Natan Sharansky may just have been given the job he was truly born to fill – head of the Jewish Agency for Israel, a job that puts him in the forefront of representing the State of Israel to Diaspora Jewry and cementing the ties between the two communities. Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has recommended Mr. Sharansky for the post, and the body’s Board of Governors is highly likely to agree. And well they should.

There may be no Jew alive today who is as respected by diverse groups around the globe as is Mr. Sharansky. In his time on the world stage – which began in the 1970s while he was but in his 20s – his titles have included: Soviet human rights activist, refusenik, Prisoner of Zion, Israeli Russian community leader, political party founder, Israeli cabinet minister, noted author and more.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Mr. Sharansky rocketed to international fame as the leading voice and cause of the Soviet Jewry movement, due in no small part to his publicly reticent wife, Avital. Ever since arriving in Israel in January 1986 after a prisoner/spy swap with the Soviet Union, he has been his usual gregarious, candid, outspoken and principled self. Sometimes that has angered Diaspora Jews – such as in 1997-98 when he was Mr. Netanyahu’s point man in that round of the “conversion crisis.” At other times, he has thrilled Israel’s right-wing for his stands on behalf of Jewish settlers, which led to disappointment on the left. At other times, the adulation has been reversed.

Through it all, Mr. Sharansky has remained a fearless intellectual with a remarkable common touch. He is, in short, an authentic Jewish story and a hero of our time. As such, he may be one of the last truly charismatic figures who can reach across the widening gulf between Diaspora and Israeli Jewish mentalities. We should look forward to challenging and being challenged by him on the issues of the day as we strive together to strengthen the Jewish people.

It’s official. Likud leader Binyamin “Bibi” Netanyahu was sworn in as Israel’s Prime Minister earlier this week. Those in America and Israel who are yelling despised much of what Bibi did during Round One in the job from 1996-1999. They remember his stalling the peace process, his poor handling of the “conversion crisis from 1997-1998) and his miserable management of subordinates.

Some critics are already deriding Israel’s “most right-wing” government in years. But I’m hoping that a different reading of Bibi’s past performance – combined with what we now hope is his political maturity – may surprise some people. People forget that in 1999 his government fell because he was not right-wing enough for some coalition partners. That is because he first gave up 80 percent of Hebron, one of Judaism’s most sacred cities, and an additional 13 percent of the West Bank. Thus, he can make surprising compromise.

This time, Bibi has the cover of the Labor Party as a coalition partner (even though Labor leader Ehud Barak should resign as head of that party and just be a professional Defense Minister, a job at which he is quite good).

Labor is on record as favoring “land for peace.” The same goes for another major coalition partner – the Shas Sephardi Orthodox Party. In the past it consented to such policies, social issues important to their voters being their primary concern. After all, they voted for the Oslo Accords.

Finally, Bibi’s much criticized other major partner – the Russian-based Yisrael Beitenu Party – is led by new Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman. Despite criticism of his words, in policy Lieberman believes in a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This is a different portrayal than is often characterized.

As a product of democracy, I think Netanyahu can be “dared into making peace.” That will only happen if the Palestinian Authority can assert governance over its people, which today is far from the case. With that in mind, Bibi is right to first focus on “economic independence” for the Palestinians. I hope this builds a middle class with something to lose, as well as the joint Palestinian-Israeli ventures that were once a hallmark of the ill-fated Oslo years. (They collapsed in large part due to Yasser Arafat’s miserable leadership.)

So I’m willing to give Bibi a chance and believe that all American Jews should. In Israel’s chaotic political system – and is our crazy one any better?—he emerged as the choice of the majority of parliamentarians chosen by the people. Let’s respect that and root for him. There will be time to yell if things don’t work out.

P.S. LITTLE KNOWN ISRAELI TRIVIA

Bibi is the fourth Israeli to serve as Prime Minister twice. The others are:

David Ben-Gurion – 1948-1953, 1956-1963 (Ben-Gurion had resigned as part of the infamous Lavon Affair, which become an unhealthy obsession for him the rest of his days.)

Yitzhak Rabin – 1974-1977, 1992-1995 (Rabin actually wasn’t elected the first time, but took over for the disgraced Golda Meier, who actually won the late December 1974 elections – which had been postponed due to the October Yom Kippur War.)

Shimon Peres – 1984-1986, 1995-1996 (Peres was never outright elected. The first time he was part of a national unity government with Likud’s Yitzhak Shamir and the second time he finished out the term of the assassinated Rabin.)