The Churlishness of Benjamin Netanyahu

When Benjamin Netanyahu returned to the Israeli premiership in 2009, it looked like he had a precarious grasp on power and Barack Obama had a commanding one -- not just domestically, but internationally. So when Obama came out the gate pushing the peace process, I thought that Netanyahu's challenge would be to tell Obama "no" without seeming to tell him "no." And when acrimony developed between the two leaders, it seemed like Obama's game plan might have been to weaken Netanyahu until his coalition cracked and Tzipi Livni replaced him, ready to work with Obama and Abbas on a two-state solution. 

Wrongest. Analysis. Ever. 

Obama has been repeatedly punked by Netanyahu. And Netanyahu is running the game plan I thought Obama was running on him: reaching out to the GOP to weaken Obama's hold on power. In his new tenure as PM, it's been the one political move that Netanyahu's pulled off brilliantly. 

But it's an absolute disaster for Israel. One of Obama's first acts in office, my friend Eli "Beast of All Daily Beasts" reveals, was to secretly give Israel bunker-buster bombs that it had long sought. That's a fact that should change people's analysis of Obama's tenure. It's also one that makes Obama look straight-up reckless -- the bombs, as Eli writes, could easily be interpreted as a U.S. green light on an Israeli attack on Iran. What would happen when, after such a hypothetical attack, the Iranians noticed the bomb fragments and traced the weaponry back to the United States?

And all this was happening, in secret, while Obama issued (unrequited) treaties to the Iranian regime for negotiations. No one can ever credibly claim Obama took a military option off the table. He did way more than keep it on the table, he shipped it to Tel Aviv. 

Back to Netanyahu. So here comes this shipment of bunker-busters, from the patron to the client. Netanyahu opens the package. And then a card comes in the mail. Hey, it reads, now we need you to stop settlement construction. That's what Abbas needs to come back to the table. And Netanyahu says: Nah, fuck Obama. Not only does Netanyahu refuse, but he cynically repurposes Obama's "negotiations without preconditions" line to mean that he's ready to talk only under conditions that Abbas cannot take back to the Palestinians and look like a credible peacemaker. It's a lot like saying that you're perfectly welcome to come over for dinner, as long as you don't mind watching me fuck your wife. 

You know the rest. And if you don't, Antony Blinken will remind you. If you have any doubt of Abbas's extraordinary willingness to make peace, then I urge you to read my friend Clayton Swisher's acquisition of the Palestine Papers -- internal documents showing a Palestinian Authority that's practically abject in its pursuit of a statehood deal. There's a reason why Ehud Olmert warned this week that Israel will not always have a Palestinian partner so committed to peace. 

Netanyahu has endangered all of that, through a short-sighted and juvenile willingness to hold out for absolutely everything and give the Palestinians nothing but a middle finger and a smile. And as long as Obama doesn't put genuine pressure on Netanyahu, he's letting Netanyahu get away with it. Netanyahu knows that time is on his side with the United States if only the GOP returns to the White House; American support, particularly from conservative evangelicals, can counteract the demographic slide that ensures continued Israeli dominion over the West Bank will become apartheid-like.

This is not a strategy that presumes a pursuit of peace. It's a strategy for the continued injustice of occupation, which troubles the mind of Netanyahu not at all, and his coalition partners' even less. 

Comments

[Keith]

The only the wrong with your analysis is that the United States is Israel's client state. Or at least, that's how this looks.

[mikey]

Bunker Busters. Meh.

It's pretty clear at this point that Israel has NO interest in an actual war with Iran. Iran serves Netanyahu's purposes as the current "existential threat", the enemy that requires, well, whatever Likud SAYS it requires. War would be a problem, and at this point would have terribly unpredictable consequences. The problem with a strategy built on a bluff is that it ultimately has an expiration date. And this one's starting to get quite obvious.

The only thing that might change that calculation is if the Netanyahu government was at serious risk of falling. At that point they might ratchet up the rhetoric to the point where something bad happened. But it's very clear that's not where they want to go...

[Steven]

If Abbas is such a partner for peace why does he insist on preconditions to negotiate now? Why did he walk away from a deal? Why in speeches in Ramallah does he say he won't negotiate on flooding Israel with Palestinians?

The Palestinians cant even negotiate with themselves. How do you grant state status to a group that would be governed by two opposed groups, one of which is dedicated to killing all Jews let alone destroying Israel?

[Fnord]

Not only that: A republican president more or less assures a war with Iran. Woopde-daisy, thats going to be a lot of fun (and not cost a dime)... My paranoid fantasy: Nethanyahu is playing out some weird end-time fantasy where it seems that he exåects the Lord of Hosts to come down and do the final decision quite soon.

H.S.T: "There is no such thing as paranoia."

[LH]

Is it really all about land? It would make a big difference if Abbas would offer official recognize Israel, upon agreement on borders, as the Jewish state. Without this, the conflict will not be over, regardless of any border agreements.

Wonder what spencerackerman thinks about this?

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[utah jewelry]

He has some business to finish though. I know how difficult his experience was.

[led grow lights]

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[fingertip pulse oximeter]

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[Dr. Delmas J. Allen]

The Palestinians know that negotiations with Netanyahu are fruitless and a complete waste of time for everyone. In the near future the United Nations will be forced to get involved in the PEACE TALKS/NEGOTIATIONS since it was the U.N. that recommented the establishment of a STATE for ISRAEL on a portion of the Palestinian-British Mandate of PALESTINE. When the U.N. does get involved, Netanyahu will be forced to choose between a two-state solution and a binational (one-state solution) with the Palestinians. A binational state solution will be the end of the Jewish State as we now know Israel. The two Semitic populations (Israeli-Palestinians) will be free and equal in all respects, hence no Jewish State/characteristic or quasi-democracy, but a real DEMOCRACY for all the people of Palestine/Israel or the name to be decided by all the citizens of the new country comprised of Israelis and Palestinians alike.