Netanyahu: Better for America, Better For Israel
In the end, it does not matter all that much that Bibi Netanyahu is going to be Israel's next prime minister. I don't see much (if any) real differences between him and Ehud Barak or Tzipi Livni. In fact, in my opinion, it is Barak more than anyone else who is responsible for demise of the Oslo process. (For the facts on that, see Clayton Swisher's "The Truth About Camp David," a brilliant expose by a young ex-Marine who was there).
I also am taken by an analysis by Yossi Beilin, who was Oslo's architect. He says that it is better to have a pure right wing government than a right wing government covered by a centrist fig leaf. He says that, in the past, the worst Israeli governments have been national unity hybrids. The right goes about its business building new settlements and thwarting the peace process while the "left" (i.e., Shimon Peres, in his day) puts a pretty face on it.
Remember how Jimmy Carter handled Menachem Begin? Or how the first George Bush not only used our foreign aid as leverage against Yitzhak Shamir but engineered his replacement by Yitzhak Rabin? Barak, on the other hand, ran rings around us. President Clinton recalls that Barak treated America as if Israel was the superpower and he, Clinton, was a "goddam wooden Indian" whose job was to shut up and listen).
Beilin also believes that the United States will come down a lot harder on a right wing government than on one that appears centrist. It will be easier for President Obama to deal with Netanyahu than with the almost equally hawkish Livni because the latter seems dedicated to ending the conflict. In fact, her views on some of the critical issues are at least as hard line as Netanyahu's. But her seeming moderation is a nice cover.
A Netanyahu government would have no such cover. Any acts of sabotage to the peace process or new misery inflicted on the Palestinians would likely be strongly opposed by the United States. Israel's most slavish "friends" in Congress -- almost all Democrats -- would find it hard, although far from impossible, to choose Netanyahu (who is very close to the GOP) over Obama. The lobby will be dispirited. Contrary to popular opinion, it does not like far right governments because they are a tougher sell.
The likely result will be either a right wing government that goes out of its way not to offend the United States or one that does, and gets put in its place.
So I'm not too sad today, except about the rise of the neo-fascist Lieberman (the "neo" is there because everyone uses it. I'm not sure what's so neo about him). Here's my piece about him from today's Los Angeles Times.
|
Israel Bans Arab Parties From Coming Election
JERUSALEM — Israel on Monday banned Arab political parties from running in next month's parliamentary elections, drawing accusations of racism by an Arab lawmaker who...
|
|
Israeli Election: Netanyahu Says Iran Nukes Trumps Global Economy
DAVOS, Switzerland — Israeli election front-runner Benjamin Netanyahu told a session of the World Economic Forum on Thursday that preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons...
|
|
Israel Rules Out Hamas Contacts, Threatens Force
HERZLIYA, Israel — Israel's foreign minister threatened Monday to keep hitting Hamas as long as it attacks Israel, ruling out negotiations with the Islamic rulers...
|
|
Avigdor Lieberman, Hard Man Of The Right, Is Israel's Kingmaker In Waiting
Avigdor Lieberman, the far-right politician campaigning on a platform that Israeli Arabs should pledge loyalty to the state or lose their right to vote, has...
|
|
Israel's Election Day: Not a Change We Can Believe In
All three of Israel's candidates for Prime Minister belong to an era that should be receding behind us, not popping up in our ballot boxes again and again.
|
|
Israel Election: What Does It Mean to You?
Israelis head to the polls on February 10th to vote in a new government. As the crisis in Gaza demonstrates, Israeli politics affect the world....
|
|
Israeli Elections: Do They Really Matter?
In the end, regardless of who wins, Obama's domestic priorities, bad peace process options, and Israel's inherent caution are unlikely to generate any wild surprises.
|
|
Give Us Netanyahu. Please.
Give us Netanyahu. Please. His re-ascension will help Americans realize that the false choice approach the Bush administration had been taking in Israel-Palestine affairs was flawed.
|
|
Israel Is About to Make a Misjudgement as Disastrous as Gaza
In a few days, it looks likely to re-elect Benjamin Netanyahu as Prime Minister once again. This is a man calling for the violent re-occupation of Gaza to "liquidate" its elected government.
|
|
|
Israel's Election: Not Our Problem
Dovish types prepared to go into mourning over the coming right-wing victory should bear history in mind when the election results come in next week. Things aren't always what they seem.
|
|
|
It's Prime Minister Netanyahu
Tuesday, the right wing coalition won a clear majority. It is, I believe, inevitable that President Peres will give Netanyahu the first shot at forming a government and that Bibi will succeed.
|
|
Israeli Elections: Terror as Top Concern
With less than a week to go before elections in Israel, the three main rivals are locked in fierce debate not about whether the devastating war in Gaza went too far, but whether it went far enough.
