So was his brother Yoni who died on the Entebbe raid
Posted on 04/22/2005 4:44:49 PM PDT by SJackson
More than one thousand supporters of Binyamin Netanyahu packed a room to cheer on their leader and wave his campaign posters, as MKs took turns urging him to run for prime minister and Sara Netanyahu smiled in the background.
Such a scene sounds like it belongs in 1996, 1999 or 2002, but in fact it occurred on Monday night in Ness Ziona. Netanyahu satisfied the crowd by calling Palestinian terrorists "barbarians," slamming unilateral withdrawals and smiling broadly as a comic impersonating Prime Minister Ariel Sharon jovially chanted "Next year in Ramallah."
What was billed as a "pre-Passover toast" looked just like an election rally. And Netanyahu's closest aides make no secret of his intention to challenge Sharon regardless of the date of the next election, which they believe could be soon, especially if as they suspect, disengagement doesn't end up happening.
"Whenever there will be primaries, no matter what, he will run," a Netanyahu aide said bluntly. "He gave Sharon the premiership once [when he chose not to challenge him in 2000] and there is no reason to give it to him again."
Yes, Bibi is back. And this time, Sharon may not be strong enough inside the Likud to stop Netanyahu from unseating him and returning to power.
Monday's impressive turnout would have been unthinkable several months ago when Netanyahu fell behind Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz in a poll in which Likud activists were asked to name Sharon's heir apparent. After nearly two years of self-imposed exile in the Treasury building that he calls his "Mukata," Netanyahu hit political rock bottom.
When Sharon appointed Netanyahu finance minister in February 2003, they made a deal, whereby Sharon would grant Netanyahu full economic autonomy and support his policies, and in return, Netanyahu agreed to support Sharon's diplomatic moves, or at least not to openly criticize them.
So Netanyahu bit his tongue and concentrated on his economic plan. In the cabinet, he abstained on the road map in July 2003, and in return for a series of demands that were never met, he voted for the disengagement framework in June 2004. He stayed on the sidelines during the May 2004 battle over the Likud disengagement referendum and abstained from political activity as his popularity steadily declined.
But Netanyahu's political strategy – and his fortune – changed dramatically in September when he appointed as his new chief of staff Yechiel Leiter, a Scranton native and a resident of the West Bank settlement of Eli, who had success as an Education Ministry deputy director-general and as executive director of the Council of Jewish Communities in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip.
Leiter decided that Sharon had interfered enough on economic matters to justify letting Netanyahu's voice be heard on diplomatic issues. He advised the finance minister to "end the arrangement of Sharon being George Washington and Netanyahu Alexander Hamilton," the man who built the American treasury but never became president.
Two weeks after Leiter's appointment, Netanyahu invited political correspondents and diplomatic reporters to his office for a pre-Rosh Hashana toast, which the finance minister utilized to come out in favor of a national referendum on the disengagement plan, openly challenging Sharon.
"A man who wants to be prime minister again cannot get away with not expressing opinions on crucial issues, and a man with a political agenda cannot detach himself from politics," Leiter advised Netanyahu.
Netanyahu returned to the political mantras that served him well in the past, demanding three R-words from the Palestinians: reciprocity, reform and, if necessary, regime change. He started addressing increasingly larger audiences of Likud activists across the country. And he began making more of an effort to explain to people why his economic policies will help them in the long run, instead of assuming they wouldn't understand.
The most blatant mistake that Netanyahu has made since Leiter took over was his ill-fated ultimatum on October 26, when he threatened to resign if Sharon would not agree to hold a referendum on disengagement. The high-profile gaffe undid two years of efforts by Netanyahu to erase his image as a political underminer, but at the same time it reminded Likud activists that Netanyahu could act as an opposition to Sharon.
