Israel Watch: New Elections

Israel Watch: New Elections - Jim Fletcher -

Jim1fletcher@yahoo.com

 

Benny Gantz was not able to form a coalition in order to become prime minister of Israel today, and so the mandate is turned back to the president, which means Israel will hold another round of elections in a few months. Evidently, Benjamin Netanyahu invited Gantz to form a unity government but was rebuffed.

 

It has been reported that Gantz has been urged to invite Arab elements into a government by Yair Lapid, a Netanyahu political foe.

 

Through all this, Avigdor Liberman has taken on the role of "kingmaker" in Israel, and his dislike of religious parties has brought the country to this point, this stalemate. After a decade in office, Netanyahu has even more enemies than he did in the late 90s.

 

It had been rumored that Liberman would be willing to bring in Arab MKs to join a Gantz-led government. However, according to the Jerusalem Post:

 

"It became impossible for Gantz to form a government when Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman ruled out helping to establish a minority government backed by the Joint List. Liberman called the faction of four Arab parties a 'fifth column' and said he never intended to cooperate with its MKs.

 

"'We won't enter a government backed directly or indirectly by the Joint List,' Liberman said."

 

Now comes an intriguing ingredient into this stew. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made the earthquake statement that the United States will no longer consider the Israeli communities in Judea-Samaria (the West Bank) are illegal. That had been the long-standing view of American political leadership for 40 years, since the presidency of the odious Jimmy Carter.

 

This has prompted Netanyahu to approve an annexation bill in the Knesset, establishing long-term Israeli sovereignty in the Jordan Valley. This is also a bombshell announcement, and we can hope that this will become established fact.

 

Now, all this plays a role in Bible prophecy, of course. As I constantly say, all we can is look at what the Bible says is coming and be certain that it will happen. Big Picture stuff.

 

This means that no matter what is happening geopolitically at any given time, we must keep our eyes on the Prize: the fulfillment of prophecy in the future.

 

I do not believe in saying that things that are happening right now are certainly going to result in an outcome in the immediate or even near future. We can know the general era.

 

Point being, it appears that the U.S. is becoming a catalyst in moving things toward conditions in which Israel will be hated even more by the international community. Specifically, anything that buttresses Israel's argument that the Jewish state "owns" the land will be met with resistance globally.

 

Thus we can see how the current situation might play into a coming coalition against Israel. We just don't know exactly when they will unfold.

 

For the moment though, huge things are happening in Israel, and I am proud of my president for taking unprecedented steps to bolster Israel.