When the prime minister criticized the White House for acting against American values, his language was easy for the Americans to understand, it permeated public opinion and shook the administration to its feet.
Shlomo Cesana
In interviews, Netanyahu speaks of the bond with the "American people" and praises Congress, but ignores the administration and the person in charge of it.
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Photo credit: Avi Ohayon / GPO |
In Cinema City, the new mall in Jerusalem near the government complex, the festive holiday mood has been palpable, and not only for the city's Jews. Eid al-Adha (the Muslim Feast of the Sacrifice) has brought Arab vacationers to the mall as well, and the situation on the ground appears tranquil. Calm parents, happy children and a scoop of ice cream paints an idyllic picture. In actuality, no one seems to recall the media reports about "tension in Jerusalem" or "the rage near the government complex," in the days following the aggressive speeches at the United Nations by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. However, a stone's throw away, on the other side of the road at the Prime Minister's Office, the Foreign Ministry and the other ministry buildings, officials are preparing for the "day after" the holidays.
A diplomatic headache awaits those in charge, along with a busy docket: Iran, the Palestinians and Abbas' endeavors at the U.N., the national budget, the Knesset's winter session and jockeying for position ahead of a possible election year. Not to mention the security challenges posed by the situation in Gaza and the northern border, disagreements with the White House, coping with the U.N. investigation into Operation Protective Edge and the European Union's demand to recognize a Palestinian state.
The prime minister's foremost concern is Iran. Netanyahu has been dealing with this danger for years already and uses every opportunity to raise the issue. Israel has arrived at a critical fork in the road: The Western powers are liable to welcome Iran to their "new world" coalition, currently threatened by radical Islam (primarily by the Islamic State group), and grant Tehran concessions.
This issue was at the center of Netanyahu's meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama last week when, lo and behold, we received news out of Iran on Monday of a mysterious explosion in the heart of its menacing nuclear program, Parchin -- the most highly classified facility in Iran. Even though these reports have not been independently verified, it is clear the West does have an interest in stopping Iran's race toward nuclear arms.
The Israeli interest in damaging the Iranian nuclear program is expressed through discussions over the defense budget. Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon insist on a significant increase to the defense budget, with one of the provisions, rarely talked about in public, being "maintaining capabilities against Iran." This pertains not only to Israel's ability to carry out air strikes, but a comprehensive apparatus that includes operational intelligence.
Going all the way
Back to Israeli-American relations, and Netanyahu-Obama relations. Washington's support is a strategic asset for Israel, a testament to the strong bond between the two countries. With that, one cannot ignore the leaders' strained relationship. In interviews, Netanyahu speaks about the bond with the "American people" and the support provided by the House and Senate. He ignores the American administration and the person in charge of it.
This clash was further exacerbated this week. The White House latched onto a statement by Peace Now, which lambasted Netanyahu's policies of advancing construction plans for 2,600 apartments in Jerusalem's Givat Hamatos neighborhood. This occurred as the Ir David Foundation (which aims to strengthen the Jewish connection to Jerusalem) moved into apartments it purchased in Silwan, an Arab neighborhood located in the City of David. This happened while Netanyahu was in Washington, and the prime minister felt he stepped, at a critical moment, into a well-timed ambush. In Netanyahu's view, certain diplomatic rules were violated. He did not hide this sentiment in interviews to the American press. On CBS's "Face the Nation" he described the administration's condemnations as peculiar, saying they were "against the American values. And it doesn't bode well for peace. The idea that we'd have this ethnic purification as a condition for peace, I think it's anti-peace."
The White House officially condemned Netanyahu's comments and further aggravated the head-on confrontation. Netanyahu struck a nerve -- American values reject discrimination and racism, which prohibit a person from buying a home, wherever that may be, due to his or her ethnicity or skin color. The terminology employed by Netanyahu was easy for the Americans to understand and permeated public opinion -- which shook the administration to its feet.
Like many others in Israel, Netanyahu, a Jerusalemite in his blood, does not accept the Americans and Europeans re-drawing the Green Line inside the capital city of Israel. From his perspective, doing so is blatant intervention, and on this principle, as he proved in the past with the establishment of the Har Homa neighborhood, he is willing to go all the way despite the criticism.
Netanyahu also attacked Peace Now. He accused the left-wing organization of intentionally sabotaging his meeting at the Oval Office. "A lack of national responsibility," he angrily called it, and reminded everyone that the homes in Givat Hamatos will be built for Jews and Arabs. The construction plans for that neighborhood are three years old and have been held up at the bureaucratic level.
New planning approvals were issued two weeks ago, but Peace Now, which closely follows these developments, waited until the day of the prime minister's meeting with President Obama to make its statement. Peace Now Secretary-General Yariv Oppenheimer denied the allegations: "The timing was not intentional. We did not have the information earlier." He added, "The White House is not a branch of Peace Now. They see the maps and understand the consequences. I don't want to wake up a decade from now to an irreversible reality and regret that we were too polite in our struggle for a [peace] agreement."
Until the next fight
Netanyahu's public relations line is consistent: Construction beyond the Green Line, in a place where a Jewish community already exists and which will remain in Israeli control in the future as well, is not a factor prohibiting an agreement. On the other hand, Abbas' conduct is a detriment. For whatever reason, his actions go unregistered in Washington and the capitals of Europe, which instead accentuate their lack of patience with Israel. The next quarrel is already on its way, this time with Great Britain, where parliament is preparing to hold a vote on recognition of a Palestinian state.
There is concern, to varying degrees, within the Israeli government. "There is not and never will be a Palestinian state," Habayit Hayehudi Chairman Naftali Bennnett has vehemently insisted, "but there is a problem with the European continent. It is becoming Islamic before our very eyes. This is a strategic problem that has nothing to do with a Palestinian state, rather with demographics and the current trend on the European continent."
Bennett understands where this situation leads. The Europeans are applying pressure on Israel alone and demanding that it make the Palestinians an offer they will not be able to refuse. The Palestinians, for their part, are not budging and are not paying a price internationally for their rejectionist stance.
Netanyahu is also very aware of how this works, and is withstanding the pressure despite his detractors. His consistency on the matter of construction in Jerusalem has been steadfast -- and he will continue to press his views behind closed doors and in public.
