Having waited to write these words for over a year, I am proud to report to readers of the JC that a new government has finally taken office in Jerusalem.
The meandering path to this unity coalition may have been difficult but, even after three seemingly inconclusive elections, we can still celebrate Israel’s ability to do democracy thrice better than the rest of the Middle East.
Though the combination of the two largest parties may be a curious prospect here in Britain, the Likud and Blue & White coalition has a progenitor in Israel.
Prime Minister Netanyahu and former opposition leader Benny Gantz will hold a rotating premiership, and divide ministries equally between their blocs to ensure parity in representation, similar to Likud’s Yitzhak Shamir and Labour’s Shimon Peres in the 1980s.
That combination enjoyed success in redeploying the IDF from Lebanon and ending hyperinflation and this new national unity government will face its own challenges.
The coronavirus pandemic and the Iranian regime’s plague of aggression and terror today constitute serious threats to Israelis and Britons alike.
In these difficult times, the remarkable progress that the Jewish state has made in strengthening relations across the Arab and Muslim world gives us hope for a more stable and peaceful Middle East.
On the Palestinian issue, Israel’s government continues to welcome the new American peace initiative as a basis for talks.
Regrettably, the Palestinians are still rejecting direct negotiations and the American plan, having opposed the latter before it was even published. Just as they turned their backs on peace in 1937, 1947, 1967, 2000, 2009 and 2014, the Palestinian leadership is only condemning its people to a political dead end.
What is new about these latest American proposals is that they take seriously Israel’s vital security concerns. This is the case with the Jordan Valley, the crucial strip of land west of the Jordan River, over which consecutive Israeli governments have sought sovereignty.
In fact, the Valley’s strategic importance was outlined under the Allon Plan, which was developed during the Labour governments of Levi Eshkol and Golda Meir back in the sixties.
That same plan also recognised the strategic importance of the Golan Heights, over which Israeli law was extended in 1981, with citizenship being offered to all those permanently resident there.
Yitzhak Rabin, the IDF Chief of Staff who led Israel to victory in the 1967 Six Day War and as Prime Minister signed the Oslo Accords, knew that a sustainable peace would have to be founded upon rock solid security arrangements. In his last speech before the Knesset in 1995, mere weeks before his assassination, Rabin made clear that a lasting peace would demand Israel retain control of the Jordan Valley “in the broadest meaning of that term”.
Another priority for the government will be the unbreakable bond between the Jewish state and the Diaspora. As Israel’s Ambassador not only to Her Majesty’s Government but also the UK’s Jewish community, I am deeply cognisant of the mark that British Jewry has made on our homeland.
From the Balfour Declaration and supporting the establishment of Israel-UK diplomatic relations 70 years ago to the hundreds of communal charities doing good work in Israel and the thousands of young Jews who visit on tour, I know our shared story will continue to flourish in the decades ahead.
After two unprecedented royal visits, Israel’s new government is coming to power in an era when our partnership with the UK has never been stronger. From our surging bilateral trade and investment to our lifesaving counterterrorism and defence cooperation, both our democracies are more prosperous and secure.
Even as we face the challenge of coronavirus, we are working together closely. Indeed, it may well be an Anglo-Israeli research initiative that provides a much-needed breakthrough, again proving the value of the Israel-UK partnership not just to our countries but to the world.
