Israeli Voters Beware – Think New York
Israeli Voters Beware – Think New York

Ever since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dissolved the government a few weeks ago, everybody wants a piece of the action.

Every Israeli, left and right, wants to take Bibi’s place and every Israeli citizen belongs to a different party. If you have been following the ins and outs of Israeli politics as closely as I have relative to the upcoming elections, then you know as much as I do – nothing. Zero.

You have blundered into a family dispute. Do not even try to untangle the feuding between brothers and sisters or the bickering between mothers-in-law.

Simply imagine yourself at a typical Seder in Brooklyn. It’s loud. It’s noisy. It’s crazy. But it is family.

Believe me I have tried, but I have lost touch with the various political parties that have joined together to form a new government -- which ones have splintered up to shape new political galaxies, which ones are to the left, which to the right, which to the middle, and which stand firmly for all of the above or none of the above.

By my count, there are 298 political parties in Israel, since last night, yes, new ones keep popping up as we sleep, and they can’t even agree on Jerusalem.

Some want to keep it all in Israeli hands – and why should there even be a question about this? Others insist that Jerusalem must be shared with terrorists.

In other words, they have learned nothing, as Bibi says about Europeans and the Holocaust. “They have learned nothing.”

Truly, the same can be said about those Israelis who believe that giving up territory – Jerusalem no less! – is a road to everlasting peace.

So my opinion is obvious – never an inch! – but it is not my opinion that counts when it comes to Israelis and what or whom they choose.

Failure to pay attention to New York can prove perilous to Israel. Take heed and do not make the same mistake.
I speak from New York City. About New York City I am an expert. From New York I can share some worthwhile wisdom.

Failure to pay attention to New York can prove perilous to Israel. Take heed and do not make the same mistake.

Last year a dreamer of dreams named Bill de Blasio promised New Yorkers that he would change the town. He was a visionary of the Left and we fell for him. Today he is our mayor and New York City is on fire. He changed a town that needed no changing. We voted for him anyway.

Our town had been run beautifully by mayors Rudy Giuliani (8 years) and Michael Bloomberg (12 years.)  Our streets were safe or as safe as can be in a town as big as New York. There was harmony between the races. The riffraff were unseen and the demagogues were unheard.

But de Blasio knew better. He accused the entire police department of being a collection of racists, even though 60 percent of the department is Minority populated, and 99 percent of the NYPD risk life and limb for the safety and betterment of all New Yorkers, regardless of color.

Still not good enough for de Blasio. He had big plans to make big changes.

He partnered himself with race agitator Al Sharpton and when a spark was lit in Ferguson and later in New York itself, de Blasio gave a wink and a nod and the riffraff took to the streets. They marched with hate and with menace. They demanded “death to the police.” Days later, two officers of the law were murdered.

Today, New York City is in turmoil. The demagogues rule our politics. The mobs rule our streets.

That man de Blasio ripped a town already at peace. He divided New York.

Take heed, Dear Israel, lest you too fall for a dreamer who promises big changes, beginning with a divided Jerusalem.

When it is time to vote, think carefully. Think New York.

Jack Engelhard writes a regular column for Arutz Sheva. New from the novelist, the inside-the-newsroom tell-all thriller, The Bathsheba Deadline. Engelhard wrote the int’l bestseller Indecent Proposal that was translated into more than 22 languages and turned into a Paramount motion picture starring Robert Redford and Demi Moore. Website: www.jackengelhard.com