Netanyahu Gets It
Netanyahu Gets It, Weekly Standard, Aryeh Tepper, April 4, 2014
The secretary of state’s hubris is cause for wonder.
So the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks are, predictably, collapsing. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry responded to the frustration of his manic peacemaking efforts by quoting an ancient complaint, “There’s an old saying, you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink. Now it’s time to drink and the leaders need to know that.”
Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
To which one might respond with the words of Psalms: “Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding.”
The secretary of state’s hubris is cause for wonder. What is the metaphorical water to which Kerry refers? A two-state solution. In Kerry’s view, the two-state solution is clearly in the interest of both parties: the Palestinians get their state and Israel gets to preserve its democratic character. And he cannot understand why in the world Netanyahu and Abbas just don’t get it.
But Netanyahu gets it. Netanyahu gets that Palestinian violence against Jewish settlement in the land of Israel dates back to the 1920’s, well before the West Bank was “occupied” and the state of Israel even existed. Netanyahu gets that the Palestinian “right of return” is a thinly veiled attempt to reverse the results of 1948. Netanyahu gets it that the root of the conflict lies in the principled refusal to recognize the legitimacy of a Jewish nation-state in the “Arab Middle East.”
The present administration will stubbornly cling to its intellectual prejudices. One can only hope that subsequent administrations will be sufficiently tough-minded to see Palestinian rejectionism for what it is. After all, viewed in light of Palestinian rejectionism the sad history of Middle East peacemaking makes perfect sense.
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WarSclerotic 
April 5, 2014 at 2:39 PM
There is no wonder at all.
He is an arrogant fool- and what’s more, a dangerous fool.
Israel would do well to ignore him and the current disaster called the American administration.
April 5, 2014 at 3:25 PM
In my opinion, Israel must ‘play’ along with this charade. They always knew it was doomed to fail like so many other ‘peace initiatives’ with Abbas, Arafat, and anyone else who claims to lead the Palestinian people. Reasons being…
1. Maintain the status quo with the US government while waiting for Obama and his ilk to leave office. Israel will be around long after Obama is forgotten like a nightmare on an otherwise sleepless night.
2. Don’t upset the foreign aid and military supplies needed to maintain US manufactured military equipment.
3. Buy more time (it works both ways Iran) for the Israeli military to develop and install more missile defense systems, acquire more weapons, parts, etc. and harden other strategic assets throughout the country.
4. Make sure everything is done to protect the citizens of Israel in the event of war.
Not a small task to say the least.
“Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.”
—The Art of War by Sun Tzu
April 5, 2014 at 3:54 PM
LS,
“Maintain the status quo, acquire more weapons”
Unfortunately, your above two statements sort of contradict.
There is no status quo in the Middle East, the barbarians at Israel’s gate grow their armaments daily and soon will have atomics, while Israel does the same.
This will only increase the devastation when the inevitable all out war initiates.
When diplomacy runs its course humanity refers to the ultimate arbitrator.
it’s been used many ties over the millennia, it’s called war.
April 5, 2014 at 4:22 PM
Israel, must disregard what the “world”wants them to do. The “world” will never be satisfied. It’s time for Israel to materially change the facts on the ground.
1. annex Judea and Samaria
2. Deal a lethal blow to Hamas and Hezbollah.
It’s the only way to finally end this thing.