Netanyahu’s many terms are characterized by an organ harvesting of the state and its institutions
Photo: Reuters
Like a tumbleweed blowing in the wind
Op-ed: Netanyahu himself has warned that the Regulation Bill could bring senior state officials to The Hague. But who cares about The Hague? The most important thing is to keep living in the prime minister’s residence on Balfour Street.
From time to time over the years, a breeze suddenly arrives and warms our heart and nostrils: The American administration will do our job for us, the European Union will rescue us, the police will flicker and shine, and most importantly, the attorney general will get the demon out of the bottle – I mean, out of the aquarium.
Attorney generals are regular candidates for pinning hopes on. For a brief moment, at the beginning of their term, they are the safe haven and stronghold of the opposition. Israel’s rock and savior. The previous attorney general, Yehuda Weinstein, did not get rid of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. My guess is that the incumbent attorney general won’t get rid of him either. Avichai Mandelblit is a smart and experienced person. He has personally experienced the police’s abilities, even when they appoint to teams for the same investigation.
Even Likud voters and activists agree that Netanyahu is at the end of his tether. What does he do? Lash out at the media and at the Left (Photo: Gil Yohanan)
Like some top defense officials, he also suffered serious injustice years ago in the affair which was surprisingly and mistakenly given the name “Harpaz.” Mandelblit learned that the police are like a knife which is capable of slicing a cake with only one layer. When the knife has to slice a three-layer cake, which has both a political layer and a security layer, it breaks. In such cases, the unit does not slice and does not solve. After all, the unit is called Lahav (blade) 443, not Sharp Blade. But that requires a separate article.
It’s safe to assume that all the affairs – the submarines, the warships and the Shipyard, as well as the Ari Harow questioning – will not put Netanyahu in the interrogation room. There is one affair, which we have been reporting about since early September without knowing its details, which is still “the only channel of flowing water.” There is no way of knowing how it will end. On the other hand, the prime minister’s residences affair, involving Mrs. Netanyahu and her aides, will likely end up as a criminal case. When that happens, the defenders will say that it is simply a case of slight greediness of small things. An uncontrollable passion for incredibly minor items.
Journalist Avraham Schweitzer published an interesting original book a few years ago called “Political Upheavals.” The book tried to explain the change of government phenomenon. It determined that a national agenda has a defined life expectancy and expiry date. The national agenda exists as long as there is a correlation between needs and solutions. It collapses when the needs require a new solution which is not given.
Even rightists, Likud voters and activists, agree that Netanyahu is at the end of his tether. What does he do? Invent a tether. In the next elections, he will lash out at the media and at the Left. The truth is that there is no Left left, and the more it shrinks, the more the incitement against it grows. The incitement against the Left reminds me of different places in the world where there are no longer Jews but there is anti-Semitism.
Which leaves us with the media. His wild reactions, his rude personal attacks, his aggressive complaints. What and who is the Israeli prime minister dealing with? Only recently, he rushed to write a tongue-lashing post against the media’s silence on a story of Arabs who raped a mentally ill young woman. The following day, it turned out that the story never happened.
His many terms are characterized by an organ harvesting of the state and its institutions: The deterioration to bi-nationality and apartheid; the cost of living; the housing crisis; the backsliding social services; and as important, or even more important – a disregard of the superiority of the law, of nationality, of the rules of the game. The only people in the coalition raising the flag of intactness are Minister Moshe Kahlon and Knesset Member Benny Begin.
The Amona affair demonstrates a leadership that trembles like a tumbleweed blowing in the wind. Forty-one families live in Amona. Many of them have quietly found themselves alternative homes in a different site. Other families scared Amona spokesman Avichai Boaron, who scared Minister Naftali Bennett, who scared Netanyahu. That’s how we reached the Regulation Bill, which constitutes a historical deviation from a 50-year policy, mostly under Likud government. Netanyahu himself has warned that the Regulation Bill could bring senior state officials to The Hague. But who cares about The Hague? The most important thing is to keep living in the prime minister’s residence on Balfour Street. Even if, for that purpose, we have to turn the state into an amusement park, produce imaginary tethers and attractions for the natives.
Amnon Abramovich is a Channel 2 News commentator.
