Addressing a special debate of the Knesset Plenum on Monday in honor of Prime Minister of Albania Edi Rama, Leader of the Opposition MK Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) discussed the return to Israel of the remains of Sgt. 1st Class Ran Gvili from Gaza. “I join the remarks of the Speaker of the Knesset and the Prime Minister regarding our hero Ran Gvili, of blessed memory. Blessed is he who redeems and retrieves, and we send from here a big embrace to his family, from all parts of the House,” he said.
In his speech, MK Lapid discussed the collapse of the existing world order and the need to forge new partnerships with countries and nations that share Israel’s values. At the end of the Second World War, he said, when the world was exposed to the horrors of the Holocaust, a new world order was created. Institutions such as the United Nations, the international Court of Justice, the World Health Organization, and the International Monetary Fund were established. International conventions were signed and international law was formed, with one goal: To build a new and more just world, in which individuals and nations are committed to preventing the recurrence of such atrocities.
This, MK Lapid said, was a new human experiment – imperfect, not always stable or consistent, but it was the first time in history that most of humanity said to itself: Never again. That world order is now collapsing before our eyes, he said.
MK Lapid said that at the Davos conference last week, world leaders made it clear again and again, in different ways, that the rules that have governed the world since the Second World War no longer exist. The international institutions, foremost among them the United Nations, have ceased to function – and Israel knows this better than anyone. The UN’s treatment of Israel is the diplomatic equivalent of a psychotic episode, he said.
The collapse of the rules, MK Lapid argued in his speech, should not lead to chaos, but rather to the creation of new partnerships with countries and peoples who share Israel’s values. Israel must be realistic and recognize that every country has its own interests. Israel must acknowledge the need to be strong and capable of defending itself. Israel has always said that we will defend itself, by itself – and that will never change, but the best way to advance these interests is not through self-isolation, but by extending a hand to countries with whom Israel shares common values, he stated. If Israel wants to build a strong local economy – rather than relying on global trade agreements – it must find partners with whom it can forge economic ties.
MK Lapid said further that if Israel wants to confront dangerous actors like Iran and prevent them from achieving regional hegemony, it must build regional and security partnerships with those who oppose religious fanaticism and who, like Israel, understand the dangers of radical Islam.
If Israel wants to ensure that Jews around the world are protected, it must mobilize governments and states that are willing to fight antisemitism and defend jewish communities within their borders, MK Lapid said.
Small, agile, limited multilateral agreements are the future of international cooperation, he argued, while noting that during his tenure as prime minister, Israel established the Negev Forum and created initiatives and models of international cooperation outside the old world order. Israel under his leadership saw what was coming and began laying the foundations, he said. Instead of hoping that institutions like the United Nations – which has gone morally bankrupt – will fix the world, Israel must know how to build smaller, more flexible partnerships that are directly connected to the challenges that concern it, he said, adding that Israel must decide whom it trusts and work with them efficiently and confidently.
Such a partnership, MK Lapid stated, exists between Israel and Albania. Israel can deepen and expand it, and turn it into one that serves not only the interests of the two countries, but also Israel and Albania’s shared values and shared belief in the human spirit, he stated.
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