By Ted Belman
PM Netanyahu issued the following statement as payment or part payment for the exercise of the US veto.
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“Israel deeply appreciates the decision by President [Barack] Obama to veto the Security Council resolution today. Israel remains committed to pursuing comprehensive peace with all our neighbors, including the Palestinians. We seek a solution that will reconcile the Palestinians’ legitimate aspiration for statehood with Israel’s need for security and recognition.”
No longer is he claiming defensible borders, a united Jerusalem or the settlement blocks. Not only is he not asserting our legal rights, he is also not asserting our historical rights. The fact that he has maintained a defacto freeze and that the Cabinet Committee voted unanimously to not extend Israeli law to the communities in Judea and Samaria, says volumes.
The Right must find another leader.
He’s a wonderful macher.
Whats wrong with Katz of NU? Does he have a history of doing the wrong thing also? Because I just keep hearing and seeing him do the right thing.
Naw. That was the sound of a child crying for grandma.
I heard it flying over my house. not really, but it might have?
Everyone paying attention to the news?
Yeh, Netanyahu, let’s give them a state!
Yes you did. Thanks.
I think I improved on your post:
http://myrightword.blogspot.com/2011/02/is-netanyahu-becoming-illegitimate.html
If I were in Israel, I would vote for Beiteinu and Lieberman — IF elections were called, which does not seem imminent. With 36% of Israelis looking favorably upon his performance, he is the only viable candidate who can challenge Netanyahu.
The only “I told you so” due to Yamit, it that he is against everyone.
Danny Danon is the shiz and is not one to play poodle to an American president. Danon seems to be one who has never needed anything but Israel(perhaps that’s why Danon’s English is so poor compared to many other Israeli pols).
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=266249http://blogs.jpost.com/content/danny-danon-likuds-crusaderhttp://blogs.jpost.com/content/danon-interview-part-iiApropos of this:
Below are excerpts from a series of emails I received a while ago from Dr Yoram Shifftan — who has long written diligently and well regarding Jewish rights to (and in) the Land of Israel. Some will recall his masterful articles in 2005 opposing the “disengagement” from Gaza & northern Samaria.
Stephan, why are you so weak in the knees? We are quite capable of defending ourselves from the arab hordes that surround us. Projecting weakness by folding to american demands just makes it harder for us.
It’s called “limited liability” war. We pioneered the concept, it seems, in favor of our murderous Arab cousins…. and the world community was all-too-pleased to collaborate.
Ben-Gurion [at the time, newly-chosen Prime Minister] noted at a 15 June 1948 Cabinet meeting, a few days into what came to be known as “the first truce” of the War of Independence, “war is war… and those who declared war on us will have to bear the consequences after they have been defeated.” [Howard M. Sachar, A History of Israel: From the Rise of Zionism to Our Time, 2nd Revised Edition (Alfred A. Knopf, NY, 1996), p. 335]
It’s most regrettable that those “consequences” did not include punishment, particularly of the sovereign Arab governments which invaded, by the world community [a la, perhaps, Potsdam 1945, or even Nuremberg 1946]. Failure to fulfill one’s malicious objectives is neither synonymous with, nor “tantamount to,” punishment and does NOT present the disincentive to renewed misconduct that the latter does. Instead, as has been noted on subsequent occasions and in what has become an all-too-predictable pattern, “[t]he general theme [in international opinion] was that Arabs were ‘irrational’ and therefore could not be held responsible for the results of their passion.” Abba Eban, [My Country: The Story of Modern Israel (Random House, NY, 1972), p. 121]
Regardless of whether you think Bibi is not sufficiently steel spined, there is no other leader in Likud who could attrack more support for Likud. So we are stuck with him. Of course when he has to run again for the leadership of the party, the Likudniks will determine if Danon is better for Likud with all things considered. Danon ran against Bibi last time around. He doesn’t have a cabinet post now so far as I am aware. Danon’s solution is to focus on managing Bibi. Keep him under pressure to stick to the Likud platform.
I do not understand how Kadima is doing better at the polls when Israelis prefer Bibi over Livni by 3:2 and other polls suggest the right will get 5 more seats if elections were held today.
While Yamit is right to be critical of Bibi, there is no one else with a realistic chance of becoming PM in right wing coalition. So we must follow danon’s lead and work with what we got.
