The Knesset Monday evening officially approved by a 68-48 vote the 33rd Knesset in what a Meretz Knesset Member Zahava Gal-on correctly called a “celebratory affair” that was long on pomp and circumstance and short on government leaders “telling it as it is.”

The Opposition did not lose any time getting in its digs, with Labor party leader Shelly Yechimovich attacking the new coalition as a bunch of “rich capitalists,” pinpointing her disgust at Jewish Home leader and millionaire Naftali Bennett and former journalist and TV news celebrity Yair Lapid, head of the Yesh Atid (Future) party. Looking to Lapid, she said he earned $700,000 last year. She did not mention how much she earned as a journalist.

Netanyahu took the podium to warn for the umpteenth time that Iran is getting closer to the “red line” he drew in his speech to the United Nations last September.

Speaking less than two days before President Barack Obama arrives for a short visit, Prime Minister Netanyahu made sure to say, “We stretch out our hand to the Palestinians” for a “historic compromise,” a nice diplomatic phrase for saying that the United States can forget about any peace deal with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, whose only suggestion of compromise is that Israel accept all of his demands.

Even Tzipi Livni, Netanyahu’s de facto “Minister of the Peace Process” told Israeli television that successfully completing the peace process will be “very difficult,” the understatement of the day.

Netanyahu was closer to the truth when he said that Israel will take advantage of Obama’s visit to thank America for its support.

The Knesset easily elected Yuri Edelstein as the new Speaker, replacing Reuven Rivlin, who hid his rage at being dumped by Prime Minister Netanyahu and instead silently accepted praise for having served in the post.

Arab MKs, as usual, were good for headlines.  Jamal Zahalka charged Lapid with “racism” because he was not in the Opposition. Hanin Zoabi later told Israeli television that the coalition will be “racist,” in other words, just like the previous one, in her view.

One interesting comment came from Arab MK Ahmed Tibi. With the Haredi parties in the Opposition for the first time in recent memory, he suddenly saw a common cause between them and the Arabs on social issues, meaning more money for their sectors.

On Monday evening, the Knesset will host the swearing in ceremony for Israel’s 33rd government, and Benjamin Netanyahu’s third term—second consecutive—as prime minister (his first term ran from June 1996 to July 1999).

Immediately after the ceremony, Netanyahu will convene a brief cabinet meeting, with a toast. Then the bunch (22 ministers and 8 deputies) will travel to the presidential residence, for the traditional group picture.

The Knesset session will open with the selection of the Speaker of the House. It will likely be Likud MK Yuli Edelstein, who will replace the former Speaker, Reuven Rivlin, who wanted very much to continue in his post but, unfortunately, had committed the ultimate sin of criticizing the Prime Minister’s anti-democratic tendencies, not the kind of slight which Netanyahu’s wife Sara easily forgives.

As usual, Netanyahu never shared with Rivlin his plan to depose him. In fact, as far back as a year ago, he assured the popular Speaker—who is also closely associated with the Settlement movement—that he’d have his support for the post of President when Shimon Peres completes his 7-year term, 2014.

Yuli Edelstein’s life’s story is fascinating: Born in the Soviet Union to Jewish parents who converted to Christianity (his father is a Russian Orthodox priest), Edelstein discovered his Jewish connection through his grandparents. He studied Hebrew back when that was considered a subversive act, for which, in 1984, he was sent to Siberia (the charges were drug related, but everybody knew it was the Hebrew thing). He made aliyah with his wife, Tanya, served in the army, and entered politics, ending up in the Knesset in 1996. He has switched between several parties, until finally landing in the Likud, and has held several ministerial portfolios. And if he doesn’t catch Sara’s ire, he could become as memorable a Speaker as Rubie Rivlin.

But the biggest losers, without a doubt, are the Haredi parties, Shas and United Torah Judaism. They were almost literally kicked out by Yair Lapid, who stated openly that, should he be seen in the government group picture with the Haredim, his voters would abandon him. Surprisingly, Naftali Bennett, his newly found brother from a different father (Yair’s father, the late MK Tommy Lapid, was a true hater of the religion), supported the dubious position that, in order to truly help the Haredi public, government had to first be cleared of Haredi partners.

