Israel Elections and the Holy One of Israel
ISRAEL ELECTIONS AND THE HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL
Source: www.khouse.org
"For this is what the Lord
Almighty says: “After the Glorious One has sent me against the nations
that have plundered you—for whoever touches you touches the apple of his
eye— I will surely raise my hand against them so that their slaves will plunder them. Then you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me." Zechariah 2:8-9
Two-plus millennia after Zechariah prophesied, Israel remains a top player on the world stage, a phoenix risen from the ashes of history. Since its re-birth in 1948, the country has survived constant hatred from its neighbors, numerous attacks and wars and animosity from much of the world population. Many people credit the protection of the United States with the survival of Israel. Others, however, consider that perhaps this little Jewish state stands strong because it is still, after all these years, the apple of God's eye.
Elections:
Israel held elections on January 22, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud Yisrael Beiteinu party won the highest number of seats - 31 - with 23.25 percent of the vote. In Israeli politics, the citizens vote for parties rather than for individuals. Considering the wide array of conflicting parties and positions, this simplifies the process a bit. The various parties obtain seats in the Knesset based on the percentage of votes garnered, and then those parties work to form coalitions. The Prime Minister must collect a bloc of at least 61 seats to form a functioning government so that the business of governing can proceed.
While Netanyahu's party, an alliance of the right-wing Likud and Yisrael Beiteinu parties, collected the highest percentage of votes in the recent election, it still lost a significant 11 seats. The center left Kadima party lost 26 seats, while the new, centrist Yesh Atid ("There is a Future") party won 19. Likud Yisrael Beiteinu will need to decide whether to bond with the nationalist group The Jewish Home and the ultra-Orthodox Shas and United Torah Judaism parties or combine forces with Yesh Atid and other centrist groups. The decisions made will have much bearing on the nation's policies and how Israel will deal with important issues like housing, mandatory military service, Palestinian statehood, and a nuclear Iran.
Of Drafts and Homes:
While Iran's nuclear program and the broken Palestinian peace process have dominated the world's interest, at home in Israel, the citizens have been focused on other urgent issues that took precedence in the 2013 election.
Since the 1948 war, the (ultra-Orthodox) Haredi Jews in Israel have been permitted an exemption from the mandatory military service required of most young Israelis. In 1948, the extremely conservative ultra-Orthodox Jews were few, but their numbers have since swelled, and nearly 70,000 are exempted from service today. Many in Israel believe that the Haredi Jews should take their fair share of the burden of national service. Yesh Atid has said it would not join a Netanyahu coalition unless Likud Yisrael Beiteinu began drafting ultra-Orthodox Jews into the military.
Another serious issue is housing. While the world attacks Netanyahu for permitting the continued building of settlements, Israelis struggle to find places to live. Israel has not faced the same economic woes and unemployment as much of the rest of the world, but the people of Israel face impossible apartment prices due to housing shortages. There are just too many people and too few places to live. The middle class took to the streets in protest in 2011 over the housing issue, and the problem offers an extremely practical reason for Israel to remain so stubborn in building settlements despite international disapproval.
Yesh Atid stands on a platform of improving the housing situation and promoting equality in education (and military service). Health, transportation, and the condition of the middle class are all priorities for this centrist party. While Yesh Atid promotes a two-state solution, it also supports keeping the land necessary for Israel's security and protecting existing Israeli settlements.
Netanyahu has reportedly reached out to the Yesh Atid leader, Yair Lapid, offering to work with him. The Prime Minister has vowed to form a broad coalition. Working with Yesh Atid, however, would mean seriously pushing toward a peace agreement with the Palestinian Authority, something that Netanyahu has set aside in the face of PA reticence to make workable concessions.
With Friends Like These...
There has been little love between Netanyahu and the Obama administration, and Netanyahu supported Mitt Romney in the recent U.S. elections. Commentators argue that Israel will need to push much harder for peace with the Palestinians in order to earn back the good will of the United States. Israel has isolated itself from much of the world with its determined settlement building, and President Obama has repeatedly said, "Israel doesn't know what its own best interests are." (Israeli mothers may respond, "Oh hoh hoh. Look who knows so much!")
Jeffrey Goldberg of Bloomberg writes:
There is another view, however. The world may be wrong; it may rather be that God Himself has continued to protect the land of Israel, a land He promised to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob forever as an everlasting possession (Gen 13:12-17; 15:18-21; 17:8,19). God may be using the powerful United States as Israel's defender, just as a soldier uses his primary weapon. If that weapon jams, though, the soldier can just as easily transition to another.
In fact, it may be that the United States' own existence is benefitted by its friendship with this twinkle in God's eye, and perhaps President Obama would do well to warm up to Israel with a little more gusto than he has exhibited during the past four years. Psalm 122:6 says those who love Jerusalem shall prosper.
If the world is right, and Israel is just an interloper in Arab land, then Israel's destruction may soon be upon it. If, however, the Holy One of Israel still stands guard, there is no force that can truly harm this tiny, dry bit of hinterlands on the planet.
“The Lord will save the dwellings of Judah first, so that the honor of the house of David and of Jerusalem’s inhabitants may not be greater than that of Judah. 8 On that day the Lord will shield those who live in Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of the Lord going before them. 9 On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that attack Jerusalem.10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son."
Two-plus millennia after Zechariah prophesied, Israel remains a top player on the world stage, a phoenix risen from the ashes of history. Since its re-birth in 1948, the country has survived constant hatred from its neighbors, numerous attacks and wars and animosity from much of the world population. Many people credit the protection of the United States with the survival of Israel. Others, however, consider that perhaps this little Jewish state stands strong because it is still, after all these years, the apple of God's eye.
