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What Bibi Told Me
As I watched the speech from Israel—and talked to Netanyahu afterward—I saw a poised leader who did what was necessary to move negotiations forward.
“I did what I had to.” Without breaking confidences, that’s the essence of what Bibi Netanyahu told me privately after his highly anticipated speech yesterday at Bar-Ilan University. And that’s exactly what happened: He recognized that there should be a Palestinian state, side-by-side with Israel, with the means to effectively and autonomously govern itself, but without the means to threaten its neighbor. That wasn’t an easy thing for him to do, given all his constituencies.
Bibi reinforced his position in my post-speech conversation with him, quipping: “When Moses came out of Egypt, he didn’t turn right and go to the Sudan.”
I was in Israel for the speech, but rather than attend in person and not understand what was being said, I chose to watch the translated Hebrew-to-English version on television. My initial reaction was that Bibi was speaking too fast, but the Israelis I was watching with informed me that it was a normal rhythm for Hebrew. He projected well, and was actually quite eloquent.
While an affirmative statement of Israel’s position, there was one part where Bibi deliberately responded to what Obama said in Cairo. Obama had linked the founding of Israel with the tragedy of the Holocaust, and Netanyahu’s message was powerful: If Israel had already existed, there wouldn’t have been a Holocaust. He also talked about the Jewish people’s multimillennium ties to the land, a point he reinforced in my post-speech conversation with him, with a quick quip: “When Moses came out of Egypt, he didn’t turn right and go to the Sudan.”
For Bibi, the choice boils down to this: Is he going to be Yitzhak Shamir or Menachem Begin? Shamir said “no,” and Begin did what was necessary—walking away from a huge amount of captured territory—in order to make a lasting peace. Bibi did what he had to. His decision will evolve and won’t be easy, especially since the Palestinians have enormous issues of their own in terms of achieving a consensus on pursuing peace with Israel. But this speech was a huge step forward in terms of opening up the dialogue.
Mortimer B. Zuckerman is chairman and editor in chief of U.S. News & World Report and publisher of the New York Daily News. He is also the co-founder and chairman of Boston Properties Inc. He is a trustee of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Washington Institute for Near East Studies, and the International Institute of Strategic Studies.
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Mortimer B. Zuckerman is chairman and editor in chief of U.S. News & World Report and publisher of the New York Daily News. He is also the co-founder and chairman of Boston Properties Inc. He is a trustee of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Washington Institute for Near East Studies, and the International Institute of Strategic Studies.
Zuckerman is more on the ball that the instapundits. If the Palestinians would respond positively, a little headway might be made. But with the media as it is, especially in Europe, they reckon they get more mileage playing the victim card.
I think you're wrong about what you saw. It seems quite the opposite to me. He could have made a brave and bold statement and didn't.
MORTON
what were you asleep or just dozing?
In case you haven't been in the Palestinian Territories I will update you. The Palestinian population ARE the victims of a ruthless, hateful occupation. Try living among the families there and your tune may change--if you have any compassion in your soul.
Bibi's babbling! And Mort is nodding his head.
The short of it is that Obama cut the ground out from under Bibi, and Bibi is begrudgingly going along with the program, not because he wants to, or because he agrees, but because he has no other place to go.
The question that Zuckerman and other synagogue men's club members should be asking is, how can Israel get out in front of the issue? Bibi and his ilk have previously adopted the Israeli version of the GOP "just-say-No" approach. Except for folks like Mort (old, conservative, establishment jews), the just-say-No approach is a deadend that leads to disaster for Israel.
There are two points that delineate Israel's reality:
1. There is no alternative to the inevitablility of a Palestinian state (the only question in that regard is whether it will be created as an element in Israeli's continued existence or as a step to the destruction of Israel?)
2. American support is the last and only hope for Israel's continued existence. Except for the USA, there is virtually no support for Israel in the world, and the Palestinian's have cut the ground out from under Israel. This lack of support for Israel is the result of the growth of the Islamic movement and the toadying of European and other first world nations to that movement.
The prior generation of Israeli leadership understood that American support was key to Israel's surivival, but that support depended on establishing Israel's claim to moral leadership and the morality of Israel's continued existence. To claim that leadership, Ben Gurion, Meir, Rabin, Begin and the first wave of Israeli leadership understood that Israel had to demonstrate that its first choice was peace with its neighbors, and that war was only an unpleasant second choice. To do that Israel was willing to take extraordinary risks including both the courage the fight and the willingness to take the risk of pursuing peace. To maintain the moral high ground, they also understood that to maintain American and European support, Israel had to pursue an active outreach to Africa and other third world countries.
Bibi, Zuckerman and their like have adopted the idea that through a combination of military power and right-wing American support, Israel can survive without reaching an accomodation with the Palestinians. Obama has called them on that unrealistic approach. Bibi has acknowledged that the Israel-alone theory does not work, but he does not have the talent, courage or credibility to provide leadership for the more realistic approach that is now required. Israel's only hope is that Obama can drag it -- kicking and screaming -- to a place where it can refind the policies of the first wave of Israeli leadership.
First and foremost... NO SETTTLEMENTS in the West Bank. They cannot be taken seriously when they are stealing land and forcing people into what is a mish-mash of reservations.
If I had my way, I'd have Israel take back the Gaza Strip and all of Jerusalem. Remove all settlements from the West Bank and slam the door between the nations. The situation is a tactical nightmare. I can totally understand the plight of the Palestinians. I understand what has lead to it as well.
But nothing will change as long as there are settlers on Palestinian land. Israel couldn't exist under those conditions... and neither can Palestine.
Nonsense! Israel proved time and time again that settlements are NOT an issue. Israel removed every single settlement from the Sinai and then from the Gaza.
To focus on settlements when Palestinian leadership reneged on EVERY single one responsibility they have both to the agreements with Israel and to its own people is .... to be politically correct, myopic.
I am not defending Israel here. Not a one country is perfect.
When do Palestinians stop making destruction of Israel their sole TRUE purpose?
When do Palestinians remove this goal from their charters?
When do Palestinians stop ruining lives of their children by brainwashing kids into suicide-murderers?
When do Palestinians accept two state solution, Arab and Jewish, living peacefully side-by-side?
Stop talking about secondary issues. It's neither smart nor cool!
One only has to look at the strictures Israel put on the Gaza Strip to know what a cruel pretense a Palestinian state would represent. They have virtually NO control of their borders and airspace for openers.They are effectively prisoners under Israel's control. and even the few concessions to the Palestinians were never really granted. So more strife was guaranteed. Only economic sanctions will force Israel to accommodation. Time is not on their side as they imagine.and the ultimate result will be a return to the pre-Balfour Declaration conditions unless Israel gets serious in negotiations. .
Thank you.
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