Forget about the polls

Common wisdom among various spinmeisters is that messages need to be blurred. This is the way to court large and diverse sectors. Yet this wisdom is dubious, and we see what happens to the people who become addicted to such advisors. Benjamin Netanyahu, for example, is a great spin expert, and therefore he is incapable of leadership. Instead of leading public opinion, he finds himself being dragged by it, while holding on to the piles of polls in his hands.

There are also some specific reasons why the wisdom of the spin – that is, vagueness – is unsuitable for the present time: Israel exists within a cloud of uncertainty and needs some clarity.

Two main elements create the sense of fog. The first one is the fact we have no clear diplomatic plans. For a while we knew (or at least a majority among us knew) what Zionism’s most important objective was, and how to get there. The goal was to separate from the Palestinians, in order not to drown in a bi-national state. The first road we tried was via agreement. Yet the Palestinians rejected it.

Following another period of uncertainty, leadership with vision (rather than with polls) found another way. Amram Mitzna and later Ariel Sharon aspired for unilateral separation. The Palestinians found a way to block this route also, via the Qassam rockets. And again we find ourselves shrouded in fog.

The second element is the leadership crisis, and the sense that there is no captain at the helm boosts it of course. In conditions of limited visibility people seek clarity. Instead, spinmeisters advise politicians to add more fog. Yet this isn’t surprising: They have polls, rather than vision.

However, bold vision can be offered even today: Gradual evacuation of settlements, even without an agreement, completion of the security fence’s construction, and IDF deployment on the Palestinian side until a solution is found to the Qassam problem. We can propose at least one more immediate step in this direction: A resolute and immediate evacuation of the outposts and an end to settlement construction.

Capitulating to the settlers

However, the Netanyahu-Barak duo is adept at offering clever explanations, while lacking the courage to face up to the settlers. So here are our two “leaders,” taking pride in their shameful capitulation to the settlers and leading us closer to disaster. With Barak this is a chronic problem, while in Netanyahu’s case it’s apparently a question of character: A bunch of determined hilltop youth is simply stronger than them.

This is Tzipi Livni’s opportunity to stand up and overcome this pettiness. She heads a centrist party established on the basis of the need for separation, and she can offer a clear alternative.

Leaders for such period of fog do not need spinmeisters, but rather, clear and bold vision. What we need now is to look at the changing world and utter the truth: Settlement construction is a dangerous folly. The outposts need to be uprooted decisively, with or without sensitivity. Later on, one way or another, we will have to evacuate most of the settlements, with or without an agreement.

One needs to say clearly that Obama offers a real alternative, and we must cooperate with him, rather than resorting to foot-dragging and jeopardize our ability to separate from the Palestinians as well as our friendship with the US, without which there are no weapons for our soldiers and no political support for our right to exist here as the Jewish State.

We can offer positive examples of bold leadership: Churchill, Ben-Gurion, Truman, and Rabin too. However, it’s enough to take a look at Barak’s and Netanyahu’s mediocrity in order to be reminded of what happens in the absence of vision or courage.