The elections in Israel: No one is immune to this blame - from any political side | Shlomo Shamir

An opinion column by Shlomo Shamir arguing that all political parties in the Knesset elections are avoiding two critical issues: Israel-Diaspora relations, especially with the Jewish community in New York, and Israel-US relations, particularly with the White House during the Trump era. Shamir criticizes candidates like Gadi Eisenkot, Yair Golan, Bezalel Smotrich, and Itamar Ben Gvir, who he claims are unaware or unconcerned about these ties, unlike past prime ministers.

An opinion column by Shlomo Shamir, published in Maariv, argues that all political parties in the current Knesset elections are avoiding two critical issues: Israel-Diaspora relations, especially with the large Jewish community in New York, and Israel-US relations, particularly with the White House during President Donald Trump's term. Shamir sharply criticizes leading candidates: Gadi Eisenkot, who stated he would eliminate Hamas within 18 months but did not address Israel-US relations; Yair Golan, who he claims is completely unaware of the existence of a large Jewish community in New York; Bezalel Smotrich, who cares about American Jews "even less than last year's snow"; and Itamar Ben Gvir, who he claims is "completely innocent and clean of any information or update on Israel-US relations." Shamir notes that past prime ministers like Ariel Sharon and Yitzhak Shamir worked to cultivate ties with the Jewish community in New York, and that senior Jewish community members told him in off-the-record conversations that the candidates do not understand how beneficial these ties could be.