Category: Politics

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Is Bibi Overwhelmed or is he Just a Great Chess Player?

Bibi Netanyahu has been Prime Minister closing in on 8 years in a row.  If you count his first stint as Prime Minister, he has served more than any other Prime Minister other than David Ben Gurion.

He has been able to deal with a very antagonistic Washington administration, while dodging about everything the Israeli political scene can throw at someone. Bibi’s political mastery is perhaps one of the most envied talents around.  It also makes him the most despised politician by his enemies.

Part of Bibi’s ability to manage the chaotic Israeli political arena is precisely because of the chaos that exists within it. The ever consummate chess player, Bibi keeps his real views to himself, while he allows his opponents to cannibalize themselves.

Centralizing the Prime Minister’s Office

Prime Minister Netanyahu relies on a loyal circle and the power of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to create a de facto executive branch within the actual government. Under Netanyahu, Israel’s Prime Minister has come far closer to the US Presidency than ever before.  

We have seen this most clearly in Bibi’s appointment of Yossi Cohen to the head of the Mossad. Cohen was the National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister.  He has been a close confidante of Bibi’s for many years and now he heads up the world’s most successful intelligence agency.

We also see this by placing the Foreign Ministry under the PMO. Sure there is a Deputy Foreign Minister who acts as its face, but day to day the PMO runs the show.  There are more and more examples of this.

Many pundits are aware of the situation.  Even Shelly Yacimovich expressed similar sentiments in 2014, before the current coalition. “This situation is not only ridiculous, it is also reckless,” Yacimovich warned. “The government of Israel is not a political game in Netanyahu’s hands or a nice hobby. It is the sovereign of Israel, the power that runs our complicated lives.”

The centralization has only increased.

Is Bibi Still Inevitable?

Israelis have generally trusted Bibi Netanyahu.  This does not mean they like his style or politics, but in a world that appears to be increasingly chaotic, they see him as the most capable of navigating the current ship.  That is until the eruption of the present intifada.  As days grind on and more and more people are getting killed and hurt, a certain hole is being punctured in the inevitability of the Prime Minister.  

So far no real challenge exists, but polls indicate  a growing dissatisfaction with Bibi’s handling of the security situation. Could be Bibi’s inability to crush the current violence open him up to being taken down? So far it is not clear.  However, it is precisely his obsession of keeping his political opponents at bay, which has seemingly boxed in his ability to deal with the deteriorating security situation.

The obsession at staying in power is a focus that seems to many to take far more energy than unleashing the security forces in a far more proactive way.  It’s true, Israeli politics has long been far more akin to a mafia movie like Goodfellas or Godfather than something that actually works in a stable format. With that in mind Bibi has done a good job stabilizing the “game,” and yet, that’s just it, Bibi has spent most of his energy holding things together, not pushing them forward.

Israelis are tired of tough speeches with no action. With everyday that goes by with no solution, weary Israelis are becoming more and more ready for a change, no matter who brings it.

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Why Have Israelis Dropped the Two State Solution?

A recent Democracy Institute poll shows support for annexation of Judea and Samaria equal to its opposition. Given the fact that Israelis have endured over 20 years of Oslo education, the poll seems to be indicative of changing attitudes towards Judea and Samaria.

If this poll is accurate, the question arises: What caused the Israeli public to change of course?

Gaza a Turning Point

The destruction and uprooting of Jewish communities in Gaza was hailed at the time as the best chance for peace.  Israelis trusted Ariel Sharon and even believed the security guarantees offered by the Bush administration. Over the following 10 years Israelis’ basic assumptions about the world have been proven false. Assumptions include the following:

  • Arabs are interested in stability
  • Secularism will win out
  • America can always be trusted
  • Giving up land will bring peace
  • Security experts know what they are talking about

Given the above list, Israelis see no reason to give up on Judea and Samaria.  More and more these territories are seen as an integral part of the Jewish nation. However, despite the positive change in attitude towards annexation, other results from the poll should caution those in the Land of Israel camp.

For example, 61% of the Israeli public disagrees with maintaining the status-quo.  This result can be seen as a positive affirmation that Israelis want to push some sort of solution forward.  The question for those in the National Camp, is whose solution?

Those on the Right should take the opportunity to push forward a clear plan of action in reference to annexation. The goal should be to win the support of the slight majority willing to undergo some sort of geopolitical change.  If not, amnesia of past events will eventually take over again and endanger Israel.

Israel's_loss_of_land_1920_-_2012[1]

The Right needs to educate the country on Israel’s historical rights to all of the Land of Israel and what has been given up over the years.  The current culture in Israel and the geopolitical instability throughout the Middle East affords the country an opportunity to reverse some of the territorial setbacks that have occurred in the past.

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Here Come the French

The French always know how to make noise for themselves.  The world is engulfed in multiple proxy wars, radical Islam is spreading, and migrants threaten to destabilize Europe, but never mind all that. The French remain obsessed on finding a “solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The French originally floated a proposal after Bibi Netanyahu won in the last elections.  This proposal would essentially force the contours of a solution on the two sides if they did not come to an agreement themselves. In recent days conversation has bubbled up that the French are once again ready to table this proposal. In response Prime Minister Netanyahu stated:

“You certainly heard of the proposal being raised in certain quarters in France, to convene an international conference with the threat at the end that if it is unsuccessful, then France will – to a large degree – adopt the Palestinian position. This will be an incentive for the Palestinians to come and not compromise. The substance of negotiations is compromise and the French initiative, as it has been reported, in effect gives the Palestinians in advance reasons not to do so.”