|
|
Hopeful, But Not Optimistic
It is difficult to be optimistic. But I can be hopeful that, with the appointment of George Mitchell, the region is getting what may very well be its last best chance at securing peace.
|
|
What Hamas Has Wrought
The crucial point about Hamas that is always overlooked is that at every point in their interaction with Israel and peace-seeking Palestinians, they have chosen the path of armed aggression.
|
|
Palestinians Unsure Which Israeli Leader Will Keep Gaza and the West Bank United
While the results of the coming Israeli elections are important, the most important new element in the formula is the new administration in Washington.
|
Loading comments…
Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to
yeah, RRIIIGGGHHHTTTTT!
netanyahu, the former furniture salesman and American tax-payer educated maniacal psycho will be the world's worst choice should he prevail into the PM seat.
this article appears to be based on an erroneous assumption
putting aside empty rhetoric, on what precisely are you basing the idea that the usa is committed to a just peace in the area?
Yeah I've actually been pretty convinced by the arguments that having Likud in power makes the peace process easier.
Kinda like how Nate over at FiveThirtyEight pointed out that it's easier for centrist Republicans to vote Democrat than centrist democrats to vote democratic.
This is a wise man, former speaker of the Israeli parliament, Avraham Burg. Is any body in Israel listening?
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/2/12/former_speaker_of_the_israeli_parliament
WARNING: This is going to be very offensive to some. These religious wars will never end. Some of these sects have been fighting longer than we have been a country and we, as Americans, piously believe that interpose will make a difference. It hasn’t in the past and it won’t in the future. We are putting our soldiers and citizens at risk of never-ending wars. When nations use religion as the basis for war I have no interest nor do I care who is right because they are wrong. I may not be a religious scholar but I was under the impression that religions were supposed to bring people together as one. However, it seems to be more of... if you don’t believe in my god then you are wrong and must be defeated. This mentality makes no sense to me whatsoever. Uh oh, here it comes, let them kill each other; it will alleviate stress on the rest of the world.
One of the biggest myths of all time sold to the American public, is that the Israeli-Arab conflict is infact a religious war. It is by no means a religious war based on the historic background and current prospects. Religion is a tool used to perpetuate it and polarize the odds, but it is by no means religious. Never has been, and never will be.
You say, let them k i l l each other, but one side has sophisticated weapons and could wipe the other out very quickly. Is that okay with you?
There is a moral obligation here. We can't just as humans sit back and allow that to happen. Perhaps I s r a el is suffering from I s l am o phobia, but P a lest in ians are fighting for their land and their survival on that land, while Is r a el is stealing more and more of that land and forcing them to live in inhumane conditions on less and less land.
I see a moral obligation and responsibility to end this situation now.
Good point!!
Not many here with this opinion? Most peple seem to be very pro - Israel and accept whatever they do. Why is this? Why are so many jews living in the USA so willing to accept what Israel does towards the Palestinian people? Do you get the same information as we do in Europe? I wonder...
Israel treats Palestinians like the South African Government did towards their coloured people during Apartheid, no dignity at all!
I cannot see why Tzipi Livni is nicer than N. she sat in the brutal Government that bombed Palestinians to shreads last Christmas. Innocent people were killed, but since they didn't allow journalists to enter Gaza, very few could tell the world what happend - way to go Israel!
I didn't think they could sink lower, but I was wrong...
A horribly misguided notion. You seem to legitimately think that religious fanaticism actually fuels this conflict. It's not.
Religion is simply a language of grief and grievance, when people are fed, happy, and their families are around them, terrorism will end. You can and will solve the problem of terrorism, or at least minimize it with economics.
Palestinian is not a religion. Israeli is not a religion. This is a secular conflict that began when Britain encouraged and subsidized the colonization of Palestine with European Jews after WWI.
If you wish to see the state of Israel be brought down by racism and hubris, 'Bibi' is the choice for you, hands down.
Bibi Netanyahu has the qualities needed to be a great PM. If you had read A Place Among the Nations you'd uderstand the situation in the Middle East.
We get enough pro-Israeli propaganda as it is, thank you. They gets enough of my tax dollars in his government budget -- I don't really feel much compulsion to shovel more money at Netanyahu by buying his book.
What about the Palestinian refugees? : http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=30349
I had marginally favored Kadima over Likud in this election, but I never thought about it the way Mr. Rosenberg has. He's absolutely right - a wolf is a lot easier to deal with if it's not in sheep's clothing.
If the Israelis are trying to kill all of the Palestinians why was there an increase of population of the Gaza strip from 340,000 to 1.4 million from the time when Israel conquered the strip (from Egypt, not the Palestinians) trough 2005. If you are trying to kill people, aren't there supposed to be less of them? Also, if Israel is so so horrible to Gaza, why do Palestinians in the Gaza strip have longer life spans than Egyptians? Brazilians? Russians?
