Op-Ed: Israel Fights a Leftist Coup as the IDF Is at Risk of Collapse
In an event severely underplayed or misrepresented by the legacy media, hundreds of thousands gathered in the heart of Jerusalem near the complex of government buildings, including the K’nesset, or Israeli parliament.
Up to this point — week after week — disruptive mobs of left-wingers had taken to the streets. But this time, the massive but peaceful demonstration was done by the Israeli right.
The democratic majority who had voted for Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition — including myself and my wife — had finally had enough.
For weeks now, the Israeli left has been protesting proposed judiciary reforms advanced by the ruling right-wing coalition. In short, the reforms seek to reduce the undemocratic dominance of the judiciary by the left and in many ways emulate the U.S. Constitution.
Previously, the idea of judiciary reforms was largely supported by both the right and the left, with even Yair Lapid, the figurehead of the leftist opposition, once endorsing such measures. But now that Netanyahu has returned to the prime minister’s office, suddenly the Israeli left feels that these reforms must be stopped at all costs.
And when I say “at all costs,” that’s not an exaggeration.
The Israeli left kicked it up several notches on Sunday evening when Netanyahu abruptly fired Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, a member of his own right-wing Likud party.
In short, in an action that should be completely inexcusable in Israeli society, the left has been threatening to strike against Netanyahu’s government by refusing to perform military service, especially in the reserves. While the number of Israeli soldiers who were seriously considering or engaging in such an action (which is technically a jailable offense) was originally very low, the principle of the matter was very grave.
With the ongoing threats of murderous terrorism and especially a nuclear Iran, Israel can’t risk being in a vulnerable position in which any significant portion of its military — especially the emergency reserves called up for wartime scenarios — is on strike as a form of political protest.
And in this context, Gallant called on Netanyahu in a surprise public speech — and not in a private communication — to defy his voter base and submit to the leftist minority. He demanded that the prime minister immediately cease the process of judicial reform, emphasizing that Israel would be in too delicate a position if the military ever launched a real mutiny.
In other words, Gallant not only notified Israel’s enemies of the potential military weakness, but he also signaled to left-leaning soldiers that they had the power to bring Netanyahu’s right-wing government to its knees and force the majority coalition to submit to the leftist minority.
Netanyahu fired his defense minister immediately. (As he very well should have, in my opinion.)
But the leftist throngs had already heard the dog whistle and heeded the call. Throughout the night, radical mobs swarmed the capital city of Jerusalem, even in front of the prime minister’s residence. They were eventually met with water cannons and other anti-riot measures. Elsewhere, the leftist crowds blocked traffic and burned debris in the streets.
But it didn’t stop there. Strikes in protest of the judicial reforms spread like wildfire across the nation among workers in areas of vital infrastructure. Most prominently of all, the only international airport in Israel shut down, leaving travelers stranded all over the world. Besides that, threats were made to shut down the urgent care centers and other crucial medical infrastructure.
Transportation was disrupted all over the country. My wife has a former colleague from the U.S. who was visiting Israel with a Christian tour group. As she was visiting the national park of Masada and about to board a gondola to ascend the historical mountain, the striking workers shut down the national park and forced her to leave. She was then notified that the airport had shut down.
Watching the leftist protesters from her hotel, she waited in anxious anticipation to see if the airport would reopen, allowing her to leave the country and return to America at the end of her tour.
All of this was done with one demand:
Netanyahu must defy his right-wing voters — the democratic majority — who went to the polls in favor of his platform, which specifically included the proposed judicial reforms. If Netanyahu refused, the losing minority would continue to hold the country hostage, damaging infrastructure and putting the lives of our citizens and even the very existence of the Jewish state in serious jeopardy from terrorism and enemy attack.
At this point, the future of the judicial reforms is unclear, as Netanyahu and the right-wing coalition have temporarily paused the legislative process. But even now, the protesters show no sign of stopping. That’s because it’s obvious to all that the real goal is to overthrow Netanyahu and his right-wing government.
As Netanyahu noted in a recent speech, the scenario is reminiscent of a story found in 1 Kings 3.
King Solomon was faced with a seemingly unsolvable dilemma. Two women came to him for judgment. One of them had accidentally smothered her baby in the night and killed him. Then, it was claimed, she switched her dead baby with the other woman’s son and stole the living baby for herself.
So now it fell on King Solomon to determine who the real mother was. As the women bickered with each other in the royal court, King Solomon finally ordered that a sword be brought so he could cut the living baby in half and divide it between the two women. One woman begged King Solomon to save the baby’s life, even if he gave him to the other woman. The other woman callously declared, “Yes, cut the baby in half.”
To me, that is exactly what is happening here.
The Israeli radical leftists are threatening to “cut the baby in half.” They are counting on Netanyahu and the Israeli right to love the “baby,” the state of Israel, so much that they will sooner give it away to “the other woman,” no matter how wrong or unfair that is, rather than risk its destruction.
It’s absolutely heinous.
As I and hundreds of thousands of other voters for Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition come out in droves in support of him and his government, it is becoming very clear to me who really loves our country. And it’s not the Israeli left.
I think the same analysis can be made for the United States.
For years, the Democratic Party shouted “Vote blue no matter who!” and installed a senile puppet in the White House who rambles on about how much he loves ice cream at a news conference after a tragic mass shooting. As America descends into disarray and chaos with inflation, the border crisis, bank failures, military depletion and global loss of standing, the left silently trudges on behind the puppets of the deep state.
Why?
Because they blindly and inexplicably hate Donald J. Trump and his MAGA supporters more than they love their own country.
In Israel, we are plagued with the same disease. The only difference here is that the left seethes with hatred against the longest-serving prime minister in Israeli history — Benjamin Netanyahu — and his supporters… who usually wear yarmulkes instead of red hats.
The views expressed in this opinion article are those of their author and are not necessarily either shared or endorsed by the owners of this website. If you are interested in contributing an Op-Ed to The Western Journal, you can learn about our submission guidelines and process here.
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