Mar 25th 2013

Here We Go Again

by Alon Ben-Meir

A noted journalist and author, Dr. Alon Ben-Meir is professor of international relations and Middle East studies at the Center for Global Affairs at New York University. Ben-Meir holds a masters degree in philosophy and a doctorate in international relations from Oxford University. His exceptional knowledge and insight, the result of more than 20 years of direct involvement in foreign affairs, with a focus on the Middle East, has allowed Dr. Ben-Meir to offer a uniquely invaluable perspective on the nature of world terrorism, conflict resolution and international negotiations. Fluent in Arabic and Hebrew, Ben-Meir's frequent travels to the Middle East and meetings with highly placed officials and academics in many Middle Eastern countries including Egypt, Israel, Jordan, the Palestinian territories, Syria and Turkey provide him with an exceptionally nuanced level of awareness and insight into the developments surrounding breaking news. Ben-Meir often articulates

At the eleventh hour, Prime Minister Netanyahu hustled to put his coalition government together only two days before President Obama’s visit to Israel. Undoubtedly, Netanyahu’s last-ditch effort was prompted by his incontrovertible desire to be the sitting, rather than the caretaker, prime minister in his meeting with President Obama.

Being the political animal that he is, Netanyahu calculated that first he needed to remind Mr. Obama that he must deal with him for the next four years, stating: “I look forward to working with you over the next four years to make the alliance between our two countries even stronger.” That is, if his coalition holds together, but then again Netanyahu is no stranger to wishful thinking.

He further calculated that since Obama wants to prevent another failure in his peace efforts, he will avoid locking horns with him again and instead settle for diplomatic niceties. Here is where Netanyahu was wrong.

President Obama bypassed him and appealed directly to the Israeli people as he addressed young students who received his words with repeated applause, even when he emphatically called for the right of the Palestinians to establish their own state and for Israel to treat the Palestinians justly.

The fact that the president linked Israel’s ultimate national security to the establishment of a Palestinian state, however, is not going to move Netanyahu to change course. He is fixated on grabbing more Palestinian land, which only serves to undermine rather than enhance Israel’s national security.

The Likud political platform is explicit in this regard: “Settlement of the land is a clear expression of the unassailable right of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel and constitutes as an important asset in the defense of the vital interests of the State of Israel.”

Meanwhile, Netanyahu lured three other unseemly ideological parties, Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid, Naftali Bennett’s Jewish Home, and Tzipi Livni’s Hatnua, to join him in a coalition government. He promised them lots of goodies but with the intention of delivering only what suits his political agenda.

Sadly, considering Israel’s political factionalism it is necessary that top officials are appointed, perhaps with the exception of the Defense Ministry, not because of their special skills. What really matters is to which party they belong, how many Knesset members the party commands, and accordingly what portfolio they receive.

And so, here we go again. Other than Netanyahu, the three other leaders have joined this unseemly coalition partly because it serves their party’s political agenda but mainly because of their personal interests, at least for now.

To start with, Netanyahu, who proclaims that he stands for a two-state solution, is in fact doing everything in his power to prevent that very outcome from happening.

How serious can Netanyahu really be when his Likud party’s platform unambiguously states: “The Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza are the realization of Zionist values.”

To promote his so-called “two-state solution” he gave Tzipi Livni, who was the first to jump on his wagon, the Justice portfolio and put her also in charge of peace negotiations with the Palestinians – a characteristically conniving move.

Netanyahu knows her limitations–she failed in her negotiations with the Palestinians under Prime Minister Olmert, who was actually serious about a peace agreement. How successful can she be under Netanyahu, who loathes the idea of negotiating with the Palestinians?

Livni probably knows only too well that there is no hope for a negotiated peace agreement with the Palestinians as long as Netanyahu is in power, and that he is simply playing for time to build new and expand existing settlements.

The fact is that she has willingly become a conduit for Netanyahu’s scheme to claim that he is ready to negotiate, immersing her in a dead-end negotiating process–if and when it is resumed–without giving an inch, and will ultimately blame the Palestinians for not negotiating in good faith.

If this is not cynical enough, Netanyahu gave the Ministry of Economy and Trade to a no lesser person than Naftali Bennett, and to Naftali’s partner, Uri Ariel, the Construction and Housing Ministry no less. What a joke! Netanyahu, in his wizardry, has placed a hungry lion in charge of a herd of lambs.

Here is a guy (Bennett) who openly advocates the outright annexation of nearly 60 percent of the West Bank (Area C) and doesn’t believe that peace is possible. When asked what he expects to happen in 10-15 years, he plainly said “I don’t know.”

