Apologies for interrupting the stream of silence that was so successfully transmitted on this band. I just have to vent some accumulated frustration lest it interferes with the uneventful and gratifying pace of my long vacation.
This post was triggered by an article (in Hebrew) in a rather yellowish Internet rag that claims its contents to be an exclusive scoop. The headline of this piece conveys the whole message quite effectively: Netanyahu surrendered again and agreed to end the blockade of Gaza.
I am not a superstitious person. I don't even blink at a black cat crossing my path, generally prefer, given a choice, to take room #13 in an hotel and you can freely whistle in my home. However, watching Bibi's (way too long) political career I came to an inescapable conclusion: this man is a walking - and talking - disaster, as far as bad luck is concerned. And he must go, because each time a new instance of his bad luck hits, it impacts not Bibi but the whole country. And each time the results are more severe and more disastrous for us.
While writing this I am not taking a political stance. I am not even viewing the long chain of calamitous acts that were undertaken under Bibi's leadership - military and political, in order to criticize the decisions made. I just want to draw your attention, ladies and gentlemen, to two inescapable conclusions:
The first was already mentioned: bad luck. The Western Wall Tunnel riots, the Hebron Protocol, the Wye River Memorandum, the Khaled Mashal botched assassination affair are only a few examples from his first stint as Prime Minister. And the second one seems to be no less fraught with mishaps - of larger magnitude. His largely dysfunctional government, effectively stoppered from the right and from the left, his headlong plunge into a conflict with White House, the murky Dubai affair, the Ramat Shlomo eruption of Joe Biden and the latest fiasco with the "peace" armada are but a few choice instances of the turbulent fate of Bibi's reign. While it may be true that most of the cases mentioned above could be explained by incompetence or bad faith of ministers, commanders and others, by enmity of the White House administration, by political and military machinations of our enemies, the buck stops at Bibi's table. Still this issue is less important than the second conclusion:
Panic attacks followed by a turn of direction and expensive concessions to our enemies. While Ariel Sharon was not a saint and was frequently wrong in his deeds and his words, his diagnosis of Bibi's tendency to break down under pressure was right on the money. Whether it's groveling in White House during Clinton's times, licking the late King Hussein shoes after the Mashal affair or sudden change of political tune after the Cairo speech by Obama, it's too many times that we have heard Bibi's prolonged and persuasive arguments in favor of this or another sudden change of direction or an undeserved and unjustified concession to our enemies.
If the article mentioned in the beginning of this post is half right, we are witnessing a surrender act of hitherto unseen (and, frankly, unbelievable) proportions. It would be presumptuous and condescending of me to explain what does control-free shipping to Gaza mean to our security. It will suffice to remind that during his last election campaign Bibi used, quite successfully, the image of Iran getting to our doorsteps in the footprints of their Hamas brethren (the image was used to thwart the mere idea of two state solution, which Bibi adopted in a few months).
This time, if Bibi folds under pressure as reported, Iran is going to get to our collective doorstep indeed, and the price will be enormous. Just try to remember it until the next election campaign.
Which you all surely wouldn't.
(*) Shlemazl - an unlucky person.
1 hour ago