Parallels to the American involvement in Afghanistan. When you start off on a war without a clear exit plan, the only alternative is just to keep on warring until somebody decides they have the political capital to survive stopping warring. That’s not Bibi.
At some point, the Israeli public has to realize that they’ve done nothing more than bring themselves back into the intractable Gaza situation that they extricated themselves from a couple decades ago.
Remember, the yahoo is doing all he can to stay out of jail too. That was what was going on before the 10-7 Hamas attack. Massive protests of his efforts to scew the judiciary to avoid a trial. As long as he war goes on, no trial. The US military refused to go along with the orange turd to attack Iran, as he would have liked to do.
Those Saturday night demonstrations in Tel Aviv against the government have started up again: to bring the hostages home, end the war, hold elections (and vote the right wingers out).
Thank you, Tom for this great insight. I knew it wasn't just power Netanyahu needed. it's staying out of jail and losing a good part of the fortune he won through fraud and corruption. Too many Americans have no understanding about the differences between a parliamentary system of governance and a bicameral system. For a short while in college I declared a major in Political Science, it is far more complex than people realize - obviously I didn't stick with that major either.
Netanyahu is a minority leader - in short he didn't capture the most votes, so he had to form a coalition. This time it took him five elections before he was finally able to form a shaky alliance. That and he isn't the brilliant leader he thinks he is.
And Bibi is still in the shadow of his brother Yoni who was a true hero in the raid on Entebbe to free Israeli hostages. Bibi sees a chance to outshine his brother in the history books so he won't be remembered entirely for his corruption.
Good luck with that Bibi! He will be remembered as the first Israeli Prime Minister ever to be indicted for fraud and corruption and it only took 75 years to get there. It took us 144 years to get to Harding, and 240 to get to Trump - guess I should throw in Nixon too, although he wasn't indicted, he should have been and that was 192 years.
"Winning hearts and minds" is an endgame strategy which unfortunately we're not seeing and Israel morphs into a pariah state with a consequence of "Jew Hatred" taking hold as ingrained antisemitic thought surfaces from dark corners. The counterpoint is Israel is fighting a hard core group of people hell bent on destroying the Jewish state and continuing globally what was begun in WW2. Perhaps a multi-national peacekeeping force must be deployed concurrent with massive economic aid to rebuild Gaza. It won't change the tragic loss of life on both sides but we have to look at the years to come.
Netanyahu has done more damage to Israel and the Jewish people than has been done since WW2, maybe more. And that’s a high hill to climb. Sort of like chump wants to do to America. And both claim it’s for the benefit of their country. No external enemy could ever do as much damage as one on the inside…
I have just started "A Day in the Life of Abed Salama" by Nathan Thrall. Thrall is an American jew located in Jerusalem.
I had known in general how Palestinians in the West Bank were being treated, with settlers taking over their land and restrictions on movement of those still owning farms and businesses. But this book details the day to day horrific problems of being Palestinian in East Jerusalem long before the Gaza War. And I'm just at the start--the travail Abed had when his six-year-old son was in a horrific school bus accident are yet to come.
The book has won the Pulitzer Prize. EVERYONE should read it.
Try as he might, Bibi cannot kill an idea, and Hamas is an idea - the end of Israel and the elimination/deportation of all the Jews from the Middle East. The way Israel has waged this war will not end that idea - it probably has already birthed the next generation of Hamas fighters. Bibi is Israel's Trump, and the mess we are seeing now is analogous to the mess we will be in if the Orange Rind is elected in November..... Cry the beloved country.....
How much support do you think Hamas would have if Israel extended the "Right of Return" to Palestinians exiled from their homeland (comparable to the "Law of Return" extended to all Jews, even those whose families have never lived in Israel), and if Arab Israelis had the same rights (and access to state resources) as Jewish Israelis, and if the illegal settlements were removed? Just wondering.
I'd expect very little support, if any. Netanyahu's intransigence and the resulting failure of the two-state solution led to the Palestinians in Gaza electing Hamas in the first place. None of this is taking place in a vacuum...... Then there's Bibi's enabling of Hamas for the past 10 years.....
