Israel’s Best Interests

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun

If President Obama is right that Israel doesn’t know its own best interests, what is one to make of the decision by voters in the Jewish state to pull some of the props out from under Prime Minister Netanyahu? Certainly there doesn’t seem to be much of a way to gild the lily in latest election. Mr. Netanyahu’s Likud was pared to barely more than 30 of the 120 seats in the 19th Knessett and appears likely — not certain but likely — to have to form a coalition that will make it harder for him to hew a hard line in respect of the peace process.

One can only speculate about the impact on the voting of Mr. Obama’s demarche. He put out his comments to the Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg, one of the canniest barkers at the whole carnival, just as voters were making up their minds as to what to do. Mr. Obama made it clear that, in the view of the White House, a vote for Mr. Netanyahu would lead toward what Mr. Goldberg characterized as “near-total isolation.” The President seemed to be suggesting that his administration would wilt and that Israel’s remaining friend at the United Nations would be — well, there’s but one, Palau.

Did the threat have an effect in helping to deliver the big surprise in the election, the showing for Yair Lapid* and his party, Yesh Atid, or There is a Future? It’s sort of like trying to guess whether Mr. Obama’s attack on the bona fides of the Supreme Court on the eve of its final decision in respect of Obamacare buffaloed the Chief Justice of the United States, John Roberts, into changing his position and doing what no one expected — transubstantiating some kind of taxing basis for a law whose sponsors claimed wasn’t a tax.

Well, go figure. What one can say is that if a weakened Benjamin Netanyahu was what President Obama sought, we will now see whether it translates into the peace that the President claims to be interested in — not to mention the redemption from the near total isolation that the President threatened. Speaking here just for the Sun, no doubt the most modest of constituencies, we would just say that the photograph of an Israeli leader we most cherish is the one of Prime Minister Begin addressing an empty General Assembly of the United Nations.

In other words, near total isolation isn’t a novelty for Israel or the Jews. We’d rather be isolated in the cause of Zion and Jerusalem than feted in some other cause. And all Jews know what Mr. Obama seems all too often to forget about Mr. Netanyahu. Even a weakened Prime Minister Netanyahu has a more legitimate, more democratic mandate than any other leader in the Middle East — more than the Hashemite king, more than the Saudi monarch, more than the Iranian mullahs, more than the Alawite strongman, more than the Moslem Brotherhood. How do they calculate their own best interests?

_________

* Mr. Lapid is quoted by Ha’aretz as having written on his Facebook page: “Jerusalem belongs to the people of Israel and not to anyone else.”


The New York Sun

© 2024 The New York Sun Company, LLC. All rights reserved.

Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. The material on this site is protected by copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used.

The New York Sun

Sign in or  Create a free account

By continuing you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use