By Ted Belman
I am fed up with Bibi. He continually thwarts right wing initiatives and Jerusalem building plans. Plus he continues to toy with another peace process presently being demanded by Kerry.
No doubt he will negotiate with the EU also to prevent their sanctions.
Both Yesha Council and Habayit Yehudit (Bennett’s party) pressed him to lift the freeze on planning and construction. In previous confrontations Bibi said ““You have no greater defender than me. I am fighting for you. But there are international constraints and you are familiar with them.”
That’s the crux of the problem. Bibi is accepting international constraints rather than biting the bullet.
By the way, these constraints are not insignificant. EU threatens to impose sanctions, The US shut down Ben Gurion Airport for a day and stopped the resupply of munitions during Gaza War. For all we know the US pressure on Israel may have been instrumental in ending the war when it did.
I should point out that the US was pissed that Bibi froze them out of a ceasefire role. But miraculously they came back with a vengeance in participating in the Donor’s Conference. And Bibi also reversed his policy in embargoing Gaza and made it in line with what the US had been demanding. My guess is that Obama forced Bibi to cave.
@ bernard ross:
Bernard, unlike me you write beautifully and very clear. I have to send you my thoughts about a situation I do not know how to explain clearly. I’m very sleepy now. Maybe tomorrow. Thank you. Your participation is always appreciated.
@ Viiit:
It may be that he TOO is awaiting the outcome of USA midterm elections 10 days from now.
Maybe it is time for Bibi to stop pretending that Obama is a friend.
Maybe it is time for Bibi to go public with all the pressure Obama has put on him.
Expose how this Obama has forced him to not finish off the terrorists. How everything he does is supporting Muslim Brothers and the Hamas.
Bibi’s and all other Israeli politicians problem is that they have accepted the TSS and ‘Peace Process’.
Now they are trapped.
They need to unequivocally say that
this is our land and our capitol
that Abbas is not and has never been a peace partner
That the so called Palestinians are very clear about their goal of liberating the whole palestine (destroying the Jewish state). This has always been their goal and is now, and is not going to change.
This is what they teach in their schools, preach in their mosques, this is what their TV, Radio and news papers write, this is what the government officials say when they speak Arabic.
Expose the peace process as a farce. (The pals will agree)
And then make it clear that the choice is between a Jewish state or an Arab Muhammedan state in Palestine.
(continued) Obama will be less inclined to pressure Israel if the right gains strength and threatens Netanyahu’s hamstrung musclebound facade coalition, IMHO. If I had any influence I would strongly endorse Bennet.
While Netanyahu demands the right to build on disputed land, he appears stuck at that stage. He always uses the threat as a bargaining chip somehow.
I believe Netanyahu is trying to run the clock down on Obama. He has legitimate concerns over POTUS support for UN vetoes and as we could see clearly arms shipments at time of war. Also, as important as building is for the survival of the state;
I think the more urgent matter for Netanyahu is Iran. It is clear that Obama will not be able to conclude a good agreement with Iran, only a bad deal, which would be worse than no deal at all. Then the question is when and how to act. My guess is that plans are moving along more or less on time.
The best thing the right wing can do is to try to undermine Netanyahu.
mar55 Said:
My own view is that this is a scam and a red herring, that they are indeed in control of IS and that they are not even bombing them for show, as the link below demonstrates. Think about it, the IS has achieved what they set out to achieve but they could not be seen to be associated. anyone can play pretend. Without ISIS there would be no leverage in Iraq, Syria,or Lebanon for the west AND the GCC. IS will be contained, in my view vs the Kurds and maybe even the shia areas of Iraq.
bernard ross Said:
I predict that Turkey will now protect the syrian kurds because that Kurd faction has made a deal with those led by Barzani who Turkey makes deals with. also the Iraqui peshmerga will now go in to help them as they now have signed a deal for sharing power in Syria. I predict that the air strikes will be used to show IS the limits of their adventure but not to drive them back.
@ mar55:
I agree with your take on the situation but we all are living in dangerous times especially the Jews…!!!
@ yamit82:
Israel should be the master of Her own destiny.They are the only democratic country in the ME and the Europeans and Obama-Kerry are beating down on Israel to commit suicide. Even the Saudis are warning about ISIS and not one is paying attention. On the other hand Saudi Arabia for years. was preparing the ground for the International Caliphate which they were expecting to control. They were not prepared for the turn the events has taken. Now they are afraid they will be attacked by ISIS. They created a monster and they cannot control it. Afraid their indirect creation will attack them. We are not finish yet. We could not predict how everything is going to end but remember, at the end it will end in Israel favor. G-d will not abandon His people.
I didnt see his views on YS and jewish holy places?
why do you assume that he agrees with YOUR “right-wing initiatives”?
these processes appear to have gone nowhere. There is always the possibility that entering, and participating in, these “processes” are a show required to placate constituencies. My suspicion is that the outcomes are already agreed. I stated prior that the possibility exists that they all agreed the 9 mos talks would go nowhere that is why BB had to give Abbas the terrorist releases. Those releases were the only thing that Abbas could wave afterwards when the talks failed. Settlement freeze during the process would not have been enough for Abbas to take the risk. Abbas was the key participant with the least to gain. The GCC was gaining quiet to enable it to recruit jihadis for Syria etc as opposed to Israel. Israel was getting the weakening of Irans proxies including the leashing of Hamas by the GCC to reduce blowback if Israel or anyone attacked Iran. etc.
IMO BB knew the outcome which explains why he did not go in. He already knew whether Hamas was not going to fight longer. It was already agreed that the embargo would be lifted in return for specific performance by Hamas…..but that performance, like most arab performance is unable to be open, transparent or direct or without ludicrous bombast to the contrary. Instead it is unfolded slowly so that they can make their ludicrous claims and maintain their position.
I have stated over and over in the past couple of years that there are under the table understandings with the GCC and that if you were able to assess each “mysterious” development from this perspective you will begin to see a rationale for the various mysteries. The same, probably, is in play right now regarding BB’s dealing with the arabs, muslims etc. Perhaps he is maintaining understandings and wishes to preserve those understandings.
Perhaps the international constraints are not only the internationals but also BB’s understandings which cannot be revealed. However, at every opportunity these relations and understandings are alluded to at the highest levels (e.g. BB & Liberman). Keep in mind that in the Pal PA “process” it may be advantageous to ALL parties to have a rhetoric and appearance of conflict. Therefore, rhetoric cannot be an indicator of fact but is often the indicator of the opposite facts and ludest when used as a fig leaf.
In your attempts to understand BB’s “apparent” inconsistencies, and “mysterious” behavior, I advise you to listen to the end of the video below which you posted today. Pay special attention to the last words regarding the existence of relationships and understanding with the Arabs while at the same time affirming that those relationships are kept under the table. If you accept the relationships, and the need to keep them opaque, as facts then I suggest you factor this into your assessment of BB’s decisions…..especially those which are inconsistent and make no sense when evaluated at face value. Start with POD, faux pal state, Jihadis NOT attacking Israel, 9 mos fake talks, Egypts astounding cooperation, PE, etc.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRJB_jCdBEM
@ yamit82:
His only interest is staying in power and he will do whatever he thinks he needs to do to keep it, especially by lying to friends and enemies alike.
So far its worked for Netanyahu.
I am fed up with Bibi.
Join the growing crowd. It took you long enough. 😉
Nothing new here!
This is BS.
Why have a Jewish State if the Jewish people are not the masters in their own land?
My people. Netanyahu is UNFIT in every respect. By allowing such item to pretend to lead we are exposing ourselves to sure disasters.