You are right about Hamas as an idea. The Israeli government had a choice (and possibly still has one) on how to deal with that idea: try to work with the people of Palestine (both Gaza and West Bank) and with the other Arab countries to squelch that idea--show it up for the minority view it is-- or try to bomb it flat. We know what it chose, and it is losing even those who were working to coexist after years of opposition
Yes indeed - this will not end well for Israel. They are losing (have already lost) the PR war, and they cannot kill the idea they are trying to eliminate. They have chosen war deep into the future for Bibi's short-term gain, but Bibi will be gone soon and then what does Israel have left.....?
I suspect that each encroachment into the West Bank resulted in an additional tunnel from Gaza into Israel, as Hamas suspected the same confiscation of land might occur in Gaza. Seems an unchecked expansion of Settlements that violated the existing Oslo Accords agreement sent a message. I wonder if Jordan and Egypt can be coaxed to once again assist with governance of the of the Palestinian lands. It would take some of the heat off Israel. (Honestly, though, I can see why neither Jordan nor Egypt would want to be involved again.) Perhaps if the right "inducements" could be proffered...
Parallels to the American involvement in Afghanistan. When you start off on a war without a clear exit plan, the only alternative is just to keep on warring until somebody decides they have the political capital to survive stopping warring. That’s not Bibi.
At some point, the Israeli public has to realize that they’ve done nothing more than bring themselves back into the intractable Gaza situation that they extricated themselves from a couple decades ago.
If at once you don’t succeed, fail, fail again.
Like any pointless invasion backed by self-serving political trash, this will not end well.
Remember, the yahoo is doing all he can to stay out of jail too. That was what was going on before the 10-7 Hamas attack. Massive protests of his efforts to scew the judiciary to avoid a trial. As long as he war goes on, no trial. The US military refused to go along with the orange turd to attack Iran, as he would have liked to do.
Those Saturday night demonstrations in Tel Aviv against the government have started up again: to bring the hostages home, end the war, hold elections (and vote the right wingers out).
Good news. Get rid of the two convicted domestic terrorists - Ben Gvir and Smolnik.
Smotrich?
Frogs are boiling.
Thank you, Tom for this great insight. I knew it wasn't just power Netanyahu needed. it's staying out of jail and losing a good part of the fortune he won through fraud and corruption. Too many Americans have no understanding about the differences between a parliamentary system of governance and a bicameral system. For a short while in college I declared a major in Political Science, it is far more complex than people realize - obviously I didn't stick with that major either.
Netanyahu is a minority leader - in short he didn't capture the most votes, so he had to form a coalition. This time it took him five elections before he was finally able to form a shaky alliance. That and he isn't the brilliant leader he thinks he is.
And Bibi is still in the shadow of his brother Yoni who was a true hero in the raid on Entebbe to free Israeli hostages. Bibi sees a chance to outshine his brother in the history books so he won't be remembered entirely for his corruption.
Good luck with that Bibi! He will be remembered as the first Israeli Prime Minister ever to be indicted for fraud and corruption and it only took 75 years to get there. It took us 144 years to get to Harding, and 240 to get to Trump - guess I should throw in Nixon too, although he wasn't indicted, he should have been and that was 192 years.
Lost cause
So predictable when they allowed Netanyahu back in power. . . Israel has got to get rid of this war-mongering , corrupt extremist.
Good that some truth is, at last, leaking out from within the Israeli power structures.
Per wwwhaaretz.com>BREAKING: on Saturday morning, 5/11/24 the Israeli Army had moved into northern Gaza again.
At 10:26 AM in northern Gaza the "Israeli Army called on residents [Palestinians] to leave JABILYA & BEIT LAH ...."
At 12:35 PM about 2 hours later in northern Gaza the Israeli ARMY deployed forces in JABILYA
No further updates from Haaretz.
and here I was, assuming that this miserable piece of shit was a miserable piece of shit with a PLAN, albeit an evil one.
it is humbling to discover, from time to time, how very wrong one can be.
