The left-wing Meretz party, the one whose former Education Minister ruled out learning the Book of Joshua because it describes wars, is worried about the “danger” of national religious Naftali Bennett heading the ministry.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is considering Bennett as the next Minister of Education after Bennett gave up his demand to be Foreign Minister or Defense Minister.

Former Meretz chairman and Education Minister banned the Book of Joshua from the school system because it describes the successful wars fought by the Jewish People after they entered Israel.

Current Meretz leader Zehava Galon now wants to ban Naftali Bennett, chairman of the Bayit Yehudi (Jewish Home) party, from heading the ministry because he probably will fund religious schools no less than secular schools.

That would be undemocratic, according to the leftist definition of the word, by which any public money to promote Judaism comes at the expense of promoting democracy, which apparently is not only a religion in itself but also is the only religion.

Galon wrote on Facebook:

It is dangerous and irresponsible to place the Education portfolio in the hands of Naftali Bennett. Last year outrageous information showed that the Ministry of Education invested 56 million shekels ($14 million) in organizations linked with the study of Jewish values ​​compared to only 5.5 million shekels for those that promote democratic values. It is painful and frightening to imagine what those numbers will look like next year if Naftali Bennett will be appointed.

Her argument promotes the idea that Judaism contradicts democracy and vice-versa.

Sarid hates the Book of Joshua because it deals with reality. Sarid forgets that Israel fought wars only when the “peace process” did not work.

He told the Jerusalem Post he was “disgusted” at the idea of Bennett as Minister of Education.

Galon wrote that if Bennett will be the minister of Education, she will be looking over his right shoulder all the time to check where every shekel is allocated and perhaps how many copies of the Book of Joshua are bought for schools.

The Book of Joshua not only describes war and peace. It also includes the command of God to set up cities of refuge:

Speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘Prepare for you cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you through Moses To which a slayer that kills any person unawares, unwittingly, shall flee and they shall be for you as a refuge from the avenger of blood.

What democracy other than Israel has such a principle that embodies the heart and soul of leftist ideology?

President Reuven Rivlin granted Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu two more weeks Monday morning to form a new government coalition after negotiations with different t parties have not produced a positive result.

Rivlin really had no other choice. He would like to see a national unity government with the Likud and the Zionist Union, the euphemism for the merged HaTnuah party headed by Tzipi Livni and Labor, chaired by Yitzchak Herzog.

Herzog and Livni do not want to be part of a Netanyahu-led government no more than he wants them on board.

The term “national unity” sounds terrific, but in this case it would be “national disunity” govern the deep ideological gap between the two parties.

Likud officials are to speak with the Hareidi Shas and Yehadut HaTorah parties today. Shas is the biggest obstacle for Netanyahu because of the threat by Bayit Yehudi (Jewish Home) to ditch the coalition if Shas heads the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are meeting privately on Friday at 2 PM to discuss the terms of Yisrael Beyteinu’s entry into the coalition.

Liberman is adamantly insisting on receiving the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but Netanyahu wants Liberman to step back and take something else.

As JewishPress.com reported, Bennett is reportedly agreeing to not demand the Foreign Ministry if Liberman doesn’t get it either.

Sources in the Likud claim that Liberman is threatening to resign from the Knesset if he doesn’t receive the Foreign Minister’s position again, though a spokesman for Foreign Minister Liberman denied this, according to an NRG report.

One of the other sticking points are the possible deals Netanyahu made with the Hareidi parties to get them to join the coalition.

Liberman’s party is afraid that Netanyahu may have agreed to roll back all the progress made on the draft and conversion issues in the previous government, in order to acquire Hareidi support.

It is suspected that Netanyahu wants to reach agreements with all his other partners first, saving Liberman for last. At that point he would play the Zionist Union off against Yisrael Beyteinu.

Of course, in politics anything can happen. Netanyahu could possibly reach a final agreement with Liberman today before most of the other parties. Which is what he did with Tzipi Livni in the previous coalition, when he gave her the Justice Ministry and head of negotiations with the PA and she joined the coalition first, which shocked all the other parties.

US President Obama will invite PM Netanyahu to the White House once Netanyahu’s coalition is set up, according to an Israel Channel 1 report.

The report didn’t say what Obama wanted to talk about, but one can be sure it will include a long discussion about how Israel must make progress on a two-state solution.

