Needless Hysteria over Israel’s Cabinet Shakeup

After a highly publicized but failed effort to persuade the Zionist Union, Israel’s main opposition party, to join the Likud-led governing coalition, Prime Minister Netanyahu instead brought in the smaller Yisrael Beiteinu party. In doing so, he discharged Moshe Yaalon as defense minister and offered the position to Yisrael Beiteinu’s controversial leader, Avigdor Lieberman—a move that prompted hysterical reactions from Israel’s left-leaning media. Ruthie Blum comments:

Though Yaalon has an illustrious history and a reputation for being both a serious military man and levelheaded think-tank member, I gave up on him when he started preaching morality to Israeli society. At a time when both radical Islamists and Western professors, as well as huge swaths of the British Labor party, are waging a frontal assault on the Jewish state, accusing it of atrocities it does not commit, the last thing Israel needs is a cabinet member adding fuel to the anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic fire.

I therefore say goodbye to Yaalon without a heavy heart. Though Lieberman leaves much to be desired, . . . he [isn’t] even as “right-wing” as his detractors claim. . . . Lieberman’s [positions] are often indistinguishable from those of his left-wing counterparts. It’s the take-no-prisoners rhetoric and associations with dubious characters that make [him] controversial. . . .

On Friday night, . . . [the] middle-aged military correspondent Roni Daniel . . . lost it on live TV. Pounding on the table several times, Daniel interrupted his fellow panelists to announce that the move to replace Yaalon with Lieberman . . . meant that there was no future for his children in Israel. . . . [P]olitical machinations have become so cynical, have gone so far, [he claimed], that the country’s best interests are sacrificed in the desperate attempt by Netanyahu to “hold on to his seat.” . . .

When have politicians in this or any other country not tried to hold on to their seats? This is a reason to leave the Jewish state that boasts a rise in immigration from Western democracies? . . . The . . . question [Daniel] and other Israelis . . . with escape fantasies ought to contemplate is where they imagine they can settle to be rid of their malaise about living under flawed democratic political systems—Syria?

Read more at Israel Hayom

More about: Avigdor Lieberman, Benjamin Netanyahu, Isaac Herzog, Israel & Zionism, Israeli politics, Moshe Yaalon

How the Trump Administration Can Begin Squeezing Iran on Day One

Nov. 14 2024

Currently Iran has lost much of its air-defense capabilities; Hizballah, its main striking arm and its insurance policy in case of an attack on its nuclear program, is in disarray; and its missile arsenal has failed to do damage to Israel. Mark Dubowitz and Andrea Stricker urge the incoming president to follow the IDF’s military successes with financial warfare:

During Donald Trump’s first term, his administration took nearly two years to settle on a consistent Iran policy and to impose tough sanctions. This meant if [Supreme Leader Ali] Khamenei could endure just two years of maximum pressure, Americans might turn President Trump out of office. The gamble paid off.

This time around, Trump should ensure that Tehran has to endure four full years of unstinting pressure. The regime is wealthier thanks to President Biden—its petroleum exports tripled after Trump left office, generating $144 billion of sales from 2021 through 2023. But Tehran is reeling from the hammer blows Israel has delivered to the regime and its proxies since the October 7 slaughter. Twice, Iran has attempted to strike Israel with barrages of missiles, rockets, and drones, all to little effect. Yet when Israel hit back on October 25, it demonstrated that Iran’s supposedly robust air defenses were nearly worthless.

If the Israelis could operate with impunity in Iranian skies, the U.S. Air Force and Navy would face even less resistance. If Trump clearly and consistently says the United States will employ every means at its disposal to prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon, the threat of force will be credible. Khamenei will know that if he sprints for the bomb, it may spell the end of his regime. Biden claimed he would never let Iran get a nuclear weapon, but the threat was hollow.

Read more at Fox News

More about: Donald Trump, Iran, U.S. Foreign policy