Shas, a party that depends completely on patronage for its very existence, is seething with anger over Bennett’s “betrayal.” It’s hard, however, to take seriously the victimized self-pity of Shas, whose spiritual father Rav Ovadia Yosef dubbed the Jewish Home party a “Goy Home.” Altogether, it appears that, perhaps counter intuitively, the National Religious leaders as well as the rank and file, have been harboring heaps of resentment against the Haredim. The Haredi slights of several decades, including their occupation of the Ministry of Religious Services and the Chief rabbinate, doling out jobs to Haredi officials who reigned over a population that looks nothing like them—those slighted chickens have been coming back to roost.

Take for instance Rabbi Hayim Drukman, who responded to both the Haredi pols and to Netanyahu, who accused the Lapid-Bennett axis of “boycotting” the Haredi parties. Rabbi Drukman Argued that “the Haredi public are the biggest boycotters, boycotting for years the Torah of the national religious public.”

“Any Haredi apparatchik who gets elected to the Knesset, immediately becomes a rabbi, while the real rabbis of the national religious public are noted in the Haredi press by their first names (without the title ‘Rabbi’). Is this not boycotting?” Rabbi Druckman wrote in the Saturday shul paper “Olam Katan.”

Inside Shas, the short knives have already been drawn and they’re aimed at MK Aryeh Deri, the former convict who came back from the cold to lead Shas into a glorious stalemate (11 seats before, 11 after).

“We were very disappointed in Deri,” a senior Shas pol told Ma’ariv. “He did not bring the votes he promised Rav Ovadia, there was no significant change in seats, and, in fact, Deri is responsible for our failure.”

In United Torah Judaism they also seem to regret their alliance with Shas, it’s highly likely that, in a few months, they’ll opt to enter the government without Shas.

Minister of Information and Diaspora. Yuli Edelstein, during an appearance at the town of P’sagot in the Benjamin Region Thursday night, took a stab at explaining why it was crucial for his audience—all settlers—to vote Likud-Beitenu on January 22, Makor Rishon reported on Friday.

According to one of the participants, Edelstein’s “explanation” could be understood as implying that, should support for Likud-Beitenu in the Judea and Samaria settlements be weak, this would result in reduced government investment in there area.

The day before, Edelstein appeared in the town of Kdumim alongside religious candidates from opposing parties, including Jewish Home. The head of the religious office in Likud campaign, Zeev Elkin, has also been touring the stronghold institutions of Religious Zionism, and yet the Likud-Beitenu has been unable to slow down the hemorrhaging of right wing votes to Naftali Bennett.

The country’s front runner party apparatus is most enraged with registered members who they claim are not voting Likud in the general elections.

The facts dispute that accusation. Ahead of the 2009 elections, the settlers also heard these nasty accusations coming out of the Likud, that the settlers were infiltrating the Likud, but planning to vote for other parties.

And despite the accusations, in the 2009 elections, the Likud received 28% of the settler vote, more than any other party, and more than twice the amount they received from the settlers in the 2006 elections (only 13%). In Ariel, a full 45% of the vote went to Likud.

Recently, during a visit of the prime minister and his entourage in the town of Rechelim, the Likud Judea and Samaria slot candidate Yehuda Glick approached Culture and Sports Minister Limor Livnat to thank her for her contribution to the settlement movement – only to receive her bitter response: It’s a pity your gratitude didn’t show at the primaries.

Those ministers and MKs who had been pushed down the list in the primaries, are already arguing that the vote does not really reflect the authentic “map” of Likud voters—having been infiltrated by an abundance of religious Zionists who registered only to push their own people, most notable Moshe Feiglin—but plan to vote for Bennett in the general elections.

They aren’t considering the possibility that their views are simply no longer part of the mainstream.

