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Bibi Disses Biden

Wednesday, March 10th, 2010

Yesterday, on the first evening of Vice President Joe Biden’s official visit to Israel, when you’d think there would’ve been a state dinner to honor him, Bibi Netanyahu joined John Hagee in a massive Night to Honor Israel. Bibi pointedly dissed Biden while celebrating with Christians United for Israel, that country’s intransigence (or its adherence to God’s divine mission, depending on your point of view) and resistance to U.S. efforts to broker a peace agreement with the Palestinians. This night was full of praise for settlers and the most extreme of Israel nationalist politics. It was full of denunciation of peace and Arabs. It was fully of love for evangelical Christianity and revanchist Judaism, and smearing of Islam. Among Pastor John’s more memorable dinner quotations was one in which he called Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the “Hitler of the Middle East.”

Hagee bragged about the $58 million he’s given since 2001 to such Israeli far-right wing and settler groups as Im Tirtzu, Council of Young Israel Rabbis, Friends of Gush Katif, Yeshivat Har Bracha, Elon Moreh-Shehem, Christian Friends of Israeli Communities, Menachem Begin Heritage Center, Efrat Convention Center (better known as the John & Diana Hagee Lovingkindness Convention Center), Shurat HaDin, Gush Etzion Regional Council. I don’t yet have a breakout of how much he’s giving to each this year. If anyone out there has that information please let me know.

What is interesting about my analysis of the donees is that the only ones whose mission is political (and Hagee would view them not as political, but as theological) are the far-right settler groups. There are NO donee groups which have anything other than a pro-settler political agenda. While there ARE donees with no political content, all of them fall within the rubric of health, education, environment, and emergency and social services.

Hagee is leading his annual Israel pilgrimage from March 1-11th to Israel’s “holy places” like a “Middle East Intelligence Briefing” and Ir David, the settler group using archaeology as a pretext to expel Palestinians from their homes in Silwan and other historic East Jerusalem neighborhoods.

In case Biden didn’t get the message last night after being stood up by Bibi, today the government announced with pride the construction of 1,600 new units in occupied East Jerusalem. And this only hours after Biden had pledged the U.S.’ “unvarnished support” for Israel. Biden was forced to issue a strong statement pointing out that such actions are provocative and contrary to the best interests of peace. Which is all well and good. But in the final analysis, the Obama administration has given up on Israel-Palestine. Unless it is willing to follow up on statements like Biden’s with concrete action to fight new settlement construction, then all else is window dressing.

The announcement of the 1,600 new units is the Israeli equivalent of Congressman Joe Wilson’s “You lie” during Pres. Obama’s Congressional speech. With the difference being that his Republican colleagues publicly and privately reined him in. Bibi will get no such treatment. He is somehow entitled to run roughshod over this administration with no consequences for his impertinence. Think back to the last muscular presidents you can remember: do you think LBJ would’ve allowed him to get away with this? Or JFK?

This unfortunately is the age of Israel and its lobby and the Obama administration becomes the one led by the nose by the Bibiites. Think back a mere two days to the U.S. announcement that Israel-Palestine peace talks were resuming. I wrote here that the talks were a charade. As if to prove me right, Israel turns around and pokes its finger in the PA’s eye with the new construction on occupied territory. With each day that goes by I’m convinced that this is a conflict that cannot be resolved by the parties. Like Kosovo, Rwanda and other intractable ethnic wars, this one can only be solved by diplomatic intervention. The parties must be told what the settlement is (everyone knows the outline anyway) and be forced to stick to it. Recalcitrant parties should be shown Teddy Roosevelt’s big stick: legal and economic sanctions, war crimes trials, international no-fly lists, etc. I think both of them would get the message rather quickly. The biggest problem here is that things must be pretty awful for this international herd of elephants to become convinced that they must act. I fear that not enough have died and not horrifically enough as yet. But we must redouble our efforts to draw Security Council interest and lobby the EU and U.S. to find common cause on this issue.