The Likud has begun the process of building a coalition.

PM Benjamin Netanyahu said that reality isn’t taking a break, and the citizens of Israel expect to quickly have a government.

Netanyahu’s goal is to have a government formed within the next 2 to 3 weeks.

Netanyahu has already spoken with all the party leaders he plans to invite to join in his coalition, including: Naftali Bennett (Bayyit Yehudi), Moshe Kachlon (Kulanu), Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu), Aryeh Deri (Shas) and Yaakov Litzman and Moshe Gafni (UTJ).

Earlier today, Labor chief Yitzchak Herzog called up Netanyahu to congratulate him on his victory.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II is warning that the international battle against Daesh – the terror organization known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, ISIS or ISIL – has launched World War III, although the rest of the U.S.-led coalition fighting the radical Islamic terror group may not yet realize it.

In fact, the Hashemite monarch told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria Global Public Square earlier this week, “This has to be unified.

“I’ve said this to leaders both in the Islamic and Arab world, and to the world in general: This is a third World War by other means.

“This brings Muslims, Christians, other religions together in this generational fight that all of us have to be in this together.

“So it’s not a Western fight,” the king continued. “This is a fight inside of Islam where everybody comes together against these outlaws, so to speak, together.

“We have a moral responsibility to reach out to those Muslims, to protect them, and to stop them before they reach our border.

“There’s a short-term part of this which is the military part of the issue.

“There is the medium part, which is the security element of it.

“And then there’s a long-term element of this, which is obviously the ideological one,” Abdullah said.

The terror group twists Islam, he noted, using “intimidation” as its weapon to “put fear in people’s hearts.”

But not in Jordanian hearts.

King Abdullah II, a trained helicopter pilot dubbed “the warrior king” after 35 years of military service uploaded to Instagram a photo of himself dressed in military fatigues and black gloves to rally his nation after a Jordanian pilot captured by ISIS was burned to death by the terror organization.

He cut short his visit to the United States to fly home at that news, and increased his forces in the U.S.-led coalition in the bombing raids against Daesh. There were, in fact, rumors that the king himself took part in some air strikes against the terror group as well.

“Death to Daesh” was the cry roared by the thousands who swamped the streets of Amman in the wake of the pilot’s execution.

Jordan vowed to “wipe out Daesh completely.”

U.S. President Barack Obama adamantly held firm to his policy of avoiding the term “radical Islamic terrorism” Thursday on the final day of the White House conference on violent extremism.

told participants at the final day of the White House “Conference on Violent Extremism” that 60 nations, including Arab nations, have so far united in the coalition to “degrade and ultimately destroy” the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria terrorist organization, which Obama referred to as “ISIL” and which is also referred to as ISIS. In the Middle East and by some European nations the group is called “Daesh.”

“We all have a responsibility to ensure the security and human rights of our citizens,” Obama said. “A civil society is vital to the success of any country.”

Still unable to use the term “radical Islamic terror,” however, Obama said, “We are here today because we are united against violent extremism and terrorism… a coalition of 60 nations, including Arab nations, has united to degrade and ultimoately destroy ISIL in Iraq and Syria.”

Obama spent about 15 minutes listing all the different terror groups around the world dedicating to creating havoc, murder and mayhem in various countries. But few if any were without ties to radical Islam, although Obama was unable to force himself to make the point.

He did, however, finally correct an earlier omission and specify that it was 21 Egyptian Christian Copts who were targeted by Daesh for execution at the edge of the Mediterranean waters in Libya last weekend. He was also careful to note that Israelis have endured the scourge of terrorism for decades, adding a special mention of the terrorist sieges in Paris and Copenhagen in an almost surprising reference to anti-Semitism in Europe.

Nevertheless, he said, “I refuse the notion that groups like ISIL represent Islam… There is a complicated history between the Middle East and the West,” Obama said, “and none of us should be immune from specific criticism on policy… But the idea that the West is at war with Islam is an ugly lie. We should reject it.”

However, he added, “When necessary, the United States will continue to take action against Al Qaeda affiliates …. in Iraq and Syria. Our coalition will not relent in the mission to destroy ISIL.”

Governments around the world, he added, have the responsibility to “cut off funding to terrorist groups.” Carefully avoiding any reference to Iran, however, Obama instead said the United States will “work with the United Arab Emirates to create a new digital communications hub to counter terrorist propaganda.”