The French, like the other Western nations believe that the Israel-Palestinian conflict is similar to a border dispute in Western Europe. There is no similarity between the two. When Jewish freedom fighters struggled to defeat the British Empire, paving the way for Jewish sovereignty to be reinstated in the Land of Israel, they were not struggling over a border dispute. The fact is, as long the ruling Israeli political class keeps flirting with negotiations with the PA, the World will keep on insisting on dividing the Land.

Israel is indivisible.  Jewish fighters against Britain or any other occupying power that controls a piece of the Jewish homeland, are no different than the Jewish fighters that attempted to push out Rome. The only way the Jewish people will remove the growing international pressure is to insist on rectifying the national injustice that Rome perpetrated against the Jewish people nearly 2000 years ago. To do this, the world must accept that the entire Land of Israel belongs only to the Nation of Israel.

 

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Reclaiming Hebron

Ten days after being forcibly removed by authorities for entering two building legally bought, 20 Hebron residents are attempting to make their way back into them.  This is not the first time there has been a tumult over private land purchases in Hebron. One of the strategies used to strengthen the community is to increase the purchases in the Israeli controlled areas in order to ensure Jewish continuity from Kiryat Arba to the Jewish community of Hebron as well as between the Cave of the Patriarchs and the Avraham Avinu neighborhood.  After all, Kiryat Arba with its 8,000 plus residents is essentially an extension of Hebron.

One of the first attempts to do this was with the purchase of the Peace House in 2007. Noam Arnon, Hebron spokesman at the time of the original purchase of the Peace House said the following:

″The house of peace, on the main road between Hebron and Kiryat Arba is an additional link in the growth of the City of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs. Bonding Hebron and Kiryat Arba, this building will provide homes for dozens, if not hundreds of Israelis, waiting to live in Hebron.″

The first Jewish residents were removed in 2008. Despite setbacks, the house was officially given over in a court ruling in 2012 to the Jewish owners who had bought it.  This ruling was held up by the Supreme Court in 2014.

 

Map of Hebron, courtesy http://www.Hebron.com
Map of Hebron, courtesy the Hebron Community

The two buildings in question now stand between the Cave of the Patriarchs and the Jewish Neighborhood of Avraham Avinu. The legal purchase of these properties is clear and so the only question really is why the Defense Minister is balking.  We have noted before that he is clearly nervous of a new trend and one that would be hard for him to stop once it gets rolling.  If Jews begin to buy properties in Hebron like they do in Jerusalem’s Old City and many of the formerly Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem, it will spell the end once and for all of the two state solution in the minds of both Israelis and their Palestinian counterparts.

This may be one of the roots of his fear. Control has belonged to the sons and daughters of the secular Kibbutz movement since the beginning of the State.  Turning over the keys to Moshe Levinger’s children is not on Yaalon’s agenda. Yet, at the end he may have no choice.  The energy no longer belongs with his camp, but rather has returned to the caretakers that can lead the Jewish Nation to the next stage of their National Redemption.

Reclaiming Hebron represents the most authentic form of Zionism.  David’s Kingdom began there and it was there that Moshe Levinger showed the world that the Jews could return to their ancient lands, thus reversing the injustice of the wanton ethnic cleansing of Hebron’s Jewish population in 1929.

In the coming days, the Israeli government will be forced to choose its future.  It can either decide to embrace the struggle for true Hebrew Liberation by allowing Jews to freely buy homes in the city of their forefathers or delegitimize their claims to be a government dedicated to furthering the restoration of the Jewish people to the entire ancestral homeland.

 

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Israel is Moving Beyond Turkey

Israel, Greece, and Cyprus held a top level three way meeting on building a gas pipeline from Israel and Cyprus to Greece, for exporting gas to Europe.  This has been brewing for a while and the reports that we pushed forward previously have come to fruition, indicating that Israel is not waiting for Turkey to decide if they want to be part of the growing detente.

“Our partnership is not exclusive in design or nature, and we are ready to welcome other like-minded actors to join our efforts to promote coordination and cooperation, as well as regional peace and stability,” the three leaders said in a joint statement.

The above statement seems to leave the door open for Turkey at a later stage, but clearly at a reduced role.  The energy alliance is quickly growing into something far more concrete as  the three leaders talked about coordination on security, hi-tech, energy, and other important issues.

Israel-Greece-Cyprus

The alliance stands to quickly change the Eastern Mediterranean geopolitical reality, providing a sense of stability in a region engulfed by radical Islamic chaos. The burgeoning partnership is a testament to Israel’s increased standing in the World, despite the claims of isolation due to a lack of movement in the “peace process.”

Last month the Greek premiere Alexis Tsipras called Jerusalem, Israel’s historic capital, which many people saw as a sign that relations between the two countries were moving to a new level of cooperation.