Bibi digs in

2 Comments / 2 Comments

1. I do not agree with you Laura at all.
   People like netanyahu play the game of politics, and part of it is to give Jewish Patriots a battering, then give them a little, then they praise netanyahu.

   netanyahu is a real sneak of a politician, because he chose Barak as his Defence Minister, which after the role which Barak played, especially at Camp David with Clinton and Arafat, was the greatest crime that Netanyahu could commit.

   Now if he had chosen feiglin what a difference that would have made.

   Feiglin puts religion first, but I could live with that, if he would allow full democracy of views in his party.

2. . I expected to be writing a column this week about how Netanyahu had fatally miscalculated – that by backing a law that requires Arab immigrants, but not Jewish immigrants, to swear allegiance to Israel as a Jewish state,

   Why would arabs be allowed to immigrate to Israel in the first place?

   Also on Monday, Netanyahu gave his support to a proposed law that would make it all but impossible for Israel to swap territory with the Palestinians – a crucial element of any conceivable peace agreement – by requiring the public’s approval in a national referendum. (Israel has never held a national referendum on any decision, certainly not on the annexation of land, so why should there be one on the exchange of land? This is an old settlers’ scam; they know they can intimidate the public into voting with them.)

   So that’s it. This latest international attempt to breathe life into the peace process is finished – and Netanyahu doesn’t seem to care that the world is likely, rightfully, to blame him. He doesn’t care that Lieberman went out of his way to publicly insult the French and Spanish foreign ministers. He doesn’t care that he’s hung another failure on Barack Obama on the eve of the congressional elections, something an Israeli prime minister is really not supposed to do to an American president.

   I don’t care either.

   THIS WEEK, Netanyahu reaffirmed his ideological covenant with Lieberman, the settlers and the rest of the far right – and they are riding high. They’ve got a slew of other anti-Arab, authoritarian laws to pass – and who’s going to stop them? The Labor Party? Kadima? Diaspora Jewry? Washington? The media?

   Bibi and friends to the world: We don’t care.

   And the future looks even brighter: In less than three weeks, the Democrats are going to get their heads handed to them, and Obama, barring a political miracle, will become a lame duck. Netanyahu’s only ideological ally in the world, the Republican Party, will effectively return to power while his only real opposition, the Obama administration, will not be able to lay a glove on him anymore.

   This government, together with the settlers, will be free to do whatever they want. Nobody and nothing will stand in their way. Meanwhile, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is already finished, and so is moderation in the West Bank.

   All of this is great news.

   Where is it leading? Without trying to be too original, I think it’s leading to Netanyahu bombing Iran. He wants to; he’s made that clear enough over the years. Who’s going to stop him? The Republicans will cheer him on. Afterward, after the big war, we’ll see if there’s anything left to salvage.

   Let’s hope.

   Anyway who the hell is this ass Larry Derfner? Why would any Israeli patriot see these as bad outcomes? And when did the JPost turn to the left?