No Sir, with all my due respect! Israel right now is in a very weak and perisable situation. All the surrounding Arab states, with exception of may be Jordan, are seeking the slightest excuse to attack Israel. The last thing they need right now is a souring of the relationship with the U.S. Nethanyahu doesn’t have too much of a choice. In order to keep the Americans satisfied, he has to agree with them more than ever in spite of their differences, with the price of having to be an obidient child. That’s beacause in the worse scenario the American troups are still there to help them. The worse thing Bibi Nethanyahu might do is lose his patience. Presently he is playing the best chess game he has ever played, the play of waiting and not having to rush nowhere and to jump the gun prematurely. I commend him for that and I don’t quite understand why so many people in Israel, experts, pundits and politicians, are so restless and impatient. Maybe because of the uncertainty of present times. Bibi is far more superior in his decisions and he has to get credit for that and be helped politically by his own men and his own party.
Thx Yamit. I note the question and answer
Netanyahu appears to enjoy Israeli’s confidence contrasted to Livni. Given the other numbers of general over 50% dissatisfaction with all politicians, however, it begs the question of just what can be done by Israelis themselves to demand better politicians come to the fore to form a better government.
A report out last week, said Obama’s approval rating in Israel is practically negative as the vast majority of Israelis are disgusted with him vis a vis his views, positions and policies on Israel.
You would think that Netanyahu would have capitalized on that Israeli, “Im disgusted with Obama” mood and taken a very hard line.
What do you think kept him from doing so?
In Canada and the States, when politicians see where strong public opinion is going on a particular issue, they generally rush to take the lead and usually have wide public support for having done so, even though it was a case of the politicians following the public lead.
I guess Israeli politics does not operate the same way or does it? If it does, then why didn’t Netanyahu get tough with Obama and just say NO!
As regards who the public would like to see lead Israel, however the question that should have been asked in that regard, should have been more open ended “who is most appropriate to be Prime Minister?
Ted seems high on Likud MK Danny Danon. I presume that if Danon is as Ted noted, he must not have sufficient support to stand up to Netanyahu.
As a practical political question, just how can Danon bring in more Likud members to strengthen his power in cabinet if he is in cabinet or the Knesset?
Is Danon sufficiently well known and liked that he could be the one running to challenge Netanyahu’s Likud leadership and gain enough support to win?
Further answers from Yamit, Ted and other Israelis would be helpful not just to me in understanding the political situation in Israel, but to all Israpundit contributors not living in Israel.
Yamit can give you a few reasons. I will mostly say that I find him to be a very insightful observer of the israeli political scene, a very smart guy and someone who is very strong Jewishly and yet doesn’t come across as a fringe religious zealot, like many of the other religious members of Knesset.
At this point, I only hope he gets his chance.
PS. Belman should admit that Yamit has been right all along about Bibi.
Could the Kingdom of Bahrain Become an Iranian Pearl Harbor?
Bahrain rulers are practically sitting on a barrel of
explosives whose detonator lies in the hands of the leaders of Iran. Bahrain’s
precarious regime lies on a very unstable social fabric:
This is an apoligy to Yamit. You have been telling us for a long time that Netanyahu is not strong enough and I defended him. You were right.
Friday, January 21, 2011
Teleseker and Dialog polls put Kadima ahead of Likud but Netanyahu preferred as PM
What would you like Ehud Barak to do in the next elections?
Run heading his own party 12% In Likud with Netanyahu 13% Out of politics
66%
How is Israel’s situation two years after the elections?
Better 14% Worse 45% No change 35%
Who is most appropriate to be prime minister?
Netanyahu 48% Livni 31%
Are you satisfied with the performance of :
PM Netanyahu Yes 39% No 54%
FM Liberman Yes 36% No 54%
DM Barak Yes 29% No 61%
Teleseker questions:
Who is most appropriate to be the head of the Labor Party:
Herzog 19.9% Mitzne 16.2% Shelly Yacimovich 18.8% Peretz 5.2% Braverman 4.3%
Einy 3.9% None 14.9% Don’t know 16.7%
Has the Labor Party ended its historic purpose or does it still have an
important place on the Israeli political map?
