Douglas Altabef is the Chairman of the Board of. Im Tirtzu and a Director of The Israel Independence Fund.
Many polls notwithstanding, the results of our recent election are not a great surprise in the sense that no clear majority has been won by either the Coalition or the Opposition.
But there was a great surprise in the election and that was the almost unprecedented turnout and vote of Israel's Arabs.
The Ra'am Party of Mansour Abbas garnered eight seats and with the Joint List's 11 seats, the upcoming Arab presence in the Knesset is close to a double of its previous strength.
The immediate reaction of dyed-in-the-wool Leftist Yair Golan of the Democrats Party was that Bibi, Likud and it's coalition had lost and the Opposition had won.
This seems a bit odd since the Opposition only won 48 seats compared to the Coalition's 53. But that does not take into account the possible involvement of the two Arab blocs.
There had been talk of bring Abbas into the Opposition's proposed government. But doing so would only bring them to 56 seats, still leaving them five short of a majority.
Putting aside the highly unlikely prospect of luring a Hareidi party away from the Coalition (they might join, but that could not happen without losing one or more Opposition parties), the clever plan was to have Joint List vote alongside the Opposition without formally entering into the government.
This would enable the Opposition, even if it could not form the new government to be a voting majority for such initiatives as replacing Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, and passing legislation that would constrict Netanyahu from serving again as Prime Minister.
Putting aside the legal viability of the Bibi effort, it's the mindset that matters. And the mindset is that those in the Opposition parties have no problem working with the Arabs.
There are two subsequent events that must shine a very harsh light on this idea. One was the series of allegations of foreign interference and bribery that helped to stimulate the Arab turnout.
The second was the celebration of the Joint List featuring the singing of "Biladi, Biladi," basically the musical version of the "from the river to the sea" chant.
Biladi means "my country," and the country being celebrated isn't Israel; it's Palestine instead of Israel.
There is a reason why Arabs were never brought into the government until Bennett and Lapid did so: trust.
Trust that the Arabs would be acting in the best interests of a sovereign Jewish and democratic Israel, including and perhaps especially as it is concerned Israel's security needs and concerns.
Definitionally, bringing the Arabs into the government gives them undue influence; they become the proverbial 10th man in the minyan.
When you have strong reasons to believe that your 10th man is not close to being on your own page as to the security, wellbeing and future of your country, why would you so empower them?
The answer seems to be for political gain, for political advantage. But this just shines the light of disbelief on your own qualifications for leadership.
While there is no definitive proof as yet of foreign influence, the presence of envelopes of containing tens of thousands of shekels is certainly a smoking gun
At a minimum there is the appearance of wrongdoing. Just as the appearance of a conflict of interest can be tantamount to a designation of a conflict, hereto there is a strong supposition of wrongdoing.
That supposition, which I suspect the Israeli man in the street perceives, should be a glaring red flag signal to the Opposition parties.
Yes, there have been those on the Left who seek to embrace the Arabs as part of a new government. But this is a manifestation of Bibi Derangement Syndrome whereby, in the cause of unseating the Prime Minister, you are willing to make common cause with those whose true goal is to usurp you.
Those who sanctimoniously declare that a democratic Israel should be willing to embrace an important constituent of that democracy are missing a key point. Democracies depend on a consensual shared belief in the underlying principles, goals and values of that democracy.
Those like, at a minimum, the Arab Joint List, who have no such loyalty to the underlying principles of the democracy, would be merely using those values and that liberality to.usurp Israeli democracy
This is the picture of Western Europe today where Islamists are utilizing democratic norms, laws and principles in order to bring in Sharia law, and ultimately to destroy their host societies.
Having the prospect of such undermining here should be a gargantuan warning and wake up call to Israelis, including and especially Opposition leaders flirting with Arab governmental participation.
It is not being illiberal, racist or fascistic to eschew Arab participation in the government of Israel. It is self preservation, knowing that without the consensus of shared values and principles, Israel becomes immensely vulnerable to the type of undermining we are seeing in Europe.
I believe that the vast majority of Israelis oppose involving Arabs in the government, especially in light of recent events and their reactions to October 7.
If Opposition leaders are so obtuse as to go down the path of bringing Arabs into a new government, whether formally or not, the enterprise will be short lived and they will not be readily forgiven by the citizens of Israel.
Democracy is not a suicide pact where, in the name of abstract ideas, leaders will work with those who are antithetical to everything the democracy stands for.
Preserving the Jewish and democratic core and character of Israel is far more important the allure of a power grab.
May our political leaders have the strength and wisdom to embrace that commitment to our democratic preservation.