The disappointed members on the party’s left wing are saying Netanyahu should not pay attention to any elected MK’s spot on the list when choosing his ministers, because the vote had been rigged by religious “invaders.” And, obviously, the smaller the Likud-Beitenu’s score turns out to be, the fewer the ministerial portfolios available for Likud delegates.

MK Yariv Levin, who met this week with residents of Judea and Samaria, salso spoke about the Likud’s deep anxiety about the vote flow to Bennett.

“The strength of the settlements is in their being part of the main stream of the nation of Israel,” Yariv told Makor Rishon. “If you turn the settlements into something sectoral, you end up losing your most important protection, which is the public’s support… A low turnout in favor of Likud will inevitably turn the settlements into their own private concern – it takes them out of the governing party’s consensus.”

These raw threats are unprecedented in the discourse within Israel’s right-wing, where at least the pretense of caring for the well being of the settlements has been part of the bread and butter of every single party — including those, like Likud and Israel Beitenu, which have committed to some form of a two-state solution.

The open threats against the settler community is the direct result of its recent rejection of the Likud in favor of one of their own, in part as a result of Netanyahu’s attack on Naftali Bennett’s statement against expelling Jews, as well as because of the rumors coming out of the Likud, that the Jewish Home party won’t be part of the coalition.

MK Ofir Akunis, who holds the number 2 position in the campaign information office, has actually said for the record: “I expect all the Likud registered members, in Judea and Samaraia and in the rest of the country, to vote “Machal” (the likud ticket at the polls). Registration is not done only to influence the list during the primaries. Anyone who registered in Likud must be honest with themselves and vote Likud at the general elections.”

Or else…

Likud Primaries are coming soon, and it’s time to think about who should be on the Likud’s MK list for the upcoming national elections.

Last night I reviewed the list of candidates and started making notes to myself of potential people to get my vote. The process works as follows: You must vote for 12 candidates on the list as your primary candidates, and then 1 additional person as your regional candidate.

So far, the only candidates that I am 100% certain about are from the list from Mattot Arim. Their current update is as follows (I am providing only the Likud-related section of the report. You can read their full report here on their website (look for the English posts on the right hand side):

Accountability 4: Vote for Those who Get Things Done – Mattot Arim’s Parliamentary Report 4 

We invite you to vote for the high-scorers, so that this time, YOUR Knesset and YOUR Government, will get DONE what YOU want!  Here is Parliamentary Report 4 by Mattot Arim:  http://heb.mattotarim.org/images/docs/yamin.pdf  It discloses what the MKs and ministers got done in the first half of year 2011.

High scoring MKs and ministers, in the attached report, are those who have been standing strong against Oslo, Disengagement, Palestinian State  and other pro-Arab anti-Israel paradigms.

There are 4 MKs and one minister which consistently do well in all reports - Danny Danon, Zev Elkin, Zipi Hotovely and Yariv Levin. Top-ranking minister: Yuli Edelstein. Make sure these 5 are on your list!! A new but particularly strong candidate is Moshe Feiglin.

Residents of the Ashdod-Rehovot area (shfela area)  – please take note!! It is important for you to vote for Meir Malka. He is running against a very powerful proponent of disengagement. If you vote for Meir Malka who has the same kind of national viewpoint as you do, you are sparing the Knesset his rival who could be very dangerous.  Please forward this paragraph about the important candidacy of Shfela representative Meir Malka, to EVERYONE you know in the following cities: Ashdod, Rishon leZion, Rehovot, Modiin, Lod, Gedera, Yavneh, Nes Ziona, Ramleh, Kiryat Ekron, Beer Yakov, Bet Dagan, Bnei Ayish, Gan Yavne, Mazkeret Batya, Macabim-Reut. Only residents of those cities are eligible to vote for Meir Malka.<

Reminder: if you want to help with Mattot Arim’s important national accountability project, learn more: http://mattotarim1.blogspot.co.il/2012/10/we-need-your-help-right-now-to-generate.html. And feel free to contact us at mattot.arim@gmail.com.

More updates to come…

PS: Just make sure NOT to vote for Zachi HaNegbi!

Visit The Muqata.

