Israel did more yesterday than just swear in Binyamin Netanyahu as its new prime minister. In particularly perilous times for the beleaguered U.S. ally, this tiny western-style democracy bridged deep, longstanding domestic rivalries to form a “unity government” of historic import. The two great traditional party rivals, Likud and Labor, recognized the need to show a common front against outside threats. That’s something akin to having the conservative sub-caucus among U.S. House Republicans join with the old-line liberals among House Democrats. That’s the kind of coalition that should make observers take serious notice, and sends the message that Israelis will present a determined, common front to all enemies who wish to wipe it from the map.
Israel’s unity is crucial in light of its increasing but undeserved international isolation. The nations of Western Europe are more apt to treat Israel as a scapegoat than as a bulwark of freedom in the Middle East. Iran, implacably hostile, moves ever closer to developing nuclear weapons. Not one but two separate Palestinian entities surround Israel with populations continually bathed in hatred for the Jewish state. And Israel’s greatest ally, the United States, is now led by a president and a secretary of state who offer scant public support.
For 20 years, every “road-map to peace” in the region has demanded that Israel relinquish more land in return for an ever-elusive peace. And for 20 years, Israel has complied, only to receive less security, more official vitriol, deadly swarms of suicide bombers, and incessant, deadly rocket and mortar attacks on innocent civilians. In that light, the return to power of the tough, hawkish Netanyahu is a welcome sign that Israel won’t be bullied. Yet the fact that he is joined by Labor’s more dovish Ehud Barak as defense minister signals that Israel genuinely desires lasting peace, not conquest. “We don’t want to govern another people,” Netanyahu said yesterday, emphatically. He also pledged to focus on economic development aid for the Palestinian West Bank, showing an admirable concern for Palestinian quality of life. “We see a full peace with the Arab world,” Netanyahu said. “I want to isolate extremist Islam from the rest of the Muslim and Arab world, which is also threatened.”
Here in the United States, President Barack Obama ought to take Netanyahu at his word and provide enough diplomatic, political and military support needed to assure Israel’s survival. A democratic ally who steadfastly works for peace always merits such American backing.
