On Sunday night, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who branded himself “Mr. Security” in his many election campaigns, warned that a government led by Yamina chief Naftali Bennett and Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid is “a danger to Israel's security.”
Such a government would weaken Israel’s deterrence, he said.
“How will we look in the eyes of our enemies? What will they do in Iran or in Gaza? What will they say in the corridors of the administration in Washington? This government will stand against Iran? This government supports the dangerous nuclear deal,” Netanyahu said during a televised speech.
But is that true? Would a government led by the right-wing Bennett really give Israel’s enemies an incentive to attack and drag the region into another devastating war?
Since Netanyahu became prime minister in 2009, Israel has fought three wars with Gaza's terror groups and the proverbial ink on the ceasefire agreement that brought an end to the latest “mini-war” known as Operation Guardian of the Walls is still fresh.
Under Netanyahu, Israel’s policy was to embolden Hamas in the Gaza Strip in order to drive a wedge between Gaza and the West Bank run by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, hoping to prevent any unity between the two parties.
Israel also tried to help rebuild the Gaza Strip, letting in dual-use goods such as cement and millions of dollars in cash to pay the salaries of impoverished Gazans.
But as the over 4,000 rockets, mortars and anti-tank missiles fired towards Israel and tunnel networks show, the money and goods allowed in did not change Hamas’s goal of going to war again.
Instead, the “calm” that Israel was experiencing was a new front in the making. Aid from Netanyahu’s right-wing government gave the Islamists the impetus to bolster their missile arsenal and aim it towards Israel.
Meanwhile, in the West Bank, Palestinian security forces worked to douse the flames and stop attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians.
Naftali Bennett is no Peace Now activist. During his military service, he served in the elite Sayeret Matkal, the same unit that Netanyahu and his brothers Yoni and Iddo served in.
Bennett also served as defense minister under Netanyahu, overseeing Operation Black Belt in Gaza, where Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Baha Abu al-Ata was killed in a targeted strike that led to close to 500 rockets being fired at Israel, including Tel Aviv.
While holding the defense portfolio, Bennett also continued Israel’s war-between-wars campaign against Iran in Syria and worked to escalate Israel’s steps against Iranian forces in the country.
The Yamina leader was replaced by former chief of staff Benny Gantz, who is slated to retain the defense portfolio in the next government.
While Gantz is not considered as conservative as Bennett, he has his own military credentials and has repeatedly said that he acts to maintain Israel’s security.
Along with Gantz, the new government will also see another former defense minister who worked under Netanyahu, Avigdor Liberman, serve as finance minister.
Liberman is no dove. He quit his defense post after the government signed a ceasefire with Hamas following two days of heavy fighting and over 500 rockets fired at Israel.
Liberman had wanted to launch a major assault on Hamas in Gaza, but Netanyahu did not give the green light and instead secured a ceasefire, a move that Liberman described at the time as "surrender to terrorism.”
The security cabinet under Bennett will also, according to reports, mostly be made up of right-wingers including Bennett, Ayelet Shaked, Matan Kahana, Gideon Sa’ar, Ze’ev Elkin, and Liberman, along with Gantz, Lapid, Labor leader Merav Michaeli and Meretz head Nitzan Horowitz.
The members of a Bennett-Lapid government, as well as security cabinet, may not be the right-wingers to which Israel has become accustomed to over the past 12 years, but this does not mean they will embolden Israel’s enemies, either.
If anything, the past two years without a functioning government was what emboldened Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran to test the country and try to drag Israel into deadly wars.
Netanyahu’s warning on Sunday night was spin. It was a last-ditch effort to try to hold on to power.