The Left, in Israel and in the United States, bet that with enough pressure they could shut down democratic judicial reform in Israel. The weak point in the coalition government, as in every government where he has served as prime minister, is Netanyahu. The tragic truth to anyone who has been paying attention to Israeli politics long enough is that given enough pressure, he buckles, frees terrorists, freezes construction and backs off attack plans.
This was a mostly solid coalition that, like a fish, rotted from the head down. And, to be fair to Bibi, this time there was a lot of pressure. The Biden administration and the EU joined forces with not only the Israeli Left which rioted in the streets, but assorted influencers who play at being pro-Israel in the U.S. Usually credible papers like the Jerusalem Post did nothing but churn out hateful propaganda. And yet, approaching the finish line, Bibi held out until he buckled. A weak man is always the weak point and he’s a weak man.
What was at stake in judicial reform was democracy itself. The howling leftist mobs stole the slogan, shrieking that they were defending “democracy” when what they were actually defending was an unelected oligarchy sidelining the voters. Those voters had rallied to usher in a Zionist government only to be sold out yet again.
Netanyahu’s surrender put them and the county through weeks of suffering only to throw it all away and show the Left that they are in charge and that if they riot hard enough, take the country hostage, destroy its reputation internationally and collaborate with its enemies, they will get to stay in power.
What are the odds that, like their PLO and Hamas pals, they’ll do it again until they win?
The anarchist fascists win round one – postponement
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Expect them to ramp up the rentamob operations to permanently cancel the judicial reform legislation…and more importantly to overthrow the government.
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“the only good commie is one that’s dead” < – – – country joe – woodstock
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Maybe Bibi needs to listen to that line 1000 times
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I'm quite familiar with the context of that line from county joe – I played that song on the college radio station many times.
Your vulgar comment in the wake of Daniel Greenfield’s grossly uninformed article reflects very poorly on the pretensions of a singular intellectual perspective that permeates this columns section.
I will not repeat my own remarks which appear near or at the bottom of this page, but you and those partnering with you here have ho clue what, in fact, is responsible for the mass demonstrations in Israel.
However I will add what my lines below omitted. Netanyahu’s Likud won 32 seats. But he paid the ultra-orthodox Haredi parties mountains of hard cash along with promises of ministerial appointments to add their 32 seats. On paper his government is legal, but is it??? Bennett, Shaked, Liberman, Lapid and Ganz didn’t buy a single seat when they formed the government. And did you know that to keep the extreme far-right Kahanist fascist Itamar Ben-Gvir from splitting, he promised to permit him sole authority to set up a National Guard (!!!).
“Bennett, Shaked, Liberman, Lapid and Ganz didn’t buy a single seat when they formed the government.”
There isn’t an eye roll big enough for this one. Not only did they pay, they paid the damned Muslim Brotherhood.
Every government ‘pays’. That’s the nature of coalitions. Any government that claims it doesn’t, lies.
Hmm. I wonder if you had the same problem with the Oslo accords? Labor had to form a coalition and “buy” partners as you put it. Pushed through a landmark change in the country with zero opposition negotiation, support and a smaller majority then the current coalition who specifically campaigned and won a stable majority on this issue! Unlike Oslo! Oh and the protestors were treated very differently. Talk about hypocrites.
Barack is still getting back at Bibi.
Another case study for my collection of the history of mutinies.
Quite similar to the “breeze at Spithead” when the British fleet mutinied during the war against revolutionary France. In that case also the authorities reacted too slowly and let the mutiny get out of control, and then had to make major compromises to get the genie back in the bottle. At least that’s the way I remember it 🙂
Wag the dog! Go BOMB Iran and push through the judicial reforms. Both need to be done.
The intel community here in the US is Censoring news from Israel to suit the current regime – you can bet on that.
MSM hate Bibi, and brand him as wrong even though the Israeli people put him in office.
I think the protests and riots in Israel are as much about judicial reform as those in France are about a two year increase to the (already very low) retirement age for social security. Both are just excuses for the Left to overturn the results of democratic elections they lost and prevent changes to their rule. You know, like what was done in the U.S. in the wake of Trump’s 2016 election.
I agree with you–Bibi is weak. The Left is strong. Elections are as irrelevant in Israel as in the USA. Hamas and the PA will get what they want, a State of Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital, unless something changes soon.
1 COMMENT / 1 COMMENT
linda goudsmit
MARCH 28, 2023 AT 6:14 PM
The strategy of the Left in Israel, as in the United States, is constant, unremitting, relentless pressure. It takes enormous strength, courage, and resolve to withstand such sustained political pressure, and Netanyahu does not have what it takes. Netanyahu surrendered to the leftist mob, and Israel will never be the same, because the enemy within is always the most destructive.
Its the left–not Bibi–who is at fault. Even his own ministers (Josephus Gallant, for starters), punked out on him.
Trotsky said that explicitly, the strategy of the left is constant unremitting pressure on all fronts.
