Judging by recent polls, the slings and arrows from US officials at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the issue of his congressional speech set for March 3 will not wipe out his political career. A Channel 10 poll shows that 38% of the Israeli public supports the controversial speech — a percentage similar to those opposing the move. It’s important to note that the survey was conducted even before Netanyahu demonstrated his rhetorical skills in articulate American English, generating bursts of applause from the congressional floor and gallery. Obviously, he is also expected to pull a rabbit out of his hat, which will make an impression on audiences at home. Even the optimistic members of the Zionist Camp are not counting on the noisy crisis Netanyahu has caused in Israeli-US relations to pave the way for its leader, Isaac Herzog, to the prime minister’s office.
More than 22 years ago, a similar crisis in the relationship between an American administration and an Israeli prime minister actually contributed to a change of government in Jerusalem. On the eve of the elections for the 13th Knesset, a stormy dispute broke out between Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir and Republican President George Bush, Sr. over a freeze of West Bank settlement construction as a condition for US financial aid. Bush was furious at Shamir, who tried to enlist the Democratic majority in Congress to force the administration to acquiesce to Israel’s request for $10 billion in US guarantees to help absorb the massive wave of immigration from the former Soviet Union. Shamir claimed at the time that the US pressure constituted interference in the Israeli election campaign. Bush’s decision to no longer make do with recriminations and protests and to wave the weapon of aid was apparently one of the elements that tipped the scales in favor of the Labor Party, headed by Yitzhak Rabin.
