Israel Matzav

Please don't squeeze the Prime Minister

Former Director General of the Prime Minister's Office Yossi Ben Aharon, who was in charge of Prime Minister Shamir's office in the early '90's, says that the United States is squeezing Israel on Gilo because Prime Minister Netanyahu - like the toilet paper in the Charmin commercial - is squeezable.

Former prime ministers knew how to be tough with the U.S., Ben Aharon told Arutz Sheva. “When [President Jimmy] Carter tried to pull a stunt on [Prime Minister Menachem] Begin and put Jerusalem on the negotiation table, Begin answered him in an unmistakable manner: 'If I forget thee Jerusalem, may my right arm wither.'

"When Bush the father tried to pressure Shamir to freeze settlements, Shamir used a very efficient tactic. Without getting into confrontations, he simply created a tough image. He knew how to safeguard Israel's interests. Then-Secretary of State James Baker knew there were certain subjects one could not raise with Shamir. When he mentioned the settlements, Shamir would look at him without answering. There was a red line here that Shamir would not let anyone cross. Netanyahu, too, can do the same thing.

"Netanyahu has created the impression of a squeezable man and this operates to his detriment,” Ben Aharon elaborated. “Obama's aides tell him 'Netanyahu is squeezable, so let's squeeze him'... Now they have reached the Gilo neighborhood because they see that the pressure on Netanyahu yields results.”

Why is Netanyahu so easy to squeeze? Perhaps because unlike Shamir and Begin, Netanyahu is not committed to retaining Judea and Samaria, but only to his own electoral prospects.

And for those who don't remember please don't squeeze the Charmin, let's go to the videotape.


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The Prime Minister can be as soft as that toilet tissue. And that's not a good thing.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:14 PM