of Joint Arab List member Balad, which denies the existence of the Jewish nation. Anyway, her natural home is not in the left block. Let’s hope the three of them will join the right block. The best Blue and White can get is a rotation as Prime Minister with Netanyahu serving the first year, followed by two years of Gantz and then whoever would be Likud’s leader serving the final year.

Let’s pray that some of the members of the Blue and White coalition, be it the ex-generals who fought against Israel’s enemies, or Amir Peretz from the Labor party who was responsible for the manufacture and use of the Iron Dome by the Israeli Army, join the winning bloc of Netanyahu’s right and form a functioning democratic government.

Protesters are planning to gather outside the homes of Hauser and Gesher MK Orly Levi. The protests are set to be held under the banner: “Don’t give the keys to the State to terrorist supporters.”

Infection Election

March 2, 2020 By Bella Davidov Leave a Comment

About to Go to the Polls – Again!

Israel is getting ready for another election round tomorrow. Many countries are watching with interest in how Israel deals with “an infection election,” including the United States, where presidential and congressional elections will be held in November.

There are several thousand people in Israel who have quarantined themselves after coming into contact with possible carriers of the coronavirus who have recently visited countries where outbreaks of the illness have been reported or could have come in contact with foreign tourists who came to Israel and then tested positive or became infected after returning home. The Central Elections Committee has set up some dozen voting stations around the country for those citizens for tomorrow’s election.

Infection and Precaution

Israel’s Ministry of Health announced that if those who have isolated themselves do not have symptoms such as a fever over 38 degrees (100.4˚ F), a cough, or trouble breathing, they can go to the special polling tents. They should come alone in private vehicles without stopping anywhere else on the way, and not park in public parking garages.

While awaiting their turn, says the ministry, no person should stand closer than two meters (six feet) from their fellow voters, or touch anything.

They will enter special, heavy plastic tents, wearing masks and latex gloves, one at a time. They will have to sign a declaration that they are voting in a booth set up for quarantined individuals, after which the pen will be thrown away.

Their voting slips will be sealed in double envelopes, just like the votes of soldiers on their bases and hospitalized patients. Regular volunteer observers could not be found to oversee and count these votes, so emergency medical technicians from Magen David Adom; Israel’s emergency medical, disaster, ambulance, and blood bank have stepped up to do the job.

The volunteers will wear smocks, gloves, and masks, and make sure that the correct distance is kept between the voters. They will sit in one tent, with a clear plastic window that will give them a view into the actual attached “booth.” These special polls will only be open between 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.

According to Magen David Adom CEO Eli Bin, “These are not sick people and there is little chance that they are contagious, but everyone is adhering to the Health Ministry’s guidelines to ensure public safety.” Moshe Bar Siman-Tov, director-general of the Health Ministry, says Israelis should not have any hesitations about voting in tomorrow’s elections because of the coronavirus.

The Situation is Under Control and Safe

“The situation is under control. Everyone who was infected with the coronavirus, we know where they were infected and this is important that it’s safe to go vote. Don’t hesitate… go vote,” Bar Siman-Tov says, “everything is safe and you don’t need to worry,” he says.

The two leading parties, Likud and Blue and White are fighting for every vote. Yet a poll last week showed that 6.5 percent said they were thinking of not going to vote due to their fear of getting infected.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the Magen David Adom call center and said, ” We are in control and it is safe to go and vote.”

Netanyahu also assured voters that the police would be on hand in polling stations to stop disruption and provocations.

Health Minister Yaakov Litzman told voters not to come to the polls with masks on. Anyone under suspicion of having come in contact with the coronavirus will be voting at the designated stations.

Please pray with us, as the Holy Spirit leads, for this election, for safety, order and the will of God to be done.

Out of the Ashes

January 23, 2020 By Bella Davidov Leave a Comment

“The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when this city will be rebuilt for Me…The whole valley where dead bodies and ashes are thrown, and all the terraces out to the Kidron Valley (near Jerusalem) on the east as far as the corner of the Horse Gate, will be holy to the Lord. The city will never again be uprooted or demolished.”

