Thank you, Bibi

By the narrowest of margins – 60 to 59 – the Israeli Knesset yesterday approved the formation of a new coalition government led by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. As the vote indicates, it's a very precarious arrangement that could easily fall apart.

I have had the pleasure of knowing Benjamin Netanyahu personally. I have dined with him at a private home in Israel. He is an incredible man. His family has sacrificed much for the nation of Israel.

With no fear of contradiction, I can say that more than any other Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu understood the importance of pro-Israel Christians to the survival of the Jewish state. He repeatedly reached out to pro-Israel Christians, and we worked closely with his government. 

In his farewell comments, Netanyahu warned against further appeasement of Iran. He said:

"The administration in Washington asked me not to discuss our disagreement on Iran publicly, but with all due respect, I can' t do that. 

"In 1944, at the height of the Holocaust, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt refused to bomb the railway leading to the extermination camps and refused to bomb the gas chambers, which could have saved millions of our people. . .

"In the face of the threat of extermination, we were helpless. Our voice was not heard among the nations. We had neither a state or an army. But today we do have a voice. We do have a state, and we do have defensive power."

Prime Minister Bennett echoed Netanyahu's concerns, saying, "The renewal of the nuclear agreement is a mistake. Israel will not allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons and will maintain full freedom of action."