Wednesday, October 29, 2008

GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS FOR ISRAEL

There is good news and bad news for Israel. The good news is that Tzipi Livni, Israel's foreign minister and new leader of the Kadima party, has failed in her efforts to form a new government. The bad news is that Ehud "The Idiot" Olmert will remain as caretaker prime minister until new elections are held next February or March.

Livni was unable to get any of the religious parties to join in a governing coalition and some of the other parties made demands she was unwilling to accept. She has asked President Shimon Perez to hold new elections "without delay, as quickly as possible." Had she succeeded in forming a new government, elections would not have been held until November 2010.

The failure to form a new government is likely to derail the current peace negotiations with the Palestinians. That would be very good news! The Kadima leaders, Olmert and now Livni, appear willing to make concessions to the Palestinians which will jeopardize the survival of Israel as a Jewish State.

Olmert, who resigned last month because he was being investigated in a series of corruption cases, intends to continue peace negotiations with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who has vowed repeatedly to eradicate the Jewish State. That, of course, is bad news. The disgraced and discredited Olmert wants to leave office with the legacy of achieving a peace accord with Israel's sworn enemies.

Abbas and other leaders of his Fatah party have repeatedly called for the return of the lands occupied by the Israelis. By that they mean not only the occupied West Bank, but also the State of Israel itself. Abbas speaks with a forked tongue. When speaking in English to American and European audiences, Abbas says he wants two states, Palestine and Israel, existing peacefully side by side. But whenever he speaks in Arabic to the Palestinians and other Jew-hating Arabs, that is a far cry from what he says. Time after time Abbas has made it clear in Arabic that there can be only one state, and that state is Palestine.

At this time, Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu, leader of the Likud party, is favored to win the election next February or March. That is very good news. Bibi will seek peace with the Palestinians, but he will not make any concessions which will jeopardize Israel's future. Unlike Olmert and Livni, he will not cave into the demands of the Europeans and the United Nations, and even the United States, for Israel to make suicidal concessions to its sworn enemies.

While Netanyahu's election as prime minister will be good news for Israel, Obama's almost certain election as president of the United States will be bad news for the Jewish state. I have been a long-time supporter of Bibi and am praying that he will be Israel's next prime minister. I am also praying for a miracle that will result in Obama's failure to win the American presidency.

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