It’s as if bold plans are announced precisely to galvanize the foreign and domestic opposition to stop them cold. I’m totally tired of such announcements and the subsequent fancy excuses for retreat.
Yeah. I’ve seen this game play out quite a few times.
Runs the same way in the U.S. and Israel.
BIG SPLASHY ANNOUNCEMENT! WE’RE GOING TO FINALLY DO THESE THINGS!
The Left rushes in and then there’s an excuse not to do them.
Bibi was assailed from all directions and the country was going down the tubes. How many dati’im and Mizrachim went out and countermarched? You (Daniel) might not like it, but Jewry has been dominated by leftist extremists for the last 200 years: t doesn’t matter what the vote tally was in Knesset elections, because we are dominated by Marxists of various stripes. Most Jews will simply do what they are doing, drift away and assimilate or just not breed and go extinct, while most of the remainder will do what they are doing: sitting passively while Marxists work their magic. Israel is in very deep trouble.
There was barely a Left and one that was hardly a blip among Jews until the late 19th century.
You’re also conflating European Jews, especially Eastern European Jews, with all Jews.
You’re first assertion is patently false. The Spirit of 48 would’ve been a blip if not for central European Jews. The second? So Israel is NOT in the grip of a Galician mafia filled with violent, Marxist braggarts and traitors to Jewry and Israel?
Its always the case that Dati’im blame Bibi when Dati’im fail to consider the impact of, say, a big-mouth Ben Gvir on the rest of Israel–including center-left Zionists who love Israel and could’ve been brought into the reform fold and perhaps pour a little cold water on Kibbutz-Ma’arach thug heads.
Its all academic now, of course. Ain lanu atid.
Israel would be a leftist state if it weren’t for Mizrahi Jews. Look at the polls yourself.
I’m not Ben Gvir’s biggest fan, but what was the excuse all the other times Bibi was in power and Ben Gvir wasn’t?
Its the left–not Bibi–who is at fault. Even his own ministers (Josephus Gallant, for starters), punked out on him.
Thank you. Just like with President Trump. Everything was his fault, never the Dirty Democrats constantly on the attack with various frauds, hoaxes, slander, harassment . . .
If it’s never his fault then there’s nothing to be done so just give it up.
As if Trump in himself is some kind of win. It’s not winning and it’s not working and he is still sucking up all the oxygen.
In politics, you can’t always bulldoze through.
Like chess or football or boxing, you have to pull back, feint to the side,
judge your timing, replan your advance . . .
Doesn’t everyone have to live that way? Does your life always work out
exactly according to your Daily Planner? I doubt it.
It does. But at some point if all you do is surrender, but occasionally win elections, you have to admit that there’s a pattern of defeats.
Daniel have to agree with the people at the Muqata, who wrote, Two sides won. The Zionist-Right and the Zionist-Left, and most importantly the anarchists lost. Bibi liberated Gantz who is now free to negotiate and fight for his own policies, without being chained to the anarchists and Ehud Barak. Hopefully Gantz will approach the negotiations with the needed courage and foresight that the moment requires.
I’m sorry, but this strikes me as a twelfth-dimensional chess type of argument to avoid dealing with the reality of what happened. Also the idea of Gantz as a savior, come on.
I couldn’t believe the crass ignorance of Daniel Greenfield and those that followed his entirely skewed and uninformed arguments. First: those you label “leftists” are for the most part liberal centrists and right wing. I personally voted with Ayelet Shaked (Yamina) – very right wing. The leftists (Meretz) failed to garner enough voters to earn a single seat in the Knesset. But where would you be without convenient labels?
Second: Israel is without a constitution and without legislative bodies in the manner of the US Congress. With the government choosing the head of the Supreme Court and some accompanying judges, everything the government (read Netanyahu) wishes becomes law that cannot be contested. It seems you all wish Israel to become a dictatorship..
Thirdly: Among the laws on the table ready for their 2nd and 3rd readings include which permits Knesset members to receive any monies donated by any source. This way Netanyahu does not have to account to the courts the huge sums received by a late relative. Is there another spelling for graft???
Somehow I don’t expect my remarks to reach your comments column.
For the most part? Come on.
Most of the Left stayed home to make way for “centrists” (whoever those are) and protests from the “right-wing”?
Israel is a dictatorship as long as an unelected supreme court can do anything it wants. Allowing the government to choose judges is how the United States works. Are we a dictatorship?
What happening in Israel is exactly what happened in 2020 in the states. Basically was a coup d’etat against Trump. The same Israeli Marxists are trying to do the same to Bibi. It is easy to blame Bibi. I would like to see what Daniel would do if he were the PM. Remember the left is willing and able to start a civil war.
The Left is in a perpetual state of civil war.
Yes, I’m critiquing from the outside, but how many times has Netanyahu done the same thing already?
If Pime Minister Netanyahu had more acceptance of the The Yoke of Heaven ate kosher food, and observed the Torah, he would be a much, much stronger individual.