Bibi is the worst cheek turner in recent history. He campaigned as a friend of the yishuvim on the other side of the green line, where I happen to now live. Then to curry favor with Obama, he agrees to a settlement freeze and for years after is dismantling settlements willy nilly, Ehud Barak, the little PM who couldn’t, doing the dirty work for him. Some of the people he made homeless were friends of mine. But worst of all was during his last stint as PM, when he gave away all but 3% of Hebron, and for a year and a half after this incredible magnapidity, the brave souls roughing it in Hebron were constantly being fired on from every hilltop. A six-month-old baby girl was murdered in her stroller by a sniper (Hadassah Tehiya), her father also injured because the shot went right through her tiny body and into his leg. People had to put sand bags in front of their windows to keep them from being shattered by bullets. Finally, there was a pitched battle. 25 IDF killed, including a celebrated colonel, but all the high ground retaken. Hardly more than an occasional shot fired ever since.
It’s wonderful that Bibi and Donald are best buds. But Donald’s “deal of the century” looks to be a nightmare to those of us it would affect. The map now before the media is self-explanatory. I hope and pray that it’s a forgery. Bibi would make a great ambassador to the UN or the US. He speaks flawless, educated English, and is very eloquent. But his best years as PM are now behind him, and he is deficient in his conduct of the business of a PM, which is not to have his government collapse constantly, forcing new elections, nor to fend off perennial criminal allegations, but to act as a competitive executive. For want of an adequate substitute, I accept the reality of government of, by and for the Bibi. But I voted for Yamina so that Bennett could act as a check to his America-phile inclinations, and force Bibi to use his backbone in negotiations and in dealings with the United States. He did well at least some times in resisting Obam-botch, again with Bennett and others like him holding his feet to the fire. I hope his friendship with the American POTUS will lead to constructive results, but just in case he becomes too compliant, I’m glad that Bennett and the others are there to keep him grounded.