Netanyahu's shift from diplomatic ambivalence to open opposition to disengagement came full circle on February 20, when he voted against the disengagement plan in the cabinet. Critics of Netanyahu accused him of coming out against the plan only when it was too late to stop it, but his aides responded that there never was a real opportunity to derail what Netanyahu called "the disengagement train."
The finance minister has tried to justify his shift, noting that he tried to minimize the damage of disengagement by demanding a referendum and the building of the security fence around the settlement blocs. He said that none of the votes were operative until February 20 when he voted against it because his demands were not met.
"I never voted for the disengagement because all the votes [before February] included clauses saying they were not votes on removing settlements, just on the preparations [for the pullout]," Netanyahu told The Jerusalem Post this week. "My vote [in June] was part of a compromise reached to avoid splitting the party, after Sharon said he would accept the Likud referendum and then decided not to. The compromise was to defer the decision [on removing settlements] and when the vote came, I voted against it."
Since Netanyahu's vote against disengagement, his relationship with Sharon has steadily deteriorated. The two men sparred openly about who was doing more to pass the 2005 state budget and prevent the government from falling. Netanyahu raised Sharon's ire when he visited Shas mentor Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and asked him to support a referendum but not the budget.
In the aftermath of the visit, a Sharon aide advised Netanyahu to "watch his back," and a Netanyahu associate responded that the aide talked like a Mafioso. Sharon's office leaked to the press polls indicating that the prime minister was twice as popular as Netanyahu, and Netanyahu's office responded that the polls were fabricated.
When Netanyahu said he would be willing to add NIS 75 million to the health basket, Sharon doubled it. Sharon forced Netanyahu to restore Eilat's income tax exemption, and he reached an NIS 700 deal for Shinui's budget votes that Netanyahu said he could have gotten for free.
Sharon loyalist MK Eli Aflalo spat on Leiter in the Knesset plenum and then insulted Netanyahu in a Knesset washroom, without realizing that the finance minister was in a stall listening to every word. Then Netanyahu refused to cooperate with Sharon's effort to widen his cabinet, calling the appointments a populist attempt to harm the economy.
Six weeks of sparring ostensibly ended when Sharon invited Netanyahu to attend a memorial ceremony for his wife Lily on his Negev ranch. The two met alone and to this day, no one knows what was said. The meeting was portrayed as a magnanimous attempt to reach a truce, but Netanyahu reportedly felt tricked when he heard on the radio that he had invited himself.
Netanyahu told confidants after the meeting that Sharon only invited him because he felt vulnerable after the public outcry against the appointments and that Sharon reaches out when he feels weak and attacks when he feels strong.
Both Sharon's and Netanyahu's aides admitted that it actually helped the two men that the hatchet never really got buried. Sharon can tell foreign officials that he is under political pressure, while Netanyahu has used the rivalry to distance himself from potential heir apparents like Mofaz and Vice Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
Netanyahu denies ever attempting to topple Sharon or undermine him, only "toiling day and night to save the economy." Netanyahu's associates are telling the truth when they say that they never called political reporters to pick a fight with the prime minister, while Sharon's aides often leak to the press stories against Netanyahu.
Sharon's associates said they are confident that Netanyahu will not run, because if he loses to Sharon a second time, he may gain a reputation as a loser and he may not be able to run again. The prime minister's people say that their polls suggest that Netanyahu would be better off sitting out the next race and waiting for Sharon too retire.
But Netanyahu has his own polls, which indicate that Sharon would win by 10 percent. But 10% of the voters are undecided, and if pressed, they say they would prefer Netanyahu.
Netanyahu declined to address the question of whether he will challenge Sharon, but his aides made it very clear that they are looking forward to running a campaign. Netanyahu admitted that there are problems in their relationship but said that they can be overcome.
"To describe our relationship as harmonious and rosy would do it injustice," Netanyahu told the Post. "We are two seasoned political leaders who respect each other and who know that for the coming months and perhaps the coming year, we will have to work together, and we are doing it."
Please ping me with all bibi news.
