Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rose to the rostrum on Monday (Oct. 14) to deliver a speech on the occasion of the opening of the Israeli parliament’s winter session. Many eyes and ears were fixed on Netanyahu, who was supposed to outline his policy for the next half-year in his speech. No, this time it is not about the Iranian issue. No surprises from Netanyahu here. He was interviewed on that subject so many times in the last weeks that even he started to get bored.
Yes, Netanyahu devoted most of his address to Iran, and even noted that numerous Arab countries are likely to join Israel in the struggle against Iranian nuclearization. No one was surprised. The prime minister’s listeners wanted to focus on the Palestinian part of the oration. Would Netanyahu relate to the wave of reports and bits of information that trickle to the outside world from the negotiating table? Would he confute the speculations and rumors about what is being done, and not done, in the secret negotiations that Israel is conducting with the Palestinian Authority, under American management, over the last months?
Frightening rumors have been circulating in the Israeli right for quite some time that “Netanyahu has made an historical decision” — in other words: that Bibi (Netanyahu) is heading toward a permanent arrangement; that the prime minister is heading toward an interim arrangement; that Netanyahu will go for a unilateral move. The Israeli far-right is organizing itself, assembling, making threats and preparing vis-à-vis Netanyahu’s secret intentions. In this context, the Israeli right also includes most of the Likud’s Knesset members, Netanyahu’s party.
Over the last year, it has emerged that the two-state solution is not acceptable to the large majority of the Knesset members in the prime minister’s party, while the premier itself apparently promotes it. So, what will he say from the Knesset rostrum? That was the question asked by the many right-wing Knesset members in the Likud, the settlers, the right-wing activists, and the fear-inducing right-wing lobby in Israeli politics.
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