Bennett’s political platform speaks for itself: “[The] Palestinian leadership does not want the West Bank, but rather the entire State of Israel – so that there is no perfect solution for our generation.” Oh yes, the annexation of Area C will provide a “perfect solution” that will await him, because by then the Palestinians will simply vanish.

How pathetic to place the future of Israel in the hands of so-called “leaders” with no vision and no strategy as to where Israel should be in 10 or 15 years. Their hunger for ever more Palestinian land is plainly insatiable, never mind that they are putting Israel’s future at grave risk.

The biggest joke though is on Lapid, the leader of Yesh Atid (“There is a Future”). I wonder what future Lapid is talking about. He ran on bread-and-butter issues, offering only a scant reference in his political platform about the need for peace with the Palestinians.

He now heads the Finance Ministry, though admitting that he knows little about financing. “Perhaps the finance minister’s seat,” he said, “does not need an external expert to sit on it, but a politician backed by significant political power.” Well, that says it all.

On peace with the Palestinians, here is what his platform informs us: “[We will] strive for peace according to an outline of “two states for two peoples,” while maintaining the large settlement blocs and ensuring the safety of Israel.”

How much sway will he really have to push for immediate peace negotiations when the two other main partners, Netanyahu and Bennett, are dead set against the establishment of a Palestinian state?

What is most absurd, however, is Lapid’s support of the proposed Basic Law, which was initially submitted to the previous Knesset—a law that would annul Arabic as an official language and make Jewish law the basis for legislation while barring any other interpretation.

Congratulations, Netanyahu and his cohorts are finally showing some respect by joining the club of Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei and Egypt’s President Morsi, who made Islam the basis for legislation.

Should it be passed by the present Knesset, the law will obliterate Israel as a democracy and subordinate it to religion while dividing the population between Israelis and Palestinians—a wonderful prospect.

If all this seem a little wacky, here is another mocking revelation: Netanyahu will keep the foreign ministry portfolio until his buddy, former Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, is cleared of “corruption charges” so that he can resume his job.

Putting Israel to shame again in the eyes of the international community with Lieberman heading the Foreign Ministry does not matter, as long as Lieberman and his boss agree on the unilateral redrawing of Israel’s borders.

And so Israel’s political charade continues; Netanyahu and his enablers are charging ahead, making the country ever more isolated and gravely risking its Jewish national identity while destroying its democratic institutions.

As we celebrate Passover the Israelis, particularly the young, should remember that after millennia of servitude, oppression, persecution and death, their elders have come back to the promised land to be free and live with dignity. They must also remember that their freedom will not endure unless every Palestinian is also free from the bondage of occupation.