As one of the “youngest” holidays in Jewish tradition, Jerusalem Day holds a special place in the Jewish calendar today.  It marks the reunification of Jerusalem during the Six Day War of 1967, the first time that the entire city had come under Jewish sovereignty in thousands of years.  Even before King David conquered and built his monarchy in Jerusalem over 3,000 years ago in 1000 BCE, the city has always been the most holy city in Jewish tradition.  There was never, however, an official Jewish holiday that honored the city until after June 1967.

When Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE, the tragic event spurred thousands of years of mourning for the sacred capital.  The remembrance of the destruction of Jerusalem and hope for its rebuilding manifested itself in Jewish holidays, prayers and even on the happiest of occasions—weddings –with the groom’s breaking of the glass cup. Jews would turn and pray in the direction of Jerusalem three times a day. There were even efforts throughout history where Jewish people attempted to restore political sovereignty over the city and re-establish it as the national capital.

For Yuli Edelstein, the Minister of Diaspora and Public Affairs, who as a Russian refusnik was sentenced three years in a Soviet Labor camp, Jerusalem Day holds deep significance. Tazpit News Agency interviewed the minister in light of Jerusalem Day which falls on Sunday, May 20 (Iyar 28) this year. “I was very young when the Six Day War happened and I remember everyone around me being terribly scared,” Edelstein told Tazpit News Agency. “According to reports on Soviet radio, Israel was disappearing.”

“A close friend of the family came by to tell us that the Soviet radio reports were lies. “”I just heard that the Arab armies destroyed Israel not once, but twice!” he told my parents.”

Edelstein grew up under the repressive and restrictive policies of the Soviet Union era, which muted Jewish traditional and cultural life for decades. State-sponsored anti-Semitism also prevented Jews from working in certain government sectors and advancing in their work.

Edelstein explained that his family felt a great sense of hope now that Jerusalem had come under Israel’s hands. “We felt great relief when we heard later that Jerusalem was actually in the hands of Israel and not in the hands of the Arab armies from Egypt, Syria, and Jordan. The Jews in Russia and the Ukraine were astonished that little Israel could win the war.”

“The reunification of Jerusalem, the Temple Mount in Israel’s hands, and the outcome of the Six Day War, changed the standing of Israel in the eyes of Jews across the world, but especially for the Jews in the former Soviet Union,” said Edelstein.

“For at least two million Soviet Jews, a reunited Jerusalem brought a feeling that there is a homeland and that they must start fighting for the existence of Israel. There was a whole change of attitude—one from relief to pride.”

Edelstein himself was born in Czernowitz in what is now the former Soviet Union. In 1979, he applied for an exit visa to Israel but was refused as Soviet policy rarely allowed its residents to emigrate and so Edelstein became a dissident.  As a Russian refusenik, Edelstein was actively involved in Zionist circles in Moscow and taught Hebrew secretly.  He was arrested by the KGB in 1984 on false charges of drug possession and was sentenced to three years in a grueling Soviet labor camp. He was released in 1987 and was finally allowed to immigrate to Israel with his family.

“For me, Jerusalem is more than just a capital to be proud of.  As the former Minister of Immigrant Absorption, I can say that for Jews who immigrated to Israel–from as far as Ethiopia– making aliya to Israel always meant returning to Jerusalem, to Zion.”

The European Union, the supranational organization of the 27 most developed European nations, is one of the most outspoken and frequent international critics of Israel. Its reports on the situation in the Middle East are often so unfair and biased that not only have they drawn the ire of Israel, they have also angered the government of one of the EU’s six original founding states, the Netherlands, which no longer wants to endorse the reports emanating from the EU mission in Ramallah.

Last December, the EU heads of mission in Ramallah authored a report on the situation in Jerusalem in which they accused Israel of trying to destroy chances for peace with Palestinians by snatching control of East Jerusalem through the construction of Israeli settlements. “If current trends continue, the prospect of Jerusalem as the future capital of two states becomes increasingly unlikely and unworkable, undermining a two-state solution … [Israeli actions] provide fuel to those who want to further radicalise the conflict,” the report stated.

