The Progressives’s leap forward by questioning Israel’s right to self-defense and the protection of its citizens can directly affect our national security and relations with our strategic partners, political scientist Filips Rajevskis, co-owner of the company “Mediju tilts”, points out in a conversation with BNN.
Why was such a “muscle show” necessary for the party, and doesn’t it indicate that a difficult gap has formed between the parties of the ruling coalition?
“Looking at the calendar and seeing the proximity of the parliamentary elections, the party, in this very unstable rating situation, as well as in the risky atmosphere surrounding the stability of the government, has decided that their domestic political interests and the signals related to them to their voters are more important than Latvia’s foreign policy position,” explains Filips Rajevskis. The political scientist says that the Progressives do not care at all how their position, as a member of the ruling coalition and the party responsible for the defense sphere, will be interpreted on the international level.
It seems to them that it is much more important how their electorate, which has become marked as far-left, pro-Palestinian, anti-Semitic, and accordingly expects radical action from this political force, views the party.
When asked by BNN whether such a difference of opinion among the coalition partners does not indicate the beginning of the end of the government, the political scientist answers in the negative.
“The coalition itself is quite stable.
We can see this from the way the coalition parties are now coming out one after another and explaining their position on this conflict issue. Both the New Unity and the Green and Farmers Union have adopted a pro-Israel policy, thus trying to overshadow this Progressives leap, which is completely opposite to what our President and the highest officials responsible for Latvia’s foreign policy have expressed,” the political scientist explains.
Filips Rajevskis emphasizes that our Minister of Defense is also, to a certain extent, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, because Latvia’s defense is very dependent on our strategic partners, proper foreign policy, and proper relationship building not only at the foreign policy department level, but also at the defense department level. “I think that the Minister of Defense could be asked a lot of uncomfortable questions from our strategic allies – Israel in the Middle East and the USA as a NATO country – about the openly unfriendly position of the party he represents.
What are the Progressives saying with their position? First, they deny Israel the right to protect itself, to defend itself, and secondly, they question Israel’s right to fight to free its citizens who have been taken hostage, are being starved and tortured. The question is – how can we, with such a position, ask for any help from our strategic partners in the event that our citizens fall victim to an aggressor who takes them hostage, starts to torture them, records them on video, photographs them and sends them around the world. We must understand this and be able to project it onto ourselves. Such a position is completely alien to the Progressives, says the political scientist.
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