Browse articles by author

More Current Affairs

Affluence is killing the planet, warn scientists
by Thomas Wiedmann, Julia K. Steinberger and Manfred Lenzen
Jun 25th 2020
EXTRACT: "The facts are clear: the wealthiest 0.54%, about 40 million people, are responsible for 14% of lifestyle-related greenhouse gas emissions, while the bottom 50% of income earners, almost 4 billion people, only emit around 10%. The world’s top 10% income earners are responsible for at least 25% and up to 43% of our environmental impact. Most people living in developed countries would fit into this category, meaning you don’t have to consider yourself rich in order to be globally affluent. Even many poorer people in wealthy countries have a disproportionately large and unsustainable resource footprint compared to the global average."
The Main Street Manifesto 
by Nouriel Roubini
Jun 24th 2020
EXTRACT: "To be sure, the American Dream was always more aspiration than reality. Economic, social, and intergenerational mobility have always fallen short of what the myth of the self-made man or woman would lead one to expect. But with social mobility now declining as inequality rises, today’s young people are right to be angry."
The Messiah of Mar-a-Lago
by Shlomo Ben Ami
Jun 19th 2020
EXTRACT: "There is only one way to repair America’s reputation, regain the trust of allies, and ensure that the US can act as an effective counterweight to China: address the root causes of the cracks that Trump’s disastrous presidency has exposed and widened. This is in line with the vision advanced in 2011 by two military strategists, Captain Wayne Porter and Colonel Mark Mykleby, using the pseudonym “Mr. Y.” Porter and Mykleby argued that national security depends not only on the capacity to respond to threats from foreign powers, but also – and perhaps more important – on the “application of credible influence and strength.” That influence, in turn, depends on America’s success in providing a “pathway of promise” for US citizens – and a model for the world."
The Republicans’ Treasonous Betrayal Of The American People
by Alon Ben-Meier
Jun 14th 2020
EXTRACT: "The most critical question then is not how far Trump will go to promote his treasonous agenda, but for how long Republican leaders will silently accept and subserviently enable Trump to destroy the basic moral tenets and values on which this Union was founded, and which they swore to uphold and protect...............Of course, shame on us if we continue to be surprised by Republicans’ continuing silence, because as we all know, even when presented with overwhelming evidence that Trump committed crimes against the American people, Trump’s Republican stooges in the Senate exonerated him following impeachment almost unanimously...................The Republican leadership, to be sure, has made its bed. It has committed moral suicide. History will judge them harshly for their treason and betrayal of the nation, including all of those who have lived and died throughout our history to foster and protect our safety, integrity, and freedom."
America’s Calamity 
by Elizabeth Drew
Jun 9th 2020
EXTRACT: " Governments can do nothing about the quotidian offenses of living as a black person in America – the empty taxis that refuse to stop, being mistaken for employees in supermarkets, the myriad intentional and unintentional insults. Many now in the streets won’t be satisfied unless the result of this national spasm is improved schools, health care, and job opportunities for minorities – a fair shake for black people. What will happen when America once again falls short of honoring its professed values?."
For Beijing, Rewriting the Rules is an Art Form
by Daniel Wagner
Jun 8th 2020
EXTRACT: "It should be apparent to most observers of international relations that the Chinese government wants the world to play by its own set of rules. Beijing appears to believe that China’s rise and its assumption of global leadership positions are an inevitable extension of earlier periods in its history, when it was the world’s most powerful country. This is often at odds with the global norms that have been established – with China’s participation, it is worth adding – since the 1940s. While this is clearly the Chinese century, few outside of China would agree that Beijing’s global leadership is either inevitable or necessarily desired – certainly not on the Chinese government’s terms."
Another Long, Hot Summer in America 
by Ian Buruma
Jun 4th 2020
EXTRACT: "Many Americans are clearly horrified by their president’s crass and incendiary words. But will their disapproval be offset by anxiety about violent social unrest? Will age-old racial prejudices, often unspoken, or even acknowledged, still make them vote for the false security of a coarse white bully?  Much will depend on how hot this summer gets. If people think rationally in November, it is hard to imagine that enough of them would vote to keep this appalling administration in power for another four years. But fear is reason’s worst enemy."
America’s Mis-Police State 
by Jeffrey Sommers
Jun 2nd 2020
EXTRACT: "For starters, many Americans have accepted that they live in a winner-takes-all society of deepening inequality. While the wealth and incomes of those at the very top continue to grow, tens of millions of Americans struggle to afford health care, childcare, and other basic goods. This story has been told many times over. But what often goes unremarked is that the responsibility for managing the social costs of this system has been offloaded onto the police."
How to understand Obamagate – Donald Trump's latest conspiracy theory
by Marc Tuters and Peter Knight
May 27th 2020
EXTRACT: "Obamagate is the latest conspiracy theory to be pushed by US president, Donald Trump. It started on the morning of May 10, when Trump retweeted the word “OBAMAGATE!” By the next day, the Obamagate hashtag had accrued over two million tweets and another four million by the end of the week. Trump has repeatedly reused the slogan on his Twitter feed since and it has been promoted by right-wing influencers including Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity and many others....You are not alone if you’re confused by what Obamagate actually is or why Trump is tweeting about it."
Our Post-Covid-19 Future is Already Here
by Daniel Wagner
May 23rd 2020
