Israeli Politics

Netanyahu: All-Powerful for 15 Minutes

Kadima's abrupt departure from Israeli PM Netanyahu's coalition calls into question all those hundreds of thousands of pundit words about Netanyahu's uniquely strong position in Israeli politics, and how he could now impose all manner of painful sacrifices on his political system, etc. etc. etc.

So much for that.

I'm deep now into the third volume of Marcel Proust's great novel, this one titled The Guermantes Way, and something I heard yesterday in the audiobook seems very applicable to this recent turn of events:

I could not help asking Robert when he spoke to me about Balbec whether it were really settled that he was to marry Mlle. d’Ambresac. He assured me that not only was it not settled, but there had never been any thought of such a match, he had never seen her, he did not know who she was. If at that moment I had happened to see any of the social gossipers who had told me of this coming event, they would promptly have announced the betrothal of Mlle. d’Ambresac to some one who was not Saint-Loup and that of Saint-Loup to some one who was not Mlle. d’Ambresac. I should have surprised them greatly had I reminded them of their incompatible and still so recent predictions. In order that this little game may continue, and multiply false reports by attaching the greatest possible number to every name in turn, nature has furnished those who play it with a memory as short as their credulity is long.

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David Frum

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