Elections:
Israel held elections on January 22, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud Yisrael Beiteinu party won the highest number of seats - 31 - with 23.25 percent of the vote. In Israeli politics, the citizens vote for parties rather than for individuals. Considering the wide array of conflicting parties and positions, this simplifies the process a bit. The various parties obtain seats in the Knesset based on the percentage of votes garnered, and then those parties work to form coalitions. The Prime Minister must collect a bloc of at least 61 seats to form a functioning government so that the business of governing can proceed.
While Netanyahu's party, an alliance of the right-wing Likud and Yisrael Beiteinu parties, collected the highest percentage of votes in the recent election, it still lost a significant 11 seats. The center left Kadima party lost 26 seats, while the new, centrist Yesh Atid ("There is a Future") party won 19. Likud Yisrael Beiteinu will need to decide whether to bond with the nationalist group The Jewish Home and the ultra-Orthodox Shas and United Torah Judaism parties or combine forces with Yesh Atid and other centrist groups. The decisions made will have much bearing on the nation's policies and how Israel will deal with important issues like housing, mandatory military service, Palestinian statehood, and a nuclear Iran.
Of Drafts and Homes:
While Iran's nuclear program and the broken Palestinian peace process have dominated the world's interest, at home in Israel, the citizens have been focused on other urgent issues that took precedence in the 2013 election.
Since the 1948 war, the (ultra-Orthodox) Haredi Jews in Israel have been permitted an exemption from the mandatory military service required of most young Israelis. In 1948, the extremely conservative ultra-Orthodox Jews were few, but their numbers have since swelled, and nearly 70,000 are exempted from service today. Many in Israel believe that the Haredi Jews should take their fair share of the burden of national service. Yesh Atid has said it would not join a Netanyahu coalition unless Likud Yisrael Beiteinu began drafting ultra-Orthodox Jews into the military.
Another serious issue is housing. While the world attacks Netanyahu for permitting the continued building of settlements, Israelis struggle to find places to live. Israel has not faced the same economic woes and unemployment as much of the rest of the world, but the people of Israel face impossible apartment prices due to housing shortages. There are just too many people and too few places to live. The middle class took to the streets in protest in 2011 over the housing issue, and the problem offers an extremely practical reason for Israel to remain so stubborn in building settlements despite international disapproval.
Yesh Atid stands on a platform of improving the housing situation and promoting equality in education (and military service). Health, transportation, and the condition of the middle class are all priorities for this centrist party. While Yesh Atid promotes a two-state solution, it also supports keeping the land necessary for Israel's security and protecting existing Israeli settlements.
Netanyahu has reportedly reached out to the Yesh Atid leader, Yair Lapid, offering to work with him. The Prime Minister has vowed to form a broad coalition. Working with Yesh Atid, however, would mean seriously pushing toward a peace agreement with the Palestinian Authority, something that Netanyahu has set aside in the face of PA reticence to make workable concessions.
With Friends Like These...
There has been little love between Netanyahu and the Obama administration, and Netanyahu supported Mitt Romney in the recent U.S. elections. Commentators argue that Israel will need to push much harder for peace with the Palestinians in order to earn back the good will of the United States. Israel has isolated itself from much of the world with its determined settlement building, and President Obama has repeatedly said, "Israel doesn't know what its own best interests are." (Israeli mothers may respond, "Oh hoh hoh. Look who knows so much!")
Jeffrey Goldberg of Bloomberg writes:
"[W]hat Obama wants is recognition by Netanyahu that Israel's settlement policies are foreclosing on the possibility of a two-state solution, and he wants Netanyahu to acknowledge that a two-state solution represents the best chance of preserving the country as a Jewish-majority democracy. Obama wants, in other words, for Netanyahu to act in Israel's best interests.Goldberg's is the view of much of the world. Many see the United States' friendship with Israel as the little country's primary reason for survival in a hostile world. These believe that if Netanyahu doesn't behave and try to appease Obama a bit, Israel will be in danger of losing the support of its mighty western defender.
"So far, though, there has been no sign that the Israeli government is gaining a better understanding of the world in which it lives."
There is another view, however. The world may be wrong; it may rather be that God Himself has continued to protect the land of Israel, a land He promised to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob forever as an everlasting possession (Gen 13:12-17; 15:18-21; 17:8,19). God may be using the powerful United States as Israel's defender, just as a soldier uses his primary weapon. If that weapon jams, though, the soldier can just as easily transition to another.
In fact, it may be that the United States' own existence is benefitted by its friendship with this twinkle in God's eye, and perhaps President Obama would do well to warm up to Israel with a little more gusto than he has exhibited during the past four years. Psalm 122:6 says those who love Jerusalem shall prosper.
If the world is right, and Israel is just an interloper in Arab land, then Israel's destruction may soon be upon it. If, however, the Holy One of Israel still stands guard, there is no force that can truly harm this tiny, dry bit of hinterlands on the planet.
“The Lord will save the dwellings of Judah first, so that the honor of the house of David and of Jerusalem’s inhabitants may not be greater than that of Judah. 8 On that day the Lord will shield those who live in Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of the Lord going before them. 9 On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that attack Jerusalem.10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son."
Zechariah 12:7-10
"The Lord will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one Lord, and his name the only name."
Zechariah 14:9
Comments
Post a Comment