This was kinda sorta predictable. Economics Minister Naftali Bennett has kinda sorta apologized to Prime Minister Netanyahu.
"In recent days there has been a lot of discussion about the idea of
the Palestinian Authority (PA) retaining sovereignty over Jewish
communities in Judea and Samaria, and certain people from the Prime
Minister's Office (PMO) have tried to turn an existential conversation
into personal attacks [on the PM] that were never there," Bennett stated
to the press.
Bennett formally apologized to the Prime Minister, stating, "if the
Prime Minister was hurt [by my remarks] - that was never my intention."
The Minister stressed that he respects Netanyahu's leadership under "not-so-simple conditions."
"I see the Prime Minister and his Cabinet and in the government and I
acknowledge that he is under immense pressure," Bennett stated.
However, Bennett also stated that while he is apologizing for his
remarks, he maintains the right to criticize, saying: "I support the
Prime Minister like I have to and I criticize him like I have to. It is
my obligation."
The apology-of-sorts resembled a similar one issued by Defense
Minister Moshe Ya'alon, after coming under fire for branding US
Secretary of State John Kerry "obsessive and messianic" in his pursuit of a political deal between Israel and the PA. After immense pressure, Ya'alon apologized for any personal offense to Kerry over his comments, but notably did not retract his views.
But the Jewish Home head noted that his criticism had succeeded in
"shooting down" the idea of abandoning Jewish communities in Judea and
Samaria.
The report goes on to say that tensions between Netanyahu and Bennett were stoked by a 'senior aide' to Netanyahu who had it in for Bennett. I didn't know that Sara Netanyahu was billing herself a 'senior aide.' Maybe she's learning from Mooch who went along on one of President Obama's Africa trips by calling herself and her daughters senior aides.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu failed to set an example for the Jewish people by not preventing his son from dating a non-Jewish Norwegian woman, Shas MK Nissim Ze'ev told The Jerusalem Post Sunday.
In what world is Ze'ev living? I'm sure that many parents wish it were so simple to just 'prevent' your adult children from dating whomever they please. It's not. Obviously, it would have helped if Netanyahu had given his older son a stronger Jewish education and had shown more of an example. For that he can be criticized. But the example he didn't set was for his son and not for the Jewish people. That's absurd.
There are others who think the problem can just be blinked away.
World Zionist Organization vice chairman David Breakstone, who
represents the worldwide Conservative movement, said he hopes that if
the relationship becomes serious she would want to convert to Judaism.
"The
laws should changed in order to enable Leikanger to convert to Judaism
as she and the Netanyahu family would understand it," Breakstone said.
"She should not be limited to a Judaism as understood and interpreted by
a Chief Rabbinate with an antiquated interpretation of Judaism that is
out of sync with the majority of Jews around the world."
Yeah.... When the standard is violated, just lower the standards.... No, thanks....
And by the way, I doubt the 'Netanyahu family' is thrilled about this either. Sara's family - the Ben Artzi's - is religious, and the younger son, Avner, finished third in the National Bible Contest a few years ago.
Former Knesset speaker Ruby Rivlin, who was a childhood friend of Prime Minister Netanyahu, is quite bitter about his summary dismissal, and he hints that he knows who was behind it.
"A third person who is involved behind the scenes" did not want him for
the job, Rivlin says, describing personal insult he felt from PM and
Likud members.
"It seems to me that there were three people who
apparently didn't want me for the job: The head of Yisrael Beytenu, for
his reasons, the prime minister, and a third person, who is a person
that is always involved, but behind the scenes. I'm not getting into
gossip," Rivlin said in an interview with Channel 10 reporter Raviv
Drucker.
Sources close to Rivlin clarified that he meant the prime minister's wife.
A
week ago, Rivlin made comments to Army Radio that could be understood
the same way: "I don't think the prime minister took my criticism of him
personally, but I'm not talking about his family."
According to
sources close to Rivlin, Sara Netanyahu was dissatisfied with his
performance as speaker of the previous Knesset, and saw his attempts at
neutrality as attempts to flatter the opposition in order to gain
support ahead of the presidential election next year.