APN Denounces New Israeli Settlement Plans in East Jerusalem (peacenow.org)
Israel plans 1,600 new Jewish homes in Jerusalem as Biden arrives (telegraph.co.uk)
Israel Humiliates Biden (andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com)

Tags: bibi netanyahu, cufi christians united for israel, east-jerusalem, im tirtzu, israeli-settlers, Joe Biden, john-hagee, night for israel
Posted in Jews & Judaism, Mideast Peace | 3 Comments »

Bibi Names Cave of Patriarchs, Where Goldstein Murdered 29, as National Heritage Site

Monday, February 22nd, 2010

The list of surreal developments reeled off by the Netanyahu government continues apace. Haaretz reports that his Shas coalition partner persuaded the PM that Rachel’s Tomb and the Cave of the Patriarchs, where Kahanist serial killer Baruch Goldstein made his Alamo-like last stand, should be named as national heritage sites. Could it be that Bibi wishes to embrace this massacre of Palestinians in an act of national atonement thereby marking the Cave as an Israel heritage site? Nah.

In light of this development, I suggest that Mahmoud Abbas propose that West Jerusalem and other abandoned Israeli-Palestinian villages be named Palestinian national heritage sites since 700,000 exiled Palestinians lived in them before 1948.

I’m urging Mexico to put in a similar claim for the Alamo. After all, it was once Mexico’s territory and a famous battle was fought there which Mexican forces won. It was even a massacre just like the Cave of the Patriarchs. Why shouldn’t they claim it as a Mexican heritage site and reclaim the Alamo for Mexico since it was stolen from them in the 19th century?

Israel too should put in a claim to the territory of the Khazars on the basis of Yehuda Ha-Levi’s claim that their king coverted to Judaism centuries ago. That’s certainly a Jewish national heritage site. The fact that it may be smack dab in the middle of the Ukrainian steppes should be of little moment to anyone.

Titus' Arch confirms historic Italian-Roman claim to Jerusalem

And let’s also recognize Slobodan Milosevic’s claim to Kosovo on the basis of the birthing of the Serbian nation there close to a millenium ago and a lost Serbian battle fought in the 14th century.

Similarly, I’d encourage Japan to name Nanjing as a Japanese heritage site since it once occupied that city and all of China. The rape of Nanjing was clearly an important event in Japanese history. Why shouldn’t Japan renew its territorial claim to Nanjing on that basis? I’m also going to write to prime minister Berlusconi, who has a thing for Italian national greatness, to name Jerusalem as an Italian heritage site since ancient Rome occupied Israel for quite a long time. Titus’ Arch in the Roman Forum certainly proves the Roman claim to Jerusalem and justifies reclaiming the city that was such an important part of Roman greatness in antiquity.

I think the Vatican should lay physical claim to Bethlehem as theirs since it was the birthplace of their Lord. Maybe they should claim Jerusalem too since he died there. Or imagine someday that we can clone an extinct Neanderthal and bring him back to life. He too should have the right to demand all of his ancient hunting grounds returned as Neanderthal heritage sites.

Don’t ya know, there’s going to be Zionist history museums built on both sites to the tune of $100 million:

Netanyahu said the two sites would be added to a list that includes areas to be designated for refurbishment. The state will thus allot NIS 400 million to renovate the sites, which include museums and landmarks of key moments in Zionist history.

I’ll bet ya dollars to donuts the Cave of the Patriarchs exhibit is going to avoid a certain historic massacre like the plague.

Tags: Baruch Goldstein, bibi netanyahu, Cave of the Patriarchs, massacre, rachels tomb, shas, titus arch
Posted in Humor, Mideast Peace | 40 Comments »

‘We’re a Small Country With a Big Heart’ and Other Nauseating Bibiisms

Monday, January 18th, 2010

In the annals of Israeli self-promotion this may not be the worst, but perhaps the least of the worst: it’s BAD. In fact nauseating. One of my hasbarist commenters noted I should be ashamed because I focus on the triviality of settler violence when the people of Haiti are in peril. He certainly didn’t expect me to publicize Israel’s sterling response to Haitian suffering, which he did in his comment. No, not at all.

Now comes this from Ynetnews (h/t Rupa Shah):

…The prime minister said that “the moment the dimensions of the disaster became known, I instructed the immediate deployment of an aid delegation on behalf of the State of Israel, which has already reached the place.

“This includes supplies, medication, doctors, a field hospital, an x-ray machine and many other vital things. This is the true heritage of the State of Israel and the Jewish people. This act joins similar action we have taken in the past in Mexico, Kenya, and Turkey. We may be a small country, but we are a country with a big heart. This is the expression of Jewish ethics and heritage – to help others.

