Jewish No
More?: Netanyahu's Victory is Israel's Loss (Corriere Della Sera, Italy)
"Israel
hasn't won, because little or nothing of substance has changed. In fact, the
country could now be pushed toward a dangerous self isolation just as the
region is boiling over with ancient tensions and bloody new conflicts. … Arabs
living in the country may now be capable of silencing all their divisions and
present themselves united and as a third political party in the Knesset. It
could be a sign of the future when in the absence of two states the majority in
Israel is no longer Jewish."
Tuesday night, as had happened before, the results were
clear. Dawn brought certainty. Now that Benjamin Netanyahu has won after long
hours of a reassuring dead heat with the liberals of Isaac Herzog (according to
the exit polls), it is beyond doubt. Equally certain is the Israel hasn't won, because
little or nothing of substance has changed. In fact, the country could now be
pushed toward a dangerous self isolation just as the region is boiling over
with ancient tensions and bloody new conflicts.
Certainly, half the world is embittered to see the
possibility of a revival of peace talks with the Palestinians fade and fears
Tel Aviv will impede an agreement that the world powers are cobbling together
on the Iran nuclear issue. Without a very difficult compromise on a national
unity government supported by President Reuven Rivlin, Netanyahu
will lead an Israel that has never been so right-wing. In the middle of this
decisively new phase, Arabs living in the country may now be capable of silencing
all their divisions and present themselves united and as a third political
party in the Knesset. It may be a sign of the future when in the absence of two
states the majority in Israel is no longer Jewish. It is a conclusion
vigorously supported by the most celebrated demographers, starting with those
in Israel.
Israel Uses 'Diplomatic Terrorism' Against United States (Alhayat Aljadeeda, Palestinian Territories)
Nevertheless, Netanyahu is a pragmatist. He wanted to retain
power at all costs, even through the use of foul tackles and at the cost of
being compared to the satraps in neighboring Muslim countries. Bibi is a very
tough man. He's like a skilled poker player who can feign a bluff and in the
end always manages to win the pot. His first victory in 1996 was considered
most unlikely. The country was still shedding tears over the martyred Yitzhak
Rabin, assassinated in November of the previous year by a Jewish extremist.
On Election Day we (reporters) went to the home of the attacker, Yigal Amir. Amir's parents
and other family members closed the interview with a toast to Netanyahu. No one
in the country expected him to win. Everyone thought it would be Shimon Peres who would
take over Rabin’s legacy. Instead this young man, brother of Jonathan (one of
the heroes killed in the raid at Entebbe to
free 248 kidnapped air passengers in Uganda), came to the fore and promised a
renaissance.
He was undermined by scandal, and in 1999 had to leave
office and permit Ehud
Barak's Labor Party return to the helm. In the end, though, as the danger
to Israel grew and the campaign of terrorist attacks intensified, the Likud
[Party] stood up the figure of Ariel Sharon. Without a
doubt, the average Israeli identified much more with the controversial but charismatic
general than Netanyahu, who while a skilled, rather broad-brush orator with
perfect English, appealed more to the American public.
Posted By Worldmeets.US,
In 2009, there was Bibi again. Conciliatory, ready to
support the idea of two states (Israel and Palestine), but ultimately he
disappointed - to the point that in 2013 he risked early retirement. He was
only saved by the ineffectiveness of his opponents. His government didn't last
long, because Bibi himself decided to dissolve the Knesset the following year,
expelling two left-of-center ministers and announcing Israel’s liberation from
everything and everybody.
"If I am elected," he said before the voting,
"there will be no Palestine State and Jewish settlements will
expand."
His rhetoric chilled even the president of the United States
and stirred his new underground friends, such as the cradle of the Sunni world
Saudi Arabia - a tribute to their common adversary Shiite Iran - the very Iran
Netanyahu cannot wait to strike.
The result of Tuesday’s elections shows that the prime
minister always knows how to speak to the gut feelings of his people - even
though gut feelings are never the wisest councilor.