Ended 46.5% Important 39.3% Don’ know 14.3%
The Likud is not right wing and hasn’t been right wing since Camp David accords. Begin, BB and Sharon drove most with any ideological POV to other parties or out of politics.
I just returned from my second lecture today, this one by Danny Danon. He is very impressive and has a steel spine. He wants to bring more rightwingers into Likud in order to strengthen it on the right just as Palin made the GOP more conservative. Netanyahu can’t do much against the wishes of his Party. Danon wants to tie his hands. Danon would rather take the heat from the international community then forego Jewish rights or put Jews at risk. He felt that no matter how much the left spin things through academia, the courts and the newspapers, Israelis are not conned. They vote on the right.
Israpundit won’t determine the next Israeli leader.
I am interested to know from Israeli contributors to Israpundit, including Ted, now a full blown Israeli, what do the majority of Israelis think of Netanyahu? If they are down on him, then who do the majority of Israelis lean towards as a possible new leader?
I am not as bashful as yamit.
“The praises of a man are that he did not follow the counsel of the wicked, neither did he stand in the way of sinners nor sit in the company of scorners.”
– Psalms 1:1
I went to a talk by Ayalon today and asked him why Bibi’s statement made no mention of our rights etc and if I heard him right he said since no one is talking about our rights, we don’t talk about them. After I picked myself off the floor I told him how upset I was with the statement and he shrugged his shoulders as if to say what can I do about it.
I could have said “We told you so”, but I wouldn’t say that! 🙂
I knew Yamit was going to say something along those lines.
Can someone tell me why Moshe Feiglin isn’t PM? He’s the only Israeli Politico who, to me, makes any sense.
Yamit, both you and Ted are talking in riddles. I know what you consider “The Right”, and it does not include Netanyahu. A couple of years ago, when you voted for Barack Obama in the US elections, you were endorsing former Kach people who couldn’t even garner 3% of the vote. Lately, you seem to be gravitating towards the NU and Katz — who enjoys about the same level of support. Even Feiglin, in your estimation, appears to be “too liberal”. By YOUR understanding of “The Right”, Yes, I agree — they need new leadership, someone who can articulate their message in a coherent way so a significant percentage of Israelis will understand and follow them. I certainly hope, for Israel’s sake, that you don’t present yourself as a candidate.
Ted, when you say “The Right” needs a new leader, you MAY be talking about Bibi Netanyahu. If you do, then I agree: You are correct, as usual. I do not consider Netanyahu to be a Right-Winger, though, but a Centrist — along with Lieberman, Barak and Livni. In that group, I prefer Lieberman. I don’t consider Shas and the other religious parties to be Right, Left OR Center, but in a group of their own: The Gimme Group. That leaves Meretz, Labor and the Arab parties on the left. I am concerned about the leadership of the Center, because Israel’s next leader will almost certainly come from this group.
I wouldn’t count Bibi out just yet. I am far from the action, so I don’t know all the ins and outs. Yamit is much closer, but seems to have consistently backed losers (except for Obama). I can read poll results, though, and they do not seem to indicate an earth-shaking change in Israeli politics in the near future. Bibi, meanwhile, is a resilient fellow, both domestically and abroad.
Waiting to hear from Belman that some commenters on Israpundit have been right all-along about BB and Belman was wrong.
When Israel came into being, arabs declared war. they lost. They fought again. They lost. They fought again. They lost. Israel had the right to kill them all (they sure would kill all of us if they got the chance). Instead, we allow them to live on our land. But they can’t leave that alone. They have to claim entitlement to live on land that they fought over and lost in 6 wars.
Since when does the loser of a war get to claim the land he fought over? No one does. But they do. Not only that, but they happily kill their kids over it! Hey, what’s more important — a chunk of dirt, or some worthless kid who isn’t going to amount to anything anyway?
Well, now, first of all, the “Palestinians” will have to establish that their “aspiration for statehood” IS in fact legitimate.
The burden of proof is upon them, as the moving party.
Let them establish the “legitimacy” of their aspiration.
And if they get that far, we’ll start thinking of a place to put their state.
(I was thinking, maybe……uh…..the Sudetenland? But we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it; meanwhile, I can’t wait to hear WHY they should have a state (anywhere), and why their aspiration for it is “legitimate.”)