In many prophecies, the Lord God of Israel has promised to bring back His people, the Jewish people, from the diaspora back to the Land of Promise.

For 2000 years, the Jews were scattered around the world, at the mercy of the nations, hated, despised and persecuted. Their homeland, the Land of Israel, was devastated and overtaken by strangers. During the Holocaust in WWII, the German Nazis finally came up with the plan of their “Final Solution” to annihilate all the Jews. They were gathered from every European country into concentration camps to be murdered in gas showers and then cremated in gas. They were shot and tortured in ghettos. Six million Jews were murdered in the worst racial genocide the world has ever known. But out of the ashes of the dead bodies, the Jewish nation and the land of Israel was reborn.

Today, seventy-two years later, Israel is considered a miracle that could only have happened by the hand of God according to His prophecies in the Bible.

*The Royalty, Presidents, Dignitaries who came to the Fifth Forum in Jerusalem this week.*

“Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion was in labor, she gave birth to her children.” (Isaiah 66:8)

Most of the surviving, Jewish remnant was on the brink of starvation and Gentiles possessed their homes. Most were homeless and penniless. They were gathered by the Jewish Agency into refugee camps, waiting and hoping that Israel, which was changed to Palestine, would once again be the Land of the Jews.

For centuries the Jews were victims of pogroms, blood libels, forced conversions, expulsions and other forms of religious persecution. A small remnant, the holocaust survivors, reached the lowest point of human dignity.

The prophet Ezekiel prophesied of a time when the people of Israel would say: “Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off!” Yet God assured them that He would “cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.” (Ezekiel 37:11-12)

In May 1948, just three years after the end of the Holocaust, the Jewish people rose from the ashes, and in one day a nation was born – the Nation of Israel. The resurrection power of God did this miracle.

God promised He would fight for His people Israel, and He did. When Israel’s leader David Ben-Gurion declared independence on May 14, 1948, the Jewish state was immediately attacked by five neighboring Arab armies. These large trained armies were well-armed, while the new nation of Israel hardly had an army or weapons. Frail Holocaust survivors arriving in Israel by sea were given guns upon stepping down from the ships without even shoes on their feet. Arab leaders who had vowed to “drive the Jews into the sea” were sure they would win, but against all odds, Israel won.

Jews are the only people who were uprooted from their homeland, scattered among the nations, speaking their languages, and then after two thousand years have returned to that same land to re-establish their national sovereignty while reviving their ancient language. Yet, anyone who reads the Bible can see it was foretold in His word. One prophecy that repeats itself more than any other, by nearly all the prophets in the Bible, is God promising to gather His people Israel from all the corners of the world and bring them back to the Land of Israel as He promised their forefathers.

The Jewish people clung to God’s Word and promises in the Bible, which kept them together as a people even in all those nations where they were scattered. They never lost hope that one day God will fulfill His promises and they will come back to the Promised Land. In their prayers they said confidently: “Next year in Jerusalem!”

God’s ultimate purpose for the ingathering of Israel to the Land physically is Israel’s ingathering to Himself spiritually. His love for Israel is everlasting: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness. 4 I will build you up again, and you, Virgin Israel, will be rebuilt.” Jeremiah 31:3-4

God is faithful to His Word both physically and spiritually. His faithfulness to His people Israel is expressed by Paul the apostle in Roman 11:15, when he writes about Israel (the Jewish people) who temporarily were “set aside” after rejecting the Gospel, which led to many gentiles coming to God. “what will their acceptance be? life the dead.” Roman 11:15 “and so all Israel shall be saved.” Roman 11:26

46 World Leaders in Jerusalem to Attend the World Holocaust Forum

January 23, 2020 By Bella Davidov Leave a Comment

“Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. Lift up your eyes and look about you: All assemble and come to you. The children of your oppressors will come bowing before you; all who despise you will bow down at your feet and will call you the City of the Lord, Zion of the Holy One of Israel. . . .Although you have been forsaken and hated, with no one traveling through, I will make you the everlasting pride . . . and the joy of all generations.”

