Netanyahu trying to convince Israeli hawks he won the Gaza war
Netanyahu trying to convince Israeli hawks he won the Gaza war Israel News | Haaretz Daily Newspaper.
It takes great courage to stand in front of your voters when they are mad at you and don’t understand you. They seemed to have thought Netanyahu was what he said he was, but they will most likely calm down by January 22.
The night after, Wednesday night to Thursday morning, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slept for eight hours. Over the seven nights of Operation Pillar of Defense, he made sure to sleep at least five hours a night, otherwise he didn’t trust himself. “I need to drive,” he said, using the Hebrew word that shares the same root as to “lead.”
All told, he looks satisfied, at least outwardly. Netanyahu completely understands the dissatisfaction among broad sections of the public, especially in the south, and in particular among his voters and soldiers. “When I was a soldier and Moshe Dayan or the prime minister canceled our operation, we were furious. … Today I am prime minister and I am committed to do the right thing for the country,” said Netanyahu in private conversations Thursday.
“Sometimes it is hard not to get carried away. I remember what happened to my predecessor [Ehud Olmert]. At some point the events took control of him. We controlled the events. Everything was very, very precise. I set goals and met them: We exacted a heavy price from them, and damaged their armaments. We erased years of stockpiling long- and medium-range missiles. Beforehand, I said I preferred to achieve these goals without entering [Gaza], and that is what we did. We also have other fronts. We must take into account the entire picture,” said Netanyahu.
There were those who reminded the prime minister Thursday of the harsh declarations he made when he was in the opposition about how he would eradicate the Hamas government when he became prime minister. “I intend on also being the next prime minister,” said Netanyahu.
MKs and ministers from the Likud, who will be fighting in the party primary at the beginning of next week for their position on the Likud list for the next Knesset, expressed their fears that the party would lose seats to the right-wing parties now. “I know that is a possibility, but I am convinced I acted correctly. It is wrong to ask such a political question at such a juncture. It is not the role of a leader. The opposite, it is the responsibility of a leader to make decisions even when they exact a political price from him,” Netanyahu said. He sounded quite certain that in the end, the political price would not be too painful.
Netanyahu was also not willing to commit to how long the cease-fire would last. It depends on the other side, he said: If the rockets return, Israel is ready for every scenario. Netanyahu wants quiet for as long as possible, and in the meantime wants to prevent the continued arming of Hamas and other organizations. He reached agreements with U.S. President Barack Obama on this.
Hamas’ victory celebrations in Gaza did not impress Netanyahu: The terrorists who just on Thursday morning crawled out of their hiding places, for the first time understood the scope of destruction. They want to call that victory? Let them, said Netanyahu. “They were surprised by the force of the response,” he said.
“We acted correctly, we even acted harmoniously,” said the prime minister. By harmoniously, Netanyahu means the troika of him, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman. They were authorized by the cabinet to lead the operation. As to whether in his opinion this same threesome will remain in the same positions after the election in January: “These matters are in the hands of the creator,” said Netanyahu. “But that is a good assessment.”
In the hours before the declaration of the cease-fire, Netanyahu made a furious round of telephone calls to senior Likud officials. He pleaded with them to represent him faithfully in the press and spread the good news, based on the following messages: 1. Egypt under Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood will back the agreement and is committed to keeping it, which is a great achievement for Israeli policy and regional stability. 2. A ground operation inside Gaza would have turned out to be very problematic and the results would have included many dead, a bogged-down army and continued rocket fire – a heavy price for a small benefit. 3. The relationship between Netanyahu and Obama, as expressed in the telephone calls between them and the presidential statements from the White House, is supportive, effective and smooth. No revenge for backing Mitt Romney. 4. Netanyahu also asked his ministers to practice, and repeat, each in their own style, four words: Responsibility, discretion, wisdom and statesmanship.
Netanyahu is not the first prime minister who abandoned all his principles at the moment of truth, and threw all his speeches, articles and writings into the trash, making a U-turn from all his promises to the voters. He is marching down the same road paved by many of his predecessors: Ehud Olmert metamorphosed overnight from a member of the Likud’s right wing to the leader of the left; Ariel Sharon, builder of the settlements, evacuated without blinking an eye the entire Katif Bloc in Gaza, and recognized a Palestinian state; and Menachem Begin returned all of Sinai down to the last clod of dirt. Even Yitzhak Shamir was dragged kicking and screaming to the Madrid Conference at a time when the words “international conference” were considered disgraceful. And these are only the Likud prime ministers.
To Netanyahu’s credit, or disgrace, depending on the eye of the beholder, we must acknowledge that he is truly the champion of flexibility. The two foundations on which he built his political persona over the last 20 years were these: We will not release terrorist murderers for abducted Israelis, such as in the Ahmed Jibril deal; and we will not blink in the face of terror. But when his great test came 13 months ago, Netanyahu ordered the release of hundreds of arch-terrorists in return for Gilad Shalit. During his second great test this week, he blinked once again. In the face of a fruitless ground campaign, and under great international pressure, he backed down a second time.
It takes great courage to stand in front of your voters when they are mad at you and don’t understand you. They seemed to have thought Netanyahu was what he said he was. They will most likely calm down by January 22.
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