Israel Matzav

And another thing David Ignatius doesn't get

In the previous post, I linked this piece by David Ignatius in the Washington Post. It's a piece that's wrong in many, many ways. But here's one key point that Ignatius doesn't understand.

Netanyahu faces a real leadership dilemma. He has prevailed over Hamas and its tunnels in Gaza, albeit at a terrible cost to Palestinian civilians. But his popularity at home is dropping, with his approval ratings down 20 points from their peak of 82 percent when he ordered the ground invasion. Though Netanyahu may not realize it, he needs Kerry’s diplomatic help to consolidate the gains of the war. The question is whether the Israeli leader has the boldness to leverage his military success in a way that brings greater lasting security for Israelis, and reduces the Palestinian suffering in Gaza.

Netanyahu's ratings have dropped precisely because he stopped the war rather than stand up to Kerry. Overwhelming majorities of Israelis wanted to see Hamas destroyed.  They are disappointed in the war's outcome because Netanyahu didn't go far enough. The last person who can 'help' him deal with that as Kerry, who is seen here as something between a buffoon and a villain.

Ignatius is still a shill for the Obama administration. Unlike his colleague, Jackson Diehl, Ignatius has never taken a hard look at why the 'peace process' has failed. He continues to spout the Obama party line. That may serve him well in terms of access to the administration, but it doesn't serve the critically thinking readers of the Washington Post well at all.

Labels: Binyamin Netanyahu, David Ignatius, Jackson Diehl, John Kerry, Middle East peace process, Operation Protective Edge, Washington Post

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:12 PM