Forty-six world leaders arrived in Israel for the World Holocaust Forum. The Fifth World Holocaust Forum, entitled “Remembering the Holocaust: Fighting AntiSemitism,” took place today at Israel’s Holocaust museum and memorial, Yad Vashem in Jerusalem.

The leaders included numerous heads of state and government, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Emmanuel Macron, US Vice President Mike Pence and British Prince Charles. [Pictured: German Chancellor Merkel in Jerusalem]
Israeli PM Netanyahu said in a video posted on social media: “I welcome the leaders from around the world who are coming here, to Jerusalem, to mark with us 75 years since the liberation of the Auschwitz extermination camp. It is important that they remember where we came from, and it is important that they see what we have achieved.”

This historic event takes place as hateful and violent expressions of antiSemitism around the world are on the rise. A spokesman for the Yad Vashem Institution stated that “efforts to educate about the dangers of antiSemitism, racism, and xenophobia, and foster Holocaust commemoration, education, and research have made this event more crucial and relevant than ever.” Israeli President Reuven Rivlin also said that the event must concentrate on “what steps we must take to ensure the safety and security of Jews all around the world.”

However, AntiSemitism, Even in Israel Remains a Fact of Life

         Israel was not happy, with the news that Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prince Charles used this visit to also meet with the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, finding it shameful, intolerable and disrespectful for them to do so during an event intended to commemorate the Holocaust. Abbas believes that the Holocaust either did not happen or was wildly exaggerated. Abbas wrote, “The number of Jewish victims is supposed to be six million. But it was likely much smaller, perhaps less than a million.”
          Regarding the gas chambers, Abbas accepts as fact the claims of Faurisson, who is one of the world’s most famous venomous Holocaust deniers, that they were not intended to kill Jews but, “they were intended only for the cremation of corpses due to the fear of spreading disease in the surrounding areas.”
          Faurisson was eventually prosecuted and convicted for racist incitement. Yet Abbas uses the same incitement with his people.
          Abbas has continued to make vicious anti-Semitic statements about the Holocaust up to the present day. He gives what he calls “history lessons” in which he blames the Jews for causing the Holocaust because of their “social behavior, and financial matters.”
          The world leaders’ desire to meet with Abbas during a Holocaust memorial ceremony at this time is totally disrespectful to the victims and holocaust survivors as well as to the state of Israel.
          The official Palestinian Authority Daily published an opinion piece on Saturday that called for a terrorist attack on this major memorial ceremony in Israel marking 75 years since the liberation of Auschwitz, saying, “One shot will disrupt the ceremony and one dead body will cancel the ceremony.”
          Palestinian columnist Yahya Rabah wrote in PA Daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida that Israel was “now energetically planning to hold a ceremony for the Holocaust in occupied Jerusalem.” Rabah came against the international leaders for recognizing that the “Jews’ Holocaust is terrible” while accepting as “insignificant, beautiful, spectacular” what he called the “Palestinian holocaust by Israel that still continues.” Rabah warned that the Palestinians would surely “resist the ceremony being held in Jerusalem itself, as Jerusalem is theirs, despite Trump, who gave it to Israel as part of the ‘filthy deal of the century’.” His suggested solution to stop the international ceremony from taking place was to use violence and terror.
          Abbas warned Israel and the U.S. not to cross “red lines,” saying that the Palestinian government will continue to “refuse and resist any American claims of Jerusalem as the Israeli capital.”
          “The Palestinian position supports ending the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories whose capital is East Jerusalem,” said an official statement from the Palestinian President. “If the U.S. publishes the ‘Deal of the Century’, the authority will take steps to protect its basic rights.”
          “It is obvious to us that the presentation of the peace deal is meant to help Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with his elections, we know when personal interests are at play,” said the senior official.