A week ago, I thanked Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth commentator Shimon Shiffer for exposing what Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon really thinks of the US attempt to advance the two-state solution. This week we should be thanking Economy and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett for exposing the pathetic attempt by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to place the blame for the failure of said attempt at the door of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen).
Bennett’s sharp protest against Netanyahu’s “proposal” to hand Palestine responsibility for tens of thousands of settlers, forced Netanyahu’s office to admit that it was nothing but a spin. Netanyahu’s people went one better by blaming the leader of HaBayit HaYehudi party for disturbing the prime minister in the execution of his heroic duty — exposing the real (meaning, rejectionist) face of Abbas. Were it not for Bennett’s big mouth, Netanyahu’s associates claimed, Abbas would have rushed to reject the “proposal” to host a Jewish minority in his state, and would have borne responsibility for the failure of the negotiations. Hallelujah! As Ya’alon said, finally, Kerry will be getting out of our face.
The true face that was exposed in this sad affair is actually Netanyahu’s. More to the point, it revealed what Netanyahu thinks of the faces of Israeli citizens. One has to be a complete idiot to believe that an Israeli government would leave the uprooters of trees and burners of mosques to the mercies of their Palestinian twins. Just the other day, this very same government blamed the Palestinian Authority for inciting Palestinians to murder Jewish children.
If one can hand over responsibility for the safety of the settlers of Yitzhar West Bank settlement and the Jewish Quarter of Hebron to the Palestinian government, why shouldn’t we remove the barbed wire fences surrounding their homes? We could then relieve of their duties the thousands of soldiers deployed around their settlements, remove the dozens of barriers placed on the roads of the West Bank and open the bypass roads (meant for Jewish traffic) to Palestinian travelers! Everyone understands that the Palestinian authorities will not allow the settlers to bear arms. Why doesn’t Netanyahu relieve them of their weapons right now?
AL-MONITOR All-Access gives you unlimited access to all our journalism, the full Daily Briefing, exclusive interviews, premium newsletters, and live events — for less than $2/week.
