What Bennett didn’t tell the UN is a further proof Israel has no foreign policy

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Naftali Bennett’s address to the UN General Assembly Monday illustrated the well-known saying that Israel has no foreign policy, only domestic policy. The world leaders present in the auditorium and those watching the speech in their offices were waiting for Israel’s new, young prime minister to sketch out a vision for the future.

But Bennett did not answer the oldest and most prominent question in regard to the Middle East: Where is the Israeli government headed in the conflict with the Palestinians. He ignored that question entirely.

Bennett stood on the podium at the United Nations as the prime minister of the most disparate governing coalition Israel has ever known, including an Islamist party and a liberal party headed by a gay man. Some members of this government enthusiastically support the two-state solution – which received the blessing of the White House, as if to show the world that there is life after former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Yet instead of taking advantage of this very public platform to present his vision, as expected of someone who intends to lead the country for the next four years, Bennett spoke as if he were still campaigning for office.

Perhaps Bennett knows something that ordinary Israelis do not. Deep down, he may feel that his government will not survive and has therefore decided to appeal to a broader base of voters. Otherwise, how could his decision to ignore the Palestinian issue be explained to the international community and to many Israelis, including his coalition partners?

Bennett gave a speech that appealed to Israelis. It talked about an enlightened Israel, also known as the only democracy in the jungle called the Middle East. This is a state contending with threats of annihilation from Iran and its proxies, Hezbollah, Hamas and the Islamic Jihad. A state that seeks peace with all who seek it in return, such as Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Morocco. This, he mentioned, was also the Israel that has been handling the coronavirus well and that enjoys the support of the leaders of the free world.

The policy of ignoring the Palestinians dominates public debate in Israel, as the issue only comes up during a security crisis. The occupation, the apartheid regime growing stronger in the West Bank and the trampling of basic rights do not keep most Israelis awake at night.

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Bennett has adopted this policy, and didn’t utter the word “Palestinians” even once during his speech to the General Assembly, not even in a negative connotation. Only Hamas and Islamic Jihad were mentioned. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who almost cried during his own address to the UN General Assembly Friday online, was not given a single passing mention, as if his remarks had already dissipated in his Ramallah office.

Bennett and his inner circle can claim that his speech suited the composition of the government – it emphasized points of consensus and ignored disagreements. This could be a good formula for dealing with an internal crisis in Israel, but it isn’t appropriate when it comes to a decades-long, bloody conflict.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett at the UN General Assembly.REUTERS

There has never been an Israeli prime minister who ignored the Palestinians. If Bennett receives the silent backing of the United States and the international community, he’ll still have to deal with one clear fact: Even if the Palestinians are absent from the United Nations and the public discourse in Israel, they are still present – in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, as well as within the Green Line as Israeli citizens. This presence is not temporary – It is a fact Bennett cannot deny.

Inevitably, Bennett, his partner, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and perhaps the rest of the coalition, will have to answer a few basic questions: Where is Israel’s eastern border located and what will be the fate of the Palestinians living around this border – under which regime will they live and what will be their legal status there?

Should Bennett answer these questions, he might get to claim that Israel is a “lighthouse in a stormy sea” and a beacon of democracy. Otherwise, he will go down in history as someone who further entrenched the occupation and apartheid.