Hey, hey…In a democratic election a Right Wing Government under Bibi was elected and difficult years will come for Israel as the crooks, demagogues, fanatics and morons will govern over us. However will be no more chances of a Major war that were if my side, the Mahane HaTzioni under Buzi Hertzog, would win. Under Herzog, we would do exactly the same decisions: operation in Gaza against Hamas, actions against Iran and against Obama, a president that is alienating his allies and probably we also not sign an accord with Abbas, old, weak and ruling over less than 50% of the Palestinians. We would try to make REGIONAL accords with the Arab countries over the Palestinian problems and not (only) with the Palestinians. As Bibi, we would ask the disarmament of Gaza before reconstruction and improvement of the economy. If other internal issues are interesting you, probably the economic decisions will be different: more welfare and more socialist projects, but doubting that would succeed. However again, Bibi, that I despise from my heart, will not make more war than Herzog but also not less. Israel is a ship on troubled water; I would give a lot to have other captain, but Bibi on the helm doesn’t mean that he wants to sink the ship.
And under any Bibi, Buzi or whatever, Israel has to win all the battles, the right ones, the wrong ones, the necessary ones, the unnecessary; Israel may win a hundred times but it’s enough to lose one time that six millions Jews will go again in smoke or in the sea.
Mirel is painting the future of Israel as a modern Sparta. Perpetual war, even if such a thing could be done in the 21st century, will destroy Israel as a home for the Jewish tradition we are proud of.
Bibi’s Israel would be a bitter state, not unlike the America painted by the Tea Party.,, filled by religious fanatics, gun toting settlers and a permanent military cadre resembling the SS.
Why would the entrepreneurs who Bibi wants to power his Israel remain in such a place? Why wouldn’t they leave for the more fertile environments in the US, Europe, South Africa, or Australia where Jews can be Jews?
Of curse Emigration FROM Israel is a new threat, What about an older one .. losing the war? It seems now certain that Iran will soon be freed of its sanctions, able to compete as a 21st century regional hegemony … not by lobbing missiles but by becoming the local economic superpower. Iran has the potential of emulating China, using economic power to build military power (something the US has done very well too), Ad in Iran’s influence in Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon and Syria and Israel’s existential fate is pretty grim.
I’m neither Jew nor Palestinian, and it’s not easy for me to put myself in the shoes of either, but if I were a Palestinian and my antagonist offered me nothing but perpetual occupation, subjugation, and oppression, I would conclude that I had no choice but to fight. It’s understandable that as long as Israel will be reluctant to let Palestinians have their own sovereign state as long as Israelis view Palestinians as an enemy people, which will they will continue to do for as long as Palestinians continue to rain rockets on Israel and attack Israelis; but unless Israelis are prepared to assimilate the Palestinian population into their own (why would they want to?), as I see it, giving the Palestinians their freedom and their own state is the only path out of perpetual conflict and war. And while Israel has the upper hand militarily for now, who’s to say that balance won’t shift someday? Is it completely out of the question that a group like Hamas might someday acquire nuclear bomb technology from North Korea, Pakistan, Iran, or some other source? And if they did, what are the chances they wouldn’t use it, given that nothing else has worked for them? However reluctant Netanyahu might be to negotiate toward an ultimate resolution of the conflict, which necessarily involves the two-state solution long supported by the U.S. and most of Israel’s other allies, pushing him back in that direction is the biggest favor Obama could possibly do for him and Israel. And from that perspective, here at home in terms of domestic US politics, those seeking to undercut Obama’s policy toward Israel can hardly be considered Israel’s friends because they certainly aren’t promoting Israel’s long-term best interests. At least, that’s how this Gentile sees things.
>>And under any Bibi, Buzi or whatever, Israel has to win all the battles, the right ones, the wrong ones, the necessary ones, the unnecessary; Israel may win a hundred times but it’s enough to lose one time that six millions Jews will go again in smoke or in the sea.
–This statement by Mirel captures the desperation that lies at the root of the Israel/Palestine conflict. Israelis, not without reason, view every battle, every treaty, every diplomatic gambit, as part of an ongoing existential crisis. In this view, if Israel makes one wrong step or makes one concession too many, it could lead to the destruction of Israel. Because of that, Israelis are compelled to drive too hard a bargain with their opponent. They rally around bulldogs like Netanyahu, and in so doing they push the Palestinians further into their own corner, into the waiting arms of the jihadis.
It seems that both sides have finally given up the idea of negotiation and compromise. As far as Israel is concerned, Palestinian national aspirations are dead. For the Palestinians, the only course left is to martyr themselves for their faith, taking with them as many Israelis as they can.
Tragic.
I agree the desperation is there but I do not think Isreal needs to win every battle.
As a start, the decision could be made to stop expansion of the West Bank settlements.. These are doomed in all but an endgame built on ethnic cleansing and apartheid.
There are also ways to deal better with Gaza. For example, Egypt has offered to redo the border to make Gaza more livable… Netanyahu rejected the offer. Netanyahu also regrets the lousy leadership among the Palestinians. He is correct. But, history shows that occupied peoples produce lousy leaders. The Mandellas and Gandhis are rare. I do not see nay evidence that Israel is willing to work with such a leader is she or he arises. I would guess there are credible leaders n Israel itself, why not turn to Israel’s own Arabs?
A good start would be to stop the settlement expansions while working with King Abdullah to build his economy.