By Ted Belman
Daniel Greenfield who was born in Israel before moving to the US just wrote a short piece titled
Netanyahu’s Shameful Surrender to the Left.
The Left, in Israel and in the United States, bet that with enough pressure they could shut down democratic judicial reform in Israel. The weak point in the coalition government, as in every government where he has served as prime minister, is Netanyahu. The tragic truth to anyone who has been paying attention to Israeli politics long enough is that given enough pressure, he buckles, frees terrorists, freezes construction and backs off attack plans.
This was a mostly solid coalition that, like a fish, rotted from the head down. And, to be fair to Bibi, this time there was a lot of pressure. The Biden administration and the EU joined forces with not only the Israeli Left which rioted in the streets, but assorted influencers who play at being pro-Israel in the U.S. Usually credible papers like the Jerusalem Post did nothing but churn out hateful propaganda. And yet, approaching the finish line, Bibi held out until he buckled. A weak man is always the weak point and he’s a weak man.
Pretty harsh, I think.
MK Tally Gotliv: Pausing the legislation is a shame and a disgrace
We failed by not firing the Attorney General, who is a political appointment of Gideon Sa’ar.
While Greenfield is right, he forgot to mention that all Netanyahu’s predecessors were even weaker. He also forgot to mention that Bibi withstood more pressure than the rest of them since Menachem Begin.
Sometimes, discretion is the better part of valour.
If negotiations lead to a consensus, great. Both sides will get something. The Opposition will have to decide whether they are getting enough to consent. The right has to decide if they are giving up too much for consensus.
Perhaps a constitution can be agreed on. Bibi has promised a Bill of Rights. The role of the courts must be better defined. The checks and balances can be better defined and so on.
During the negotiating period, the Right will plan how to take to the streets and the government will prepare for confronting the illegal protests more effectively and how best to deal with the insubordination in the IDF and how to force the unions to not interfere with air traffic. Plus how best to keep the universities open.
The debate will shift to the pros and cons of each sides position from the current propaganda.
Perhaps the Government can plan an omnibus bill which includes all the legislation it wants in one bill so that the process of approving Judicial Reform can be quicker. I don’t know if this can be done.
Caroline Glick seems to agree with me, or rather I defer to Caroline and I agree with her. She knows more about Israel than I do.
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/03/28/exclusive-caroline-glick-israel-facing-revolt-elites-seeking-maintain-control-country/
Maybe he had a strategy. Let me explain.
Part of the judicial overhaul was to allow the Knesset to overrule any decision by the court system. That was over the top to the Left so let’s presume for arguments sake he secretly will chuck that in any negotiation.
Bibi now goes back to the public in the next 3/4 months before the Summer session of the Knesset and says over and over that all options are on the table but we will pass this in its entirety if the Left will not negotiate with us and it is the Left that is now the threat to Democracy.
Bibi: “People of Israel, The Left must now come to the table to negotiate as everything is on the table. The threat to democracy are Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz, so Yair and Benny it’s your move, prove you are not a threat to Israel’s democracy. Then Bibi gets his troops out on the streets. Everywhere. Every night. Two can play this game.
Let’s see who blinks in this face-off the second time around.
Whereas none of us should discount the victory which has just been handed to the Left and their Globalist masters, to discount Bibi’s ability throughout his tenure as PM as one of weakness is an absurdly impossible claim to support. Bibi was the one who directly opposed Obama’s Iran policy and he did so as he stood before Obama’s own Congress. I was his policy of peace thru strength is what brought about the Abraham Accords. It was he who called for the attack on Iran more than a decade ago but was blocked by his cabinet. It was he who ventured to Russia and brokered the deal which has allowed Israel to disrupt the Iranian efforts in Syria. These are but a handful of policy victories which were won by Bibi, and they were not accomplished thru weakness.
In Israel, we see an opposition party – a leftist and hate filled party – refusing at every step to ‘sit down’ with the legally elected government to find an equitable solution to Judicial tyranny. Instead, its leftwing followers are rioting in the streets. In this some have seen the malign influence of the execrable Soros.
For Israel, a looming catastrophe may well occur from its self-imposed political paralysis. This must be avoided at all costs in the face of the approaching nuclear threat from the Islamic Republic of Iran, now further strengthened by the growing Axis of Evil: Russia, China, Iran, North Korea.
Just imagine how the evil Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah as well as the Fatah Arab thugs, who all call themselves by the fraudulent title, Palestinians, are salivating as they plan to kill yet more Jews.
Too many in Israel desperately need to embrace Psalm 133 right now.
Hineh mah tov u’mah naim, shevet achim gam yachad. How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!
Victor Sharpe
Bibi may have succumbed to many, many diverse antagonistic forces. That is an unfortunate aspect of the Israeli parliamentary political system.
But I am betting that he saw the consequences (secret threats) of moving forward with a righteous cause at this time would be more damaging to his goals.
Nonetheless, I would not have recommended this level of capitulation.
Dr. Donald Salem
I think that the government will make good on this reform issue.The issue wasn’t about Netanyahu’s intestinal strength.The problem was/is that the government made it’s bold move without understanding what the opposition would do in response.Netanyahu & the conservatives were ambushed by the left which was attacking with Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals.The government had no defense against the political garbage that was thrown against it! I am pretty sure that when this issue once more comes up the left will do a repeat performance.
Between now & June the government must develop
successful counter measures.
@Pacter
I agree. That statement also struck me as off.
The Jerusalem Post “credible”? I beg to differ. It makes no bones about its left-wing stance. Yes, Bibi is at a crossroads – perhaps the most dangerous one in his life. If he’s willing to genuinely negotiate, he can pull back the curtain on the protesters and reveal their real intent: not to block judicial reform, but to tear down the government, even at Israel’s expense. Her needs to pull a Churchill out off his hat.
Below is the rest of Daniel Greenfield’s article. It is a short article, and I think it should have been published in its entirety above:
The strategy of the Left in Israel, as in the United States, is constant, unremitting, relentless pressure. It takes enormous strength, courage, and resolve to withstand such sustained political pressure, and Netanyahu does not have what it takes. Netanyahu surrendered to the leftist mob, and Israel will never be the same, because the enemy within is always the most destructive.