Glad We Elected A Right-Wing Government

As the last election cycle swung into its final days the Likud and URP warned the public to only vote for them and protect the “right wing” coalition.  They warned that voting for smaller parties could bring a non-right-wing coalition into existence.  We were told how only the Likud and a strong right can protect Israel.  Most of Israel believed those warnings, took heed, and voted the same impotent leadership back into power.

Now that Hamas or Islamic Jihad or any other group has once again decided to fire missiles from Gaza it is fortunate for us that we have a strong right-wing government in place.  We have our Bibi to talk strongly against the Hamas leadership and scold them for once again firing missiles on the Israeli civilian population.  We have the great Rabbi Rafi Peretz who in the past, peacefully abandoned his own home in Gaza, talking about “not allowing the heads of Hamas to sleep peacefully at night” as he calls for resuming targeted killings.  Let’s not forget Motti Yogev telling us that the most important thing is to return “long term quiet and deterrence.”

I am so happy that we have such strong and principled leadership at the head of the nationalist camp.  The leadership that values its own political positions more than the principles on which they got elected.  As coalition negotiations continue, we hear about the URP’s demands for the Education and Justice offices, we hear about Kachlons demand to stay as Finance Minister, and Lieberman’s demand to be renamed Defense Minister.  What we don’t hear are any of those leaders demanding Netanyahu protect the citizens of Israel. None are calling for victory over Hamas.  We hear talk of fear around a financial collapse of the PA, Trumps peace plan, and Egyptian mediate quite in the south.

As we mature from children to adults, we are taught a very basic principle in life and human behavior.  We are taught that we cannot control the actions of others, we can only control our own actions and reactions.  Einstein is attributed with famously stating that the definition of insanity “is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”  Isn’t it about time we had leadership with some new ideas?  Leadership with a vision of our own future, who speak about our own actions.

Our current leadership defines itself through our enemy.  It views our success or failure by how long our enemy stays quite.  It is about time we begin to examine our own actions and begin by defining our own goals and long-term vision for our future.  Do we see a terrorist state in Gaza as a permanent fixture on our landscape, do we see another Arab state run by a holocaust denying terrorist dictator as the best possible option?  How about leadership that has the national pride and self-respect to once and for all announce to the world that this land is ours, it always was and always will be.  A leadership that is not afraid to stand up to the friendly Americans and say thank you for the help, but we have our own plan for our future.  A leadership that can stand up to a bunch of Arab terrorists in the south and start defining the rules of the game on our terms and starts protecting the citizens of Israel.  After all the first responsibility of any government above and beyond all else is to provide for the collective safety of all her citizens.

Israel deserves leadership that takes responsibility for our own actions.  Leadership that defines our success and vision for the future on our terms.  Leadership that isn’t afraid to recognize that we are the strongest regional power and start acting like it.  After 71 years of apologetic leadership settling for the crumbs the world powers allow us to have, it is time for us to recognize we do not rely on them and were not gifted this land by them.  While I pray our leaders to wake up and start acting like adults, I am not hopeful that it will happen.  Our leaders are elected by us and it is only when we wake up and start voting for a vision and out of hope and not out of fear that real leadership will arise.