He means, Israel helps others (cf. black people) when they are several thousand miles away and in danger of extinction. When they’re Ethiopian children refused a place in kindergarten in Petah Tikva…not so much. Or Darfuris desperate to flee civil war in their homeland–not so much (they’re expelled). Or foreign workers abused by Israeli employers–not so much.

Anyone who observes the Israeli political elite in action knows they are tone deaf. But this sure takes the cake for self-aggrandizement and moral puffery.

Akiva Eldar has it precisely right:

…The remarkable identification with the victims of the terrible tragedy in distant Haiti only underscores the indifference to the ongoing suffering of the people of Gaza. Only a little more than an hour’s drive from the offices of Israel’s major newspapers, 1.5 million people have been besieged on a desert island for two and a half years. Who cares that 80 percent of the men, women and children living in such proximity to us have fallen under the poverty line? How many Israelis know that half of all Gazans are dependent on charity, that Operation Cast Lead created hundreds of amputees, that raw sewage flows from the streets into the sea?

The Israeli newspaper reader knows about the baby pulled from the wreckage in Port-au-Prince. Few have heard about the infants who sleep in the ruins of their families’ homes in Gaza.

…A few days before Israeli physicians rushed to save the lives of injured Haitians, the authorities at the Erez checkpoint prevented 17 people from passing through in order to get to a Ramallah hospital for urgent corneal transplant surgery. Perhaps they voted for Hamas. At the same time that Israeli psychologists are treating Haiti’s orphans with devotion, Israeli inspectors are making sure no one is attempting to plant a doll, a notebook or a bar of chocolate in a container bringing essential goods into Gaza.

…Even the images of our excellent doctors in Haiti cannot blur our ugly face in the Strip.

I urge you to contribute to the American Jewish World Service Haiti Relief Fund (or any charity of your choice). Unlike Bibi, AJWS does good work day in and day out in Haiti and elsewhere, and doesn’t do so for ulterior motives.

Tags: Add new tag, bibi netanyahu, Haiti, israel, small country with big heart
Posted in Mideast Peace | 94 Comments »

Iran Reform Movement: With ‘Friends’ Like Bibi, Needs No Enemies

Monday, December 7th, 2009

Bibi Netanyahu, under the guise of supporting Iran’s reform movement just shot it in the foot:

“Iran is silencing all sources of information,” said Netanyahu. “Using the power of the Internet and of Twitter against the Iranian regime is a tremendous thing that the United States can do.”

The prime minister added that the “deep hatred among part of the Iranian nation against the regime” could serve as a “very important asset to Israel.”

Yes, certainly let’s have Israel’s leader co-opt the reform movement for its own selfish political ends and let’s announce it to the world so that the mullahs can exploit it and hammer the hell out of the reformers. If you ever hear anyone say that he cares about Iranian freedom, laugh in their face. I doubt he even cares about Israel’s interests except when they align with his own personal ones.

Today’s NY Times announces that 20 mothers mourning the murders of their children during June election demonstrations were arrested at one of their weekly demonstrations (it appears they’ve modeled themselves on Argentina’s Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo). Yeah, why doesn’t Bibi just stick it in their eye and give the regime further cause to arrest dissidents and charge them with being spies for the Mossad?

Tags: bibi netanyahu, iran reformers israeli asset, iranian mourning mothers arrrested
Posted in Mideast Peace | 6 Comments »

Meet Rahm Emanuel, ‘Self-Hating Jew’

Friday, July 10th, 2009

If this story by Barak Ravid in Haaretz is to be believed, Bibi is flailing and subjects to bouts of paranoia. I especially like the bit about those “self-hating Jews” in the White House:

Netanyahu appears to be suffering from confusion and paranoia. He is convinced that the media are after him, that his aides are leaking information against him and that the American administration wants him out of office. Two months after his visit to Washington, he is still finding it difficult to communication [sic] normally with the White House. To appreciate the depth of his paranoia, it is enough to hear how he refers to Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod, Obama’s senior aides: as “self-hating Jews.”

“He thought that his speech at Bar-Ilan would become mandatory reading at schools in the United States, and when he realized that Obama gave no such order, he went back to being frustrated,” one of his associates said.

Imagine just because you’re the prime minister of Israel you believe that the chief of staff of the president of the United States has to hop to it or else he’s a “self-hating Jew.” Not to mention the matter of Bibi conflating being Jewish and being Zionist and assuming that because he is a Jew, Rahm must do Bibi’s bidding. That’s some deep chutzpah!

