{"id":1545,"date":"2020-01-24T16:50:58","date_gmt":"2020-01-24T16:50:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.inthedays.com\/?p=1545"},"modified":"2020-01-24T18:00:03","modified_gmt":"2020-01-24T18:00:03","slug":"israels-reckless-politics-of-annexation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.inthedays.com\/?p=1545","title":{"rendered":"ISRAEL’S RECKLESS POLITICS OF ANNEXATION"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Israel In The Last Days<\/div>\n
\"\u201dTherefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.\u201d\n\n\n \u2014 Ezekiel 11:17<\/blockquote><\/strong><\/div>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Article Source: Jerusalem Post<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

That is always the most important question but also the one that is so difficult to answer.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The question appeared in sharp focus this week as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White leader Benny Gantz battled over who is more right-wing, and who is more committed to\u00a0annexing\u00a0the Jordan Valley, before, during or after the upcoming election. It was a clear lesson in how policy should not be set, how a country should not make decisions on strategic and fateful issues such as what its borders will be, how it will determine them, and whether it will be done unilaterally or within the framework of an internationally recognized peace deal. It started on Tuesday when\u00a0Gantz went to the Jordan Valley\u00a0with Moshe Ya\u2019alon, No. 3 on his list and his former commander in the IDF. There, overlooking the border, Gantz announced that Blue and White would work to annex the Jordan Valley after the election. He added two caveats: that the application of Israeli law would be done in a \u201cnationally agreed-upon process,\u201d and in \u201ccoordination with the international community.\u201dIt was a sharp right-turn for Gantz. Before the previous election, in September, Gantz refrained from declaring that he would annex the Jordan Valley, merely sticking to a script that the Jordan Valley is \u201cpart of Israel forever.\u201d He said this after Netanyahu held a press conference just days before the September vote, vowing to annex the Jordan Valley after the election if he won.In response to Gantz\u2019s announcement this week, Netanyahu attacked the Blue and White leader, asking him on Twitter why he doesn\u2019t agree to annexation immediately. \u201cWhy wait until after the election if we can apply sovereignty now with wide national consensus in the Knesset?\u201d Netanyahu wrote. \u201cBenny Gantz, I expect your answer by the evening.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Does Netanyahu think Israelis are fools? Ahead of the September vote he said that his plan was to annex the Jordan Valley after the election. Not before, after. There are videos of him saying it. Now that Gantz caught up to him on the Right, Netanyahu has to move even further Right, saying that it can be done immediately.Gantz did not remain silent and challenged Netanyahu. \u201cHere\u2019s a tip: You can apply Israeli law over the Jordan Valley with a cabinet decision within two hours and without a debate in the Knesset,\u201d he wrote back to the prime minister on Twitter on Tuesday. \u201cLet\u2019s see you do it.\u201dConfused? You should be. The reason is because this is not the way a responsible government enacts a policy with far-reaching consequences for Israel and potentially the entire Middle East.Not only will the annexation of the Jordan Valley potentially lead to cutting off security coordination with the Palestinians, but it could also lead to a total collapse in Israel\u2019s relations with King Abdullah, whose regime\u2019s stability is of utmost strategic importance for the Jewish state.At the same visit to the Jordan Valley on Tuesday, Gantz was asked about the Trump peace plan, dubbed the \u201cDeal of the Century,\u201d which seems to be headed for a rollout next week. \u201cI hope President Trump will hurry and release his plan,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m looking forward to the plan\u2019s release.\u201dWhat? Did we hear correctly? Gantz is looking forward to the plan coming out soon? Just two weeks ago, Gantz said that releasing the plan before the election would be a \u201cgross intervention\u201d in Israel\u2019s democratic electoral process. He said it in private meetings and then repeated it at a Blue and White faction meeting. THE REASON Gantz did not want the plan to come out before the election was quite obvious. He knows that the plan is going to be favorable for Israel \u2013 it is expected to declare, for example, that all settlements remain Israeli territory \u2013 and that Netanyahu will then use its unveiling as part of his campaign to explain to the electorate why they need him to remain in office. As it is, Gantz is suspicious of the Trump administration and the way it has bear-hugged Netanyahu over the last three years. Yair Lapid, his Blue and White co-leader has said that one of the first decisions he would make as a foreign minister would be to replace Israel\u2019s ambassador to the US, Ron Dermer. What happened that Gantz zigzagged? Why is he suddenly in favor of annexation and of releasing the peace plan before March 2? The answer seems to be a mix. It is possible that Gantz changed his mind about the plan and understands that it truly is in Israel\u2019s interest. After making his first \u201cgross interference\u201d comment, he met with US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman and Trump\u2019s peace envoy, Avi Berkowitz. It\u2019s possible that both men updated Gantz about the plan and what it means for Israel. Gantz is not a typical politician. It could very well be that he saw the strategic benefit for Israel and understood that it transcended politics. What is more likely to have happened is that Gantz understood that the plan is coming whether he wants it or not and that when it is revealed it would be politically beneficial to be in favor of it than in opposition. The reason is simple: Gantz is trying in the five weeks left until Election Day to steal away as many right-wing votes as he can, either from Likud or from Naftali Bennett. His path to do that is to turn Blue and White to the Right. The thinking behind this is that if Gantz can pull two to three seats away from Netanyahu and Bennett, he can potentially win the election. After the September vote, Netanyahu succeeded in blocking Gantz from forming a coalition due to his bloc of 55 seats against Gantz\u2019s 52. If Gantz has 55 after March 2 and Netanyahu 52, it\u2019s a different ballgame. What are his chances? Unclear. Netanyahu is doing an effective job at branding Blue and White as left-wing and tightening the ranks of his voters. On the other hand, there are traditional Likud voters who favor change and believe that Netanyahu\u2019s time has come, mostly due to the indictments he is facing on charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust. Those voters might have moved to Bennett, but after he joined up with religious radicals Rafi Peretz and Bezalel Smotrich, those voters might be looking for a new political home. Will they go to Blue and White? Maybe. Avigdor Liberman is another option. In the end, though, what really counts is this: In 1967, Israel conquered the Jordan Valley and the rest of the West Bank. For 53 years \u2013 whether right or wrong \u2013 it refrained from unilaterally setting its borders. To do so now, in the middle of an election campaign, is not serious and undermines the move itself by politicizing it. Setting permanent borders needs to be done by an elected government given the mandate of the people. Let\u2019s get one and then make decisions that change Israel.<\/strong><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

JANUARY 24, 2020
\nBlue and White leader Benny Gantz (L) and MK Moshe Ya’alon are seen at a press conference. (photo credit: ELAD MALKA)
\nBlue and White leader Benny Gantz (L) and MK Moshe Ya’alon are seen at a press conference.
\n(photo credit: ELAD MALKA)<\/p>\n

What does Israel want?
\nThat is always the most important question but also the one that is so difficult to answer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1547,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-israel","pmpro-has-access"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthedays.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthedays.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthedays.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthedays.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthedays.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1545"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthedays.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1545\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1553,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthedays.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1545\/revisions\/1553"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthedays.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthedays.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthedays.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthedays.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}