editorials
A Clear Victory for Israel’s Right
A fter last week’s decisive election in Israel,
Benjamin Netanyahu is on his way to forming a
ruling coalition and returning to the prime minister’s
office. The election results point the way to a
governing majority that is conservative, nationalistic
and religious. And potentially problematic.

In addition to his Likud party, which won 32
seats, Netanyahu’s likely coalition will include the
Religious Zionists party, an extreme right-wing
party led by Bezalel Smotrich and Kahanist law-
maker Itamar Ben-Gvir, which won 14 seats; and
Haredi, non-Zionist parties Shas and United Torah
Judaism, which won 11 and seven seats, respec-
tively. The most moderate leadership voice in the
anticipated coalition may be Netanyahu himself.

And management of his coalition partners will
likely present a challenge to Netanyahu’s legend-
ary political deal-making skills.

All in all, last week’s vote was a devastating
defeat for the anti-Netanyahu parties that forged
a government over the last year. Outgoing Prime
Minister Yair Lapid’s centrist Yesh Atid party gar-
nered 24 seats; the center-right National Unity
party of Defense Minister Benny Gantz won 12
seats; and the right-wing Israel Beiteinu led by
Avigdor Lieberman won six.

Significantly, this election saw the almost com-
plete disappearance of Israel’s shrinking left —
with the Labor party barely crossing the 3.25%
election threshold with four seats — and the dis-
appearance of left-wing Meretz. In addition, nei-
ther Ayelet Shaked’s right-wing Habayit Hayehudi
nor the Arab nationalist party Balad was able
to attract enough votes to cross the election
threshold. The irony is that if the center-right parties were
willing to join the coalition, they could balance
or even replace the far-right parties. But each
of the center-right leaders has been burned by
Netanyahu before and has pledged not to join
him now.

U.S. Jewry is overall more liberal than the
steadily more conservative Israeli public. Some
Jewish groups expressed distress over the elec-
tion results, while others merely congratulated
Israel on the election and kept silent about con-
cerns regarding the far-right elements of the likely
coalition. On the eve of the election, Israeli President
Isaac Herzog told the Jewish Federations of North
China’s Xi and Taiwan
L ate last month, a somber Xi Jinping walked
across the stage of the Great Hall of the People
in Beijing flanked by his hand-picked, seven-member
standing committee of top leadership, and was
proclaimed China’s uncontested leader for the next
five years — and likely more. Xi’s rise to power in
the Chinese Communist Party has been methodical,
deliberate and all-encompassing.

When Xi came to power in 2012, most viewed
him as a pragmatist. There was hope that he
would bring reforms to China and a more inviting
interaction with other nations of the world and,
particularly, the West. But that was not to be.

Instead, Xi moved forcefully in the other direc-
tion. Under his instructions, authorities expanded
state surveillance, imposed mass detention in
Xinjiang, cracked down on Chinese civil soci-
ety and imposed national security restrictions in
Hong Kong to stop anti-Beijing protests.

After serving a decade as general secretary
and head of the Central Military Commission, the
party’s two most important positions, Xi refused
to transfer control, as his predecessors had done.

Rather, he made clear his intent to continue in
power and ignored the plan of previous party
12 NOVEMBER 10, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
leaders who hoped to regularize peaceful lead-
ership transitions and protect against a return to
one-man rule.

And now, as the 69-year-old leader enters his
third term in office, he is intent on staying in power
under his terms and his rules, with absolute loyalty
from his top leaders and government personnel.

Going forward, Xi is expected to further consoli-
date power with a focus on national security, the
upgrade of the Chinese technology sector, efforts
to establish a state-dominated and self-reliant
Chinese economy and a further push to establish
China at the top of the world order. He will be
doing so notwithstanding existing challenges in
relations with the United States and a slowdown
in the Chinese economy.

And then there’s Taiwan. Taiwan has been
governed autonomously of mainland China since
1949, but Beijing views the island as part of “one
China” and has vowed to “unify” Taiwan with
the mainland, using force, if necessary. Indeed,
Xi amended the party constitution to say that
China “will resolutely oppose and contain Taiwan
independence.” And that makes the 23 million
residents of Taiwan very nervous.

America’s General Assembly, “The results may or
may not be to your liking, but the vote of the Israeli
people should be respected.”
We agree. We need to respect and accept the
will of the Israeli people. This is so even if the
likely direction of several government policies
could be uncomfortable for a significant seg-
ment of Diaspora Jewry. For example, no one
from Netanyahu rightward supports a two-state
solution. And the restoration of full control of the
Ministry of Religious Affairs and the Rabbinate to
Haredi leadership is not likely to support religious
pluralism in Israel or LGBTQ+ rights.

But this is the government Israel’s electorate
wants. As such, when it comes to the makeup of
the government and the policies it pursues, the
decisions aren’t ours to make. We don’t have to
agree with every policy and decision. And we cer-
tainly don’t have to support decisions with which
we disagree. But we shouldn’t prejudge things
based upon what we think will happen. Instead,
let’s see what they decide to do. Let’s see which
ministries are given to far-right leaders. And let’s
see what policies are pursued.

They may surprise us. JE
In 1979, the United States established formal
diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic
of China on the mainland. At the same time, it
severed formal ties with Taiwan, known as the
Republic of China, whose leaders had ruled the
mainland until they were ousted by Mao Zedong’s
Communist forces in 1949. After 1979, the United
States continued an active unofficial relationship
with the island, including the supply of mili-
tary defense equipment, notwithstanding China’s
objections. But it isn’t at all clear what the U.S. will
do in the event China attacks Taiwan and seeks to
take control. President Joe Biden’s comments on
the issue have vacillated between commitments
to intervene and statements that reflect “strategic
ambiguity.” For now, Taiwan prepares to defend itself, as
it watches Western reaction in response to the
ongoing war in Ukraine. Taiwan knows if China
attacks, Western allies may or may not join in
active defense. Xi knows of that uncertainty, as
well. And with his mounting power and com-
mitment to expanding his rule, a move against
Taiwan is entirely possible.

This is a problem that isn’t going away. JE