Tags: bibi netanyahu, rahm emanuel self hating jew
Posted in Mideast Peace, Politics & Society | 18 Comments »

Bush Had Gog and Magog, Bibi Has Amalek

Monday, May 25th, 2009

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu considers the lifting of the Iranian nuclear threat his life’s mission. Before coming to power, he had mentioned that such an operation might cost thousands of lives, but the price was justified in view of the threat’s severity.

–Aluf Benn, Haaretz

“My job is first and foremost to ensure the future of the state of Israel … the leadership’s job is to eliminate the danger. Who will eliminate it? It is us or no one.”

–Bibi Netanyahu quoted in Haaretz

Recently, Jacques Chirac confirmed that George Bush, in telephone calls leading up the Iraq war, attempted to persuade France to join the coalition of the willing by invoking the Biblical war of Gog and Magog. While Americans generally knew their president had a evangelical zeal in both his religious beliefs and political stances, even this revelation takes our breath away. So saith George, the Lord’s avenger:

“This confrontation is willed by God, who wants to use this conflict to erase his people’s enemies before a New Age begins”…

Bush had reportedly said to the Palestinian foreign minister that he was on “a mission from God” in launching the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan and was receiving commands from the Lord.

We didn’t know just how far gone this man was in his religious fanaticism.

The closest political leader to Bush on today’s political stage is Bibi Netanyahu, as the above Haaretz passages make clear. In addition, there are Bibi’s references to Iran being Amalek, implying Israel’s duty to smite the mullahs a terrible blow lest they first strike Israel in an nuclear attack.

There is always a question, when considering the words of Israeli politicians, of sincerity and conviction. Unlike politicians of other western democracies, Israel’s tend to bend and sway with the political winds. What a politician says on any given day could be annulled or modified on the next day–or even the next hour. So how much Bibi believes in what he is saying about Iran and how much is political posturing is an open question.

But Aluf Benn credits Bibi with firmly held beliefs as does Jeffrey Goldberg (not that Goldberg is my arbiter of truth by any means). So we must at least credit some conviction to Bibi. In doing so, we have to concede that the fervor with which he leads Israel to war against Iran is frightening in the extreme.

We have the example of George Bush to guide us. He too believed he was on a mission from the Lord to tidy up the Middle East. What good did such religious fanaticism do him? What good will similar zeal do Netanyahu? Aren’t we more likely to end up after an Israeli attack on Iran with the same mess to clean up as the one Bush left in Iraq?

And haven’t we learned any lessons about those who allow religion to drive political decisions? Think West Bank settlers, the Taliban, the Terry Schiavo debacle, etc. This ends up giving a bad name to religion AND politics. I’d much rather enjoy my religion and my politics in separate courses, rather than on the same plate.

Tags: bibi netanyahu, Bush, chirac, gog and magog, iran is amalek, iraq-war, israeli attack on iranian nuclear facilities, religious fanaticism
Posted in Jews & Judaism, Mideast Peace | 11 Comments »

Ben Zion Netanyahu: Israeli Arab Goal ‘To Exterminate Us’

Sunday, April 5th, 2009

This is the second installment of Ben Zion Netanyahu’s Maariv interview translated by Noam Sheizaf and published originally at his Promised Land blog.

In case any of you were worried that, as in Hollywood, the sequel would disappoint compared to the original–have no fear. You will NOT be disappointed. The revelations of racist hatred for Arabs in general, and Israeli Arabs in particular is unabated. Here are a few of the prime excerpts:

Netanyahu: …In the Arabs’ case, their nature and character won’t allow any compromise. When they talk of compromise, it’s a way of deceiving. They want to make the other side stop doing its best efforts and fall into the trap of compromising. The [Israeli] Left helps them with that goal…Compromise is not realistic. It weakens our positions and brings us to a state of limpness, of false believes, of illusions. Every illusion is weakening.”

Q: What is your position regarding Syria? There are those who claim that Netanyahu will try to advance there.