I am in love with him!
Bibi bump!
Er, I didn't mean that like it sounded, I'm a happily married Catholic chick ...
Is there a chance for him to win?
With respect to him, this is a problem for me.
Ping for your thoughts. HAPPY PASSOVER!
So was his brother Yoni who died on the Entebbe raid
But would he still say that? I kinda wish we could run him against hill in 08.
okay folks, chew on this: Bibi unseats Sharon. Bibi proceeds to disavow all concessions Sharon has made, most notably the West Bank withdrawl. What do you all think is going to happen? Can you say WWIII? This is not a good thing for the US to have happen. Decisions were made and I don't see how it can be any other way than the way Sharon has sketched out without causing another intifada, but this time the mother of all intifadas...
It will be WW3 anyway, whether its 3 months from now or 3 years from now.
I hope that isn't true because I have been a hugh fan of his for a long time---since he was Prime Minister!
Me too. I find him extremely attractive, especially his voice.
If they want to have the mother of all intifadas, then they better get ready for the mother of all beatings.
Bibi's patience and tolerance have run out.
Its time to play for keeps, crush them, and break their backs, Bibi will do it.
Sharon has grown soft, as he has softened, Bibi has hardened, its going to take bullets and bombs, but it will bring about an end to this conflict once and for all.
He certainly never wrote a book on the topic. Since he's Israeli, it's none of his business, and I'd be surprised if he ever commented for that reason alone. I'd also note that IMI was one of the companies impacted by the assault weapons ban. It's not in Israel's interest to reduce exports to the US. Israel is happy to export arms to our domestic market. Israel isn't particularly gun friendly. The many weapons in the hands of civilians are the result of the terrorist threat and largely universal conscription rather than a culture of gun ownership as we have in the US. I suspect you got that idea from a quote taken out of context.
I don't know about the book, but I do remember a couple of years ago, he was on Fox news, and pretty much saying the opposite and making it clear that a well armed populace is an excellent deterrent to terrorists.
He was on the subject of something to do with Israelis and guns and the uprising.
Thank you for clearing that up---
Are you a fan of Netanyahu?
More likely, Sharon completes his term as the Gaza withdrawl is completed, and Bibi completes the task of drawing lines in the West Bank and concluding Israels unilateral withdrawl, as well as the establishment of borders.
Since I'm about done posting, yes will suffice. He's nearing the end of a courageous career in defense of Israel, as is Sharon. A country could be in worse hands.
I have a book about Yonatan and the Entebbe raid, written by their other-brother, Iddo. Fascinating story. Yonaton was one of those doomed-warrior types, like Stonewall Jackson.
I so hope that isn't true. I know it isn't my place to say who leads Israel. But, I believe he understands the urgency of using an iron fist, if necessary. That, and I enjoyed his speech before the US Congress after September 11th.
Oh, good. I like Bibi. He's very smart and charismatic as well.
Must be another major jewish Holiday approaching that's coinciding with the possibility of an Israeli cabinet dissolution.
This "Bibi is Back" headline has run several times a year for the past 4 years.
Oh yes, the Bibi voice is so sexy!
I love his politics, his voice, his looks. I'd say he's the perfect man.
bttt
I agree with that, provided that Bibi is electable.
I really do respect the guy and wish him the best.
As for WWIII, that's nonsense.
I think Netanyahu is smart, sexy and charismatic also. However, remember, he ran a campaign against Peres opposing agreements with palies or withdrawing from the occupied territories, and then signed the Hevron accord.
I see him as very much a politician, moreso than Sharon.
Shoot, at a certain level, we've been in WW III since 9/11/2001.
"I think Netanyahu is smart, sexy and charismatic also"
Yes. But he makes a lousy Prime Minister. All you need to do is to refer to his previous term as PM to see what a disaster he is. His horizons should remain as limited as his abilities.
I wish him all the best, in a lesser post.
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