“From the rising of the sun even to its setting, My Name will be great among the Gentiles,” says Yahweh Sabaoth.

(Malachi 1: 11)

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New Elections in Israel: Avigdor Liberman is Right Again

In 2004, I went to Israel with a group of people to participate in an Israeli security conference called The Herzliya Conference. It’s hosted every year by the Interdisciplinary Center at Herzliya.

During the conference, we heard from and met with every living Israeli Prime Minister, leaders in government and business, foreign dignitaries, and the Palestinian Authority. Ariel Sharon was prime minister at the time. We had dinner with him.

The conference lasted for several days. The man seated next to me was Ehud Olmert’s brother. Ehud Olmert was Mayor of Jerusalem from 1993 to 2003 and prime minister from 2006 to 2009. Dalia Rabin sat in front of me. She’s the daughter of former Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Yitzhak Rabin. Her father was assassinated in 1995 by an Israeli Jew for signing the Oslo Accords.

The Olmert and Rabin families are heavily involved in Israeli politics. They know the ins and outs and the whys and wherefores. Anytime I had a question, I turned to them for answers. They gladly helped me out.

One speaker at the conference stood out in my mind: Avigdor Liberman. At the time, he was minister of transportation. Since then, he has served as deputy prime minister twice, minister of strategic affairs, minister of foreign affairs twice, and defense minister. He resigned his defense minister post in 2018 over a falling out with Prime Minister Netanyahu.

Liberman believes Israel should be far more aggressive in its dealings with Hamas. The differences between Liberman and Netanyahu on that issue were irreconcilable a few months ago. Now, Netanyahu needs Liberman’s support to form a new government, and Liberman is demanding two things. He wants to be defense minister again with more authority and autonomy, and he wants a change in Israeli law to require the drafting of Haredim by the Israel Defense Forces.

See:

In 2004, Iran was the hot topic at the Herzliya Conference. Liberman made more sense than anybody else. When the conference ended, Katie and I spent a few days with some friends in Israel. One of them told me that Liberman is called “Liberman the Doberman”. I told him what I just told you. Liberman made more sense than anybody.

In 2005, Prime Minister Sharon unilaterally withdrew from Gaza. Israel has had problems with Hamas ever since. Today, Iran is in cahoots with Hamas supplying money and weapons for attacks against Israel.

Liberman was right in 2004. Sharon was wrong in 2005. Prime Minister Netanyahu is wrong now. People can call him Liberman the Doberman all they want. Liberman is right.

About the Haredim

If you spend as much time in Israel as Katie and I do, you will be around a lot of Haredim, especially in Jerusalem. They are more annoying than gnats in South Georgia.

Walking to the Kotel or the Temple Mount is like walking a gauntlet. Haredim come at you from all sides. They stand in your path to stop you and try to sell you a blessing. They will give you a red string that is supposed to represent a blessing if you will give them some shekels.

One day, I had been approached by the same guy several times in the Jewish Quarter and the Temple Mount area. He calls himself a rabbi. Since he had interfered with my progress on numerous occasions that day, I was angry. I looked him in the eye and said, “Are you familiar with the Name Yahweh?”

He said, “Of course.”

I told him, “I know what you’re doing, and you know what you’re doing. If we know, you can bet that Yahweh knows. How do you think He feels about you selling blessings to tourists?”

He was shocked, but not enough to stop selling blessings. That’s his place of business; blessings are his product; and selling blessings is one of his sources of income. I’m sure I’ll see him again in a few weeks. I expect him to be trying to fleece tourists at Yahweh’s expense.

In 2016, I was standing at a major crosswalk on King George Street where it intersects with Ben Yehuda. Standing next to me was a Haredi man. I didn’t know him, and he didn’t know me. Suddenly, he reached out his hand as though he wanted to shake my hand. I hesitated, and he said, “You probably think I want something.”

I said, “It crossed my mind.”

Out of the blue he went off on a rant about how the State of Israel shouldn’t exist. That didn’t surprise me. Many members of the Haredim think Israel shouldn’t exist, but why would he waste his time lecturing me about it on the street?

The Haredim are the welfare class in Israel. The State of Israel supports them while they bite the hand that feeds them.

Many Haredim live in a Jerusalem neighborhood called Mea She’arim. If you aren’t an ultra-Orthodox Jew, it’s a dangerous place to be. I’m not exaggerating. Members of the Haredim in Mea She’arim will physically attack members of their own sect of Judaism on the street if they join the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). That’s not an exaggeration, either.

Prime Minister Netanyahu needs the Haredim to form a coalition. He’s willing to go along with Haredi demands that make no sense. In essence, Liberman said, “No! This is going to stop, and it’s going to stop now.”

Liberman is right again.

See “Israel Moves to Hold New Election as Netanyahu Fails to Form a Coalition”.

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“The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” (John 17: 22-24)