A: “I would not return the Golan Heights. We conquered the Golan…and anyway, you don’t give back land that was conquered in war, and for which we spilled our blood. It should be clear that parts of the Land of Israel that will fall into our hands – we will defend our right to hold them until all generations end. You don’t return land, just like you don’t return people…”

“We don’t have a real partnership with them [Israeli Arabs]. The Arab citizens’ goal is to destroy us. They don’t deny that they want to destroy us. Except for a small minority who is willing to live with us under certain agreements because of the economical benefits they receive, the vast majority of the Israeli Arabs would choose to exterminate us if they had the option to do so. Because of our power they can’t say this, so they keep quiet and concentrate in their daily life.

I think we should speak to the Israeli Arabs in the language they understand and admire – the language of force. If we act with strength on any crime they [commit], they will understand we show no forgiveness. Had we used this language from the start, they would have been more careful.

I am talking about strength that is based on justice. They should know that we will keep a just attitude towards them, but a tough one. You don’t kill or hurt people or deny their right to make a living just like that. In the villages that we rule, we need to grant them all the rights – infrastructure, and transportation and education… but they have to give things in return. If the teachers are inciting the students, we should close the schools and expel the teachers…”

Most of the disgusting rhetoric exposed here is self-explanatory and requires no rebuttal or clarification. Any reasonable person will understand immediately what the real value of such ideas is.

But one point in particular requires refutation. The elder Netanyahu’s claim that Israeli Arabs “would choose to exterminate us” if they had half a chance is a bald-faced lie. One can explain this away perhaps by Netanyahu’s having no knowledge either direct (or apparently even indirect) of real Israeli Arabs due to the fact that he lived most of life in the U.S. But any reasonably intelligent human being, even a rightist, would know that Israeli Arabs are surprisingly loyal to the State of Israel. Every poll of this community points to an almost universal urge to be included within the overall Israeli polity, to fit in, even to assimilate if that were possible (it isn’t).

Despite the horrific crime of displacing 700,000 of their fellow Arabs in 1948, there were hardly any acts of violence committed by them against Palmach forces. Aside from a few incidents which stand for their being exceptions rather than the rule, there have been almost no Israeli Arab acts of terror since. Those of the Israeli right like to point to those few incidents to claim they represent the “true views” of their fellow Arabs, but this is certainly not the case.

To be forthright, today’s news reveals that a 16 year old Negev Bedouin girl fired at Israeli Border Police today attempting to avenge the Gaza assault and was killed. But this must be balanced against the fact that the Bedouin are one of the only Arab ethnic groups with DO serve in the IDF and do so with great distinction.

Anyone who listens to Bibi Netanyahu speak and harkens not just to the actual words, but to the tone and what is “between the lines” knows that the hateful views of his father course through his veins. The difference between them is that the father is of the old school and wears his ideas on his sleeve. The son conceals his real views and feelings through artifice and guile.

There may be a few Middle East analysts who harbor hopes that Netanyahu, being a strong rightist in the Sharon mold, might actually be capable of negotiating an Israeli peace with the Syrians or, God forbid, with the Palestinians. Given where this man has come from and the hatred inculcated in him by his father for all Arabs, I’d say the optimists will be sorely disappointed to place any such hopes in the new Israeli prime minister.

On a side note, given the importance of this story and the fact that no other English-language news source is yet reporting it aside from Noam and myself, you’d think that Google News would be an excellent means of distributing word about it. But no, I’ve tried unsuccessfully for several years to get this blog included within Google News.

A few weeks ago, I noticed that Mondoweiss was now included (good for him) and so I checked to see whether their rules had changed. I realized that they hadn’t but that Phil Weiss had added Adam Horowitz as a co-author of his blog which allowed it to be included.

Here are the wickedly dumb rules the define who’s in and who’s out:

We reviewed your site and are unable to include it in Google News at this time. We currently only include articles from sources that could be considered organizations, generally characterized by multiple writers and editors, availability of organizational information, and accessible contact information. When we reviewed your site we weren’t able to find this evidence of an organization.

While I respect Phil immensely and would love to see Mondoweiss as a powerful movement for change–to call it an “organization” is pushing it. This rule is simply a way that Google News gets out of having to consider blogs written by individual authors. They’d rather lose a source like me than have to waste their time considering all the faux news blogs who would claim their attention by applying for consideration.

The only problem with this approach is that not only does Google News lose out by failing to include important news sources like this story, but the work of this blog loses out through the hundreds of thousands of readers who visit Google News and will not see this story.

Google News is a major source of readers for those sites included within it. It’s just a shame that Tikun Olam and many other legitimate news blogs are cast out of the inner circle.