It noted that the 790,000 Arabs living in Jerusalem suffer from overcrowding, dirty streets and poor sewage, that Palestinian children in Israeli-run schools are forced to use books which are “edited” for “sensitive” content, that ambulances with Palestinian patients are subjected to “unnecessary and potentially life-threatening delays” and that archeological projects put “emphasis on biblical and Jewish-Israeli connotations of the area while neglecting Arab/Muslim claims of historic-archeological ties.”

The report advocated that the European Commission, the EU’s executive body, propose legislation “to prevent/discourage [EU] financial transactions in support of settlement activity,” “ensure” that Israeli vegetables from settlement farms do not get preferential import tariffs in the EU, and that EU countries “share information on violent settlers … to assess whether to grant entry into EU member states.”

This report came barely a week after another report which had accused Israel of monopolizing farm land and water in the Jordan Valley in a bid to drive out native Arabs, while another recent EU paper had accused Israel of eroding the civil liberties of Arab-Israeli citizens.

Last January, Israeli information minister Yoel ‘Yuli’ Edelstein questioned the accuracy of the EU reports which are drafted without Israeli input. Edelstein said these surveys are part of a decades-long “attempt to undermine [Israel's] very legitimacy.

Last week it was revealed that the EU ambassadors in Ramallah had composed yet another report. This time they accuse Israel of not doing enough to stop aggression from Jewish settlers against Palestinians. The report claims that the Jewish violence is rapidly increasing, while “the Israeli state … has so far failed to protect the Palestinian population.”

According to the report, Jewish attacks vary from gunfire to throwing stones and garbage at Arabs, including children, burning homes and mosques, killing livestock and uprooting olive trees. The report says that the attacks resulted in three Palestinian deaths last year. “There has been no widespread response from the Palestinian side,” the EU report states, although it admits that Palestinians killed eight Jews (including five members of one family). The aim of the Jewish attacks is to “effectively force a withdrawal of the Palestinian population, … thereby increasing the scope for settlement expansion.”

The Netherlands declined to endorse the report, forcing the non-Dutch EU diplomats in Ramallah to add the footnote: “the NL [Netherlands] places a general reserve on the document.” A senior Israeli official also dismissed the report. “It’s unacceptable,” he said. “We had numerous cases over the past year when Israeli citizens, including schoolchildren, were brutally murdered by Palestinians and I think for the Israeli public these reports would have more credibility if they were more neutral.”

The fact that the Dutch openly distanced themselves from an EU report angered the other EU countries. “We are witnessing the toughest position the Netherlands has ever adopted,” one EU diplomat told the Dutch newspaperNRC-Handelsblad. “Moreover, it is a position which resembles the toughest position within Israel.”

It is, however, not the first time that Dutch foreign minister Uri Rosenthal has stood up for Israel. Last September, he managed to stop European diplomats at the UN reaching a common position on the status of human rights in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

The Dutch government is a minority government of Liberals and Christian-Democrats, backed by the Freedom Party of Geert Wilders. Both Uri Rosenthal, who is Jewish, and Geert Wilders, who is not Jewish, are politicians who are personally acquainted with the situation in Israel. Rosenthal’s wife is an Israeli citizen. Wilders spent a year living in Israel, including in a Jewish settlement in the Jordan valley.

The Dutch government is not only on a collision course with the EU over Israel, but is also pushing for stricter immigration rules. European immigration rules are to a large extent set by the EU and not by the member states. While the Dutch insist on stricter regulations, the European Commission and other EU members are so far unwilling to address the issue.

Hamas has hailed the cyber attacks against the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and El Al websites that took place earlier today as a victory against Israel.

“This is a new field of resistance against the Occupation and we urge Arab youth to develop their methods in electronic warfare in the face of its crimes,” said a Hamas spokesman.

Israeli Information Minister Yuli Edelstein responded by saying that “Israel must use all measures at its disposal to prevent these virtual dangers from turning into real threats and to prevent with all its force attacks against it and its institutions.”