EXTRACT: "Not all aspects of our near and medium-term future can be foreseen at this juncture of the Covid-19 pandemic, but we now know enough to make some hypotheses about what is likely to change, based on what has already changed. The future is sure to look very different than it did before this decade began, regardless of whether a vaccine is found. If a vaccine is found, it is unlikely to be tested, approved, manufactured, and efficiently distributed to the world’s population of nearly 8 billion people for years. Bearing in mind that there is no vaccine for any coronavirus, what is likelier is that the world will be living with Covid-19 as a part of our ecosystem for many years to come – possibly permanently. That means that our new normal is probably already here."
Europe’s Hamiltonian Moment 
by Anatole Kaletsky
May 21st 2020
EXTRACT: "LONDON – The new Franco-German proposal for a €500 billion ($547 billion) European recovery fund could turn out to be the most important historic consequence of the coronavirus. It is even conceivable that the deal struck between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron might one day be remembered as the European Union’s “Hamiltonian moment,” comparable to the 1790 agreement between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson on public borrowing, which helped to turn the United States, a confederation with little central government, into a genuine political federation."
The Fabulist 
by Elizabeth Drew
May 19th 2020
EXTRACT: "In April 2011, Donald Trump, then considering a run for the presidency the following year, said that he had sent investigators to Hawaii to check out rumors that President Barack Obama wasn’t born there, but in Kenya, which would disqualify him for the presidency. His investigators, Trump declared, “cannot believe what they’re finding.” I can find no record of Trump being challenged on this outlandish claim at the time. In the fall of 2016, Trump, now the Republican presidential nominee, was convinced by his staff that he had to abandon this “birther” nonsense. He did so reluctantly, charging – also with no evidence – that such rumors had actually been initiated by his opponent, Hillary Clinton. There, in a nutshell, is Trump’s modus operandi: he’s not just a liar but a fabulist, seemingly unconcerned with whether his fictions will be exposed. If they are, the world simply moves on as he invents fresh distractions."
The Fable of the Chinese Whistleblower 
by Stephen S. Roach and Weijian Shan 
May 19th 2020
EXTRACT: "Li, a doctor, was purportedly silenced and chastised by Chinese officials for warning on December 30, 2019, about a new virus in the Wuhan hospital where he worked. When it became evident that he was on to something serious – so serious, in fact, that it ultimately killed him – the Chinese government changed its tune and celebrated Li’s bravery. If only that had happened sooner, the argument goes, the world would have avoided this horrific pandemic.................... But that’s not what happened."
Top 5 Reasons Trump’s West Wing May be Emerging as a Coronavirus Epicenter
by Juan Cole
May 9th 2020
EXTRACT: "Jana Winter and Hunter Walker at Yahoo News broke the story that 11 Secret Service agents have tested positive for the coronavirus. Likely some of them served in the West Wing. This week it was revealed at that a US military valet who brought Trump food came down with the virus, sending Trump into a “lava level” rage. Two aides to Vice President Mike Pence have tested positive. Some observers are afraid that the virus is circulating in the West Wing itself."
Covid-19 and China’s Bat Virus Research
by Daniel Wagner
May 6th 2020
EXTRACT: "There has been much debate around the world about the source of the COVID-19 pandemic, ranging from a laboratory to Wuhan’s seafood market to some other form of animal-to-human transmission. While there is no proof (yet) that the virus may have been inadvertently released from one of the two biological research laboratories located at Wuhan, there is evidence that viral release has occurred in the past, and a host of additional data that point to a laboratory connection. "
The Case for Deeply Negative Interest Rates 
by Kenneth Rogoff
May 4th 2020
EXTRACT: "A better bet is that nothing will be the same. Wealth will be destroyed on a catastrophic scale, and policymakers will need to find a way to ensure that, at least in some cases, creditors take part of the hit, a process that will play out over years of negotiation and litigation. For bankruptcy lawyers and lobbyists, it will be a bonanza, part of which will come from pressing taxpayers to honor bailout guarantees. Such a scenario would be an unholy mess."
The Virus that Changed the World 
by Joschka Fischer
Apr 29th 2020
EXTRACT: "We need the twenty-first century’s two superpowers, America and China, to set the example, by burying their rivalry and uniting all of humankind around a collective response to the current crisis, and to those that await us. As COVID-19 has taught us, the old international system can no longer guarantee humankind’s safety and security. We cannot afford to be taught that lesson twice."
Trump’s Cruelest Month 
by Elizabeth Drew
Apr 29th 2020
EXTRACT: "It should come as no surprise that Trump has abused his power in orchestrating the federal response to the pandemic. For example, he made sure that Colorado received 100 much-needed ventilators, and made sure that Colorado voters knew it, in order to help re-elect troubled incumbent Republican senator Cory Gardner.  More alarming, Trump effectively threatened to wage germ warfare against US Postal Service workers by denying them congressionally approved virus-mitigation aid unless the USPS quadrupled rates on packages. Trump’s actual target was Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon and owner of The Washington Post."
The Coming Greater Depression of the 2020s 
by Nouriel Roubini
Apr 28th 2020
EXTRACT: "These ten risks, already looming large before COVID-19 struck, now threaten to fuel a perfect storm that sweeps the entire global economy into a decade of despair. By the 2030s, technology and more competent political leadership may be able to reduce, resolve, or minimize many of these problems, giving rise to a more inclusive, cooperative, and stable international order. But any happy ending assumes that we find a way to survive the coming Greater Depression."
Monetary Finance Is Here 
by Aidar Turner
Apr 26th 2020
EXTRACT: "In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the US Federal Reserve will buy unlimited quantities of Treasury bonds, the Bank of England will purchase £200 billion ($250 billion) of gilts, and the European Central Bank up to €750 billion ($815 billion) of eurozone bonds. Almost certainly, central banks will end up providing monetary finance to fund fiscal deficits. The only question is whether they should make that explicit."