Tags: arab hater, arabs only understand force, ben zion netanyahu, bibi netanyahu, google news excludes blogs, israeli palestinians want to exterminate jews, revisionist zionism
Posted in Jews & Judaism, Mideast Peace | 9 Comments »

Olmert Resigns

Wednesday, July 30th, 2008

Olmert's resignation bowed to the inevitable

Ehud Olmert bowed to the inevitable yesterday and resigned as Israeli prime minister effective September 17th, the date of the next Kadima party leadership primary. Beset on all sides by up to six separate corruption investigations, the most serious of which involved accepting several hundred thousand dollars in cash and gifts from U.S. businessman Moshe Talansky, Olmert realized that his continued leadership was untenable. In addition, he had little political credibility or traction with the nation because of both his ethical lapses and his failed prosecution of the 2006 war in Lebanon.

There were several options that Olmert could have chosen in resigning and the one he picked will send the Kadima party into a flurry of political jockeying before the primary elections. The leading candidate is centrist foreign minister Tzipi Livni, who has made a name for herself as a political pragmatist, though she comes from a prominent rightist political family. She pointedly departed from Olmert during the Lebanon war and refused to participate in promoting or defending it, a surprisingly independent move for a sitting foreign minister. Her chief challenger is transportation minister, former IDF commander in chief and hawk Shaul Mofaz. It was Mofaz who single-handedly caused a multi-billion dollar rise in the international price of oil a few weeks ago, with his statement that Israel faced no choice but to attack Iranian nuclear installations. The latest polls (which are inherently unstable in Israeli politics) show Livni with a significant but falling lead over Mofaz.

The political instability Olmert caused with his resignation portends well for the possible political comeback of perennial prime minister candidate Bibi Netanyahu, leader of the rightist Likud opposition. Should the Kadmina-led coalition falter, Netanyahu eagerly waits in the wings for his second opportunity to lead the nation. His first prime ministership was marked by a hardline approach to the Israeli-Arab conflict and an unwillingness to negotiate over major issues dividing the parties. He also has a reputation as a fiscal hawk willing to restrain spending on Israel’s safety net for its large population of poor, unemployed and ultra-Orthodox Jews. When he served as finance minister his policies were known for fiscally punishing the most vulnerable of Israel’s citizens. Current polls show that if a new election were held now Netanyahu would become prime minister.

Naturally, this is something Kadima and its junior coalition partner, Labor, seek to prevent at all costs. But the current government is a fragile reed including multiple parties each with its own separate social and political agenda. It remains to be seen whether the new party leader can hold together these disparate elements.

The biggest casualty in Olmert’s downfall may be his various peace initiatives initiated as his political career entered its most unstable phase. He began third party peace talks with Syria brokered by Turkey several months ago. With great willingness by both sides to compromise, it appeared that such talks might bear fruit in a relatively short period of time. More complicated and less productive have been U.S.-mediated talks with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.

If there are national elections and Netanyahu wins, each of these negotiating tracks may fall victim to his assumption of the reins of power. He is known as a deep skeptic regarding the possibility of peace with the Arabs and as a booster of military power as the key to national security.

Olmert’s downfall marks the end of the career of one of Israel’s veteran political operatives whose own career began in the early 1970s. He helped end the career of beloved long-time Labor party Jerusalem mayor Teddy Kollek and used the mayoral perch to launch himself into national political leadership. After joining the Knesset, he became Ariel Sharon’s chief political aide and enforcer. When Sharon wanted to lower the boom on then Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, it was Olmert who told the Jerusalem Post that Israel was prepared to assassinate him. A later report by a journalist-confidant of Sharon’s published in Haaretz, claimed that Sharon, and Israeli intelligence, had indeed been responsible for Arafat’s death.

Olmert was known throughout his career as a wily, but pragmatic political survivor willing to compromise his rightist principles for either his own advancement or achieving political goals. His supporters and critics, for example, could never tell whether his recent peace initiatives toward Syria and the Palestinians were the product of principle or an attempt to save his prime ministership. For this reason, he leaves a mixed legacy of a man who seemed to have some vision of compromise with Israel’s enemies, but who allowed his penchant for the good life to interfere with, and ultimately topple him.

Tags: bibi netanyahu, ehud olmert resigns, kadmia party primary, tzipi-livni
Posted in Children & Family, Mideast Peace | 14 Comments »