By Sylvia Gurinsky
Never mind Hamas, Hezbollah or Iran. The Jewish people have a way of being their own worst enemy.
Israel is truly about to go through its self-inflicted darkest hour with the coming of Benjamin Netanyahu's government. He plans to appoint a foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, who is a racist and under investigation for white-collar crimes.
Netanyahu plans to appoint a national security chief, Uzi Arad, who is currently forbidden from entering the United States because of an investigation of a former Pentagon official for sharing classified information about Iran.
And Netanyahu plans to appoint himself finance minister. There has never been any such thing as a Likud government with a sound economy in Israel. Ever.
It creates headaches for Israelis who don't agree with their policies, not to mention allies such as the United States, not to mention Jews all over the world who want to see peace and stability in the Middle East.
This incoming government won't bring it. Not unless there's divine intervention.
Passover is coming soon, but it feels more like Tisha B'Av - the 9th of the Hebrew month of Av, in which the Second Holy Temple was destroyed, and much of Jerusalem with it, and the Jewish community scattered to the winds for centuries. When people pray on that fast day, they see that the Jewish people did as much damage to themselves as the Romans did to them, with sinning, infighting and corruption.
It is obvious that Netanyahu, with his government picks, has learned nothing from that story.
So here's another prayer: That the reign of the far-right in Israel will be as brief as possible, and that cooler -and smarter - heads can save both the Jewish state and the peace process.
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