Netanyahu's repeated empty promises
Op-ed: Instead of pledging to change government system again, prime minister should deal with real issues concerning Israeli voters: Standard of living and housing crisis.
On Monday evening, he informed an audience of hundreds of people at the inauguration of the Likud campaign in Tel Aviv of what the future holds for some of those running against him and of the fate of the "atmosphere" parties running against the Likud.
He spoke with contempt in his voice and clear disrespect about "Tzipi and Buji" (Tzipi Livni and Isaac Herzog) and used the word "weak" to describe them, saying that if they ever reached the prime minister's office, Heaven forbid, they would be unable to withstand the pressure "for even one second."
It reminded me of a conversation I had with Netanyahu a moment before Ariel Sharon was elected prime minister. In that conversation, using that same arrogant tone filled with deep contempt, Netanyahu had estimated that "Sharon will disappear off the face of the earth together with Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein." Whatever.
And before predicting how the Buji-Tzipi duo will function against Hezbollah, Hamas and Iran, we should remember that Netanyahu is the one who failed miserably on these three fronts. Hamas is preparing for the next bloody round, Hezbollah has tens of thousands of missiles directed towards us, and Iran has reached the point of a nuclear threshold state.
The two people who were revealed as weak against Hamas recently are actually Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon, who were in charge of the battle against the Islamist organization this past summer.
There was one promise that Netanyahu repeated Monday evening unhesitatingly, or should I say shamelessly: That he would change the government system in Israel within 100 days. A review of the basic guidelines of the two governments led by Netanyahu reveals that they included such an intention as well, and that nothing came out of it.
Moreover, if Netanyahu really wanted to reinforce the governability, he should have pledged that the party which receives the largest number of votes in the upcoming elections will establish the government. To make a long story short, he won't change anything in our government system this time either.
And the truth is that this issue is not a very important one in a person's decision which party to vote for. But Netanyahu avoided answering two questions on Monday evening, which the voters really see as the most important questions: What standard of living can they aspire to? And will a young couple be able to buy an apartment? He avoided dealing with these issues like a person escaping fire spreading towards the edge of his clothes.
But the prime minister does deserve a good word: He has already succeeded in proving that the famous sentence "you can't fool everyone all the time" does not apply to him.
If the slogan he repeated endlessly on Monday night, "It's us against the left," will leave him in the prime minister's bureau, we will at least be able to applaud him for succeeding in doing something.
