Despite promises and proclamations, during Benjamin Netanyahu's 12 years in power Israel did not withdraw from the Oslo interim peace accords, it did not cut its ties with the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank and did not declare the Palestinian Authority (PA) as either an enemy or a terrorist entity.
The former prime minister also failed to make good on his 2009 campaign promise to overthrow the Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip.
With this in mind, it is hard to call Netanyahu and his right-wing bloc's criticism of Defense Minister Benny Gantz's meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as anything other than a ridiculous show of hypocrisy.
The Palestinian president was still en route back to Ramallah when the Likud party (that is, Netanyahu) declared the meeting to be dangerous to the State of Israel.
"[Prime Minister Naftali] Bennett's Israeli-Palestinian government is putting [Abbas] and the Palestinians back on the agenda," Netanyahu said.
"Concessions dangerous to Israel's security are only a matter of time. The Bennett-Sa'ar-Lapid government is a danger to Israel."
Abbas did not meet Gantz to kickstart the long-defunct peace talks (a matter worth discussing in and of itself), but to discuss security issues and maintaining security ties between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.
This is clearly in Israel's interest and the IDF and Shin Bet top brass will testify to that.
4 View gallery
Palestinian Authority security forces stand by an armored vehicle at the entrance to Balata camp, near the West Bank city of Nablus
(Photo: AFP)
Let's not fool ourselves: Abbas and the Palestinians do not like us; they are our adversaries on the international stage and the ongoing stipends doled out to families of terrorists are outrageous and blood boiling.
And yet, of all possible options that Israel has in the West Bank — that is, the PA, Hamas or total anarchy — cooperating with Abbas is still the least horrible one.
"We will continue to prevent terrorism," he promised Gantz. As a reminder, it was the Palestinian security forces who evacuated and saved the Israelis who accidentally drove into the middle of Ramallah from lynching last month.
4 View gallery
Palestinian President Mansour Abbas addressing the UN General Assembly last year
(Photo: Reuters)
Despite all the howling on Netanyahu and the opposition's part, the former premier also allowed senior officials in his government to meet with Abbas when he was in power. Netanyahu too came up short in turning turn the Palestinian leader into a staunch Zionist.
There are times when even the opposition must act responsibly and take political and national security considerations into account. Not everything is political.
It was Netanyahu who toed a very similar line during his premiership: meeting with Yasser Arafat, holding a warm and cordial meeting with Abbas with his wife by his side and even negotiating with Hamas instead of trying to overthrow them as promised.
4 View gallery
Then-prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in 2015
(Photo: AFP)
This does not mean he surrendered to terrorism, but merely that he understood that there is a very specific way of doing things in the crazy neighborhood we live in.
When his supporter base shifted, Netanyahu stopped meeting with Abbas, but still sent emissaries to him, be it the Shin Bet chief or ministers in his cabinet.
This attempt to score political brownie points on the back of a meeting discussing political-national security issues is distasteful.
In the absence of a peace process, Israel must maintain its communication channels with the Palestinians. Even if the opposition protests and the coalition's right flank click their tongue in disapproval.
Gantz did the right thing, even if it was the unpopular thing to do.