On most days I'm a pessimistic grouser because I see the rosy optimists taking a punch every single day these days.
I'm one of them (believe it or not) and that IS what it feels like, most days.
"Winning hearts and minds" is an endgame strategy which unfortunately we're not seeing and Israel morphs into a pariah state with a consequence of "Jew Hatred" taking hold as ingrained antisemitic thought surfaces from dark corners. The counterpoint is Israel is fighting a hard core group of people hell bent on destroying the Jewish state and continuing globally what was begun in WW2. Perhaps a multi-national peacekeeping force must be deployed concurrent with massive economic aid to rebuild Gaza. It won't change the tragic loss of life on both sides but we have to look at the years to come.
I like your idea... if Biden were to propose a multi-national peacekeeping force, it might solve several different problems.
United Nations?
Netanyahu has done more damage to Israel and the Jewish people than has been done since WW2, maybe more. And that’s a high hill to climb. Sort of like chump wants to do to America. And both claim it’s for the benefit of their country. No external enemy could ever do as much damage as one on the inside…
I have just started "A Day in the Life of Abed Salama" by Nathan Thrall. Thrall is an American jew located in Jerusalem.
I had known in general how Palestinians in the West Bank were being treated, with settlers taking over their land and restrictions on movement of those still owning farms and businesses. But this book details the day to day horrific problems of being Palestinian in East Jerusalem long before the Gaza War. And I'm just at the start--the travail Abed had when his six-year-old son was in a horrific school bus accident are yet to come.
The book has won the Pulitzer Prize. EVERYONE should read it.
Well, I guess that makes it unanimous. NO ONE has a plan. Well, besides Hamas, of course.
Wonderful. Just wonderful.
too right. And if every card carrying Hamas guy is killed, a whole new group of like minded, perhaps newly minted, terrorists may well return.
Try as he might, Bibi cannot kill an idea, and Hamas is an idea - the end of Israel and the elimination/deportation of all the Jews from the Middle East. The way Israel has waged this war will not end that idea - it probably has already birthed the next generation of Hamas fighters. Bibi is Israel's Trump, and the mess we are seeing now is analogous to the mess we will be in if the Orange Rind is elected in November..... Cry the beloved country.....
How much support do you think Hamas would have if Israel extended the "Right of Return" to Palestinians exiled from their homeland (comparable to the "Law of Return" extended to all Jews, even those whose families have never lived in Israel), and if Arab Israelis had the same rights (and access to state resources) as Jewish Israelis, and if the illegal settlements were removed? Just wondering.
I'd expect very little support, if any. Netanyahu's intransigence and the resulting failure of the two-state solution led to the Palestinians in Gaza electing Hamas in the first place. None of this is taking place in a vacuum...... Then there's Bibi's enabling of Hamas for the past 10 years.....
You are right about Hamas as an idea. The Israeli government had a choice (and possibly still has one) on how to deal with that idea: try to work with the people of Palestine (both Gaza and West Bank) and with the other Arab countries to squelch that idea--show it up for the minority view it is-- or try to bomb it flat. We know what it chose, and it is losing even those who were working to coexist after years of opposition
Yes indeed - this will not end well for Israel. They are losing (have already lost) the PR war, and they cannot kill the idea they are trying to eliminate. They have chosen war deep into the future for Bibi's short-term gain, but Bibi will be gone soon and then what does Israel have left.....?
Count on it, and most , if not all will remember innocent family members killed by the Israeli forces.
I suspect that each encroachment into the West Bank resulted in an additional tunnel from Gaza into Israel, as Hamas suspected the same confiscation of land might occur in Gaza. Seems an unchecked expansion of Settlements that violated the existing Oslo Accords agreement sent a message. I wonder if Jordan and Egypt can be coaxed to once again assist with governance of the of the Palestinian lands. It would take some of the heat off Israel. (Honestly, though, I can see why neither Jordan nor Egypt would want to be involved again.) Perhaps if the right "inducements" could be proffered...