Just asking,
I would say that the 300-400 Palestinian children who were killed by the IDF did not have much of a lifespan at all.
Bit of an exagerration, that. Just trying to make life so intolerable they'll move out. That's why you have 6 million Palestinian refugees.
I very much doubt the Gazans have a longer life span, in fact, i think this is an exaggerated and fabricated bit. These people are suffering from malnutrition and hardly have any functioning hospitals and need to smuggle in their food and cattle.
A the vast majority of the Gaza population are refugees and descendents of refuges who used to live within southern Israel. Israel would not give a damn if the population in the Gaza strip is 1 or 100 million, as long as they are confined to an open aire 360 KM2 prison so as Israel would never have to make them its own citizens.
well said.
misaacm - The Israelis are not trying to kill all the Palestinians. They are just trying to kill enough to make the rest flee the land - to the surrounding Arab countries, to anywhere, or nowhere. To accomplish this requires a constant state of war on the Palestinians. If Palestinians live longer than some other groups imaybe t's because they want to live long enough to see a state of Palestine. Or maybe they have well-practiced physicians.
As for Russia - the shock therapy administered to that country by the West after the fall of the Soviet Union drove everyone to drink heavily. Really. Alcoholism is way up since the commie years and longevity is way down.
The ONLY way to hope to begin a genuine peace process is for the USA to realize that both the Palistinians and Israel have great justice AND great evil on both their sides!
Picking a "good Vs. evil", Israel = good, Palastine = evil (or vice versa) will just not do it. The USA needs to foster the good while chastising the bad equally for both.
I am not sure that even that will eventually work but it is certainly the only approach that has a dicky bird's chance of succeeding!
The U.S. has been chastising the P a lestinians for YEARS now! Where have you been? The problem is that instead of chatising Is ra el for their bad behaviour they have rewarded them with $3 BILLION in aid per year!
What you really mean is: It's about time we withhold funding and impose sanctions on I s r a e l who have been explanding the settlements, committing hum an rights ab us es against the Pales tinians and kill ing civilians and especially children with ill e gal use of U.S. b o mbs in densely civilian populated areas!
The U.S. has been cha stis ing the P a lestinians for YEARS now! Where have you been? The problem is that instead of chas tis ing Is ra el for their bad behaviour the U.S. government has rewarded them with $3 BILLION in aid per year!
What you really mean is: It's about time we withhold funding and impose sanctions on I s r a e l who have been expanding the settlements, committing hum an rights ab us es against the Pales tinians and kill ing civilians and especially children with ill e gal use of U.S. made b o mbs in densely populated civilian areas!
Agreed, putting a 'smiley face' on racism and apartheid isn't onducive to anyone's best interests.
You have a smiley face on your car or trucck?
Agreed. Better to strip away the facades and finally see the "peace process" for what it is.
A lame excuse Israel was able to use to convince the world that it's willing to work towards achieving peace, all the while building settlements and giving the terms "imprisonment" and "segregation" new meaning.
The only ones better off with netanyahu are the illegal settlers living in illegal lands in the WB, living off American taxpayers.
Well, all the more reason for P-nians to start thinking like adults and begin efforts of sober assessment of their situation with view towards peaceful co existence. So fat this has been remarkably lacking.
EDITORIAL IN EGYPT'S AL-AHRAM
It would be better if our Palestinian brothers helped us by stopping chaotic actions like shelling settlements with primitive ineffective bombs"
Yousef Ibrahim, in a letter addressed to the Palestinian people:
"Look around you my Palestinian brothers, Jordan and Egypt have a common border with Israel, and they signed a peace agreement with it and do not intend to go to war with it because of you... In contrast, the problematic Syria continues to feed your fantasies that one day, perhaps, it will join you. Of course Syria will be happy to fight... down to the last Palestinian."
Spoken like a true colonial master. We're just lecturing these children, you see, they're so lucky to have us to teach them about toilet paper.
The arrogance of the colonial master and slave owner is his undoing, because it always encourages him to underestimate his subjects. It is one of the preconditions to the master's doom. The Nazis never grasped how those primitive Russians could defeat them, and their Israeli students are making the same mistake.
The election results show that the Israeli population is living n a different earth than the rest of us. What's been done to them is what George Bush tried to do to us -- rule by fear.
Constantly roiled by the Zionist cabal with predictions of "another Holocaust" every time Israel is criticized. It's a kind of artificially-maintained post trauma disorder syndrome -- everyone is our enemy, the new Nazis are here , etc. etc.
Yes, the Israeli population is one of the victims here -- they have been persuaded that constantly repeating the same mistakes will give them "victory."
They are like a man pointing a gun at his own head and saying "Ha! you're next!"
For what Americans want (Peace) THEY ARE EXACTLY THE SAME!!
You must be logged in to comment. Log in or connect with