Rivlin's
voice trembled as he described his relationship with the prime minister
on Wednesday, saying he is very disappointed because he felt that was
tricked by Netanyahu, who was his friend.
"When I would call the
prime minister with doubts because of rumors, he would say to me: How
many times do I have to promise you, Rubi? Other good friends would
visit me at the Knesset Speaker's Office and say clearly 'who else would
he choose, why would the party hurt itself?'" Rivlin recounted.
The
former Knesset speaker said he and the prime minister have been friends
since childhood, and that Netanyahu even told Rivlin's wife that Rivlin
is one of the only people he can trust.
"He gave us a good
feeling, and I don't think he was bluffing," the Likud MK said. "It's
not nice to mislead friends. It just isn't nice."
The reasoning
that Rivlin would use his position as Knesset Speaker inappropriately to
promote his candidacy for president is "insulting," he said, and
pointed out that he ran for president in 2007 at Netanyahu's request.
Rivlin
also said that he had stopped bills that could be embarrassing for
Netanyahu, and that the prime minister thanked him for doing so.
"What
hurt me most, much more than the fact that I was removed from my
position – and I see it as a dismissal – is that my friends [in the
Likud] did not get up and say even one word in my favor," Rivlin said of
the faction meeting in which Yuli Edelstein was elected new Knesset
Speaker.
I find Sara Netanyahu's role in the Likud deeply troubling.
After weeks of negotiations, the deal that will create Israel's 33rd
government is finished – except for one small detail: Sarah Netanyahu,
the Prime Minister's wife, has still not reconciled herself to the fact
that Naftali Bennett will be a member of Binyamin Netanyahu's
government. According to sources in the Likud as reported by Army Radio,
she prevailed upon her husband to backtrack on several understandings
the negotiating teams for Bayit Yehudi and Likud/Yisrael Beiteinu had
attained.
As a result, the negotiating team for
Bayit Yehudi that was supposed to close up the deal with the Prime
Minister, in preparation for a signing ceremony Thursday night, had
still not arrived for talks by Thursday afternoon, indicating a
mini-crisis in the deal. Israel Radio speculated that the tardiness of
the Bayit Yehudi team was intentional, in protest over the changes Sarah
Netanyahu is demanding in the coalition agreement. According to Israel
Radio, Netanyahu is seeking to remove some responsibilities from the two
deputy minister posts that Bayit Yehudi will hold in the government.
Hey - look at the bright side. At least Sara doesn't pole dance.
I've warned you before to take Israeli polls with a grain of salt. Many Israelis don't like to talk to pollsters. I, for example, hang up the phone every time they call. I couldn't be bothered to spend the time talking to them. I have better things to do, like clean my toenails....
This is a country in which polling is not always accurate. Respondents
often deceive the pollsters. Some respondents - like me - slam down the
phone (otherwise you get called nearly every day because Israel is very
politically active and there's a relatively small population). This is a
country whose Dewey beats Truman moment
happened in 1996 (when Netanyahu was 'good for the Jews' and defeated
Shimon Peres six months after Yitzchak Rabin's assassination - a
shocking result at the time) and not in 1948. Take the polls with a
large grain of salt.
So don't go into a panic yet, but... a new poll by Channel 10 (which just might have it in for Netanyahu) shows Likud-Beiteinu (probably the biggest mistake Netanyahu has made the entire term in office other than the 'settlement freeze') dropping to 32 seats (compared to the current 42), and HaBdicha - the 'Tzipi Livni party' gaining two seats to nine.
The Likud accused
Goldberg of conspiring with Livni to harm Netanyahu.
Environmental
Protection Minister Gilad Erdan, who heads the Likud’s response team, cited
Goldberg’s August 2011 interview with Livni in which she praised Obama for
pressuring Netanyahu and suggested that the US should keep up the
heat.
Asked by Goldberg in the interview whether US pressure on Netanyahu
had been constructive, Livni said: “When Obama pushed Bibi, Bibi made some steps
forward.
The American pressure led those who don’t believe that time is
of the essence to a better understanding that there is no status quo
option.
For Israelis, when they wake up in the morning and ask
themselves, what is the general situation today, the litmus test for them is the
health of the relationship between Israel and the United States.”
In other words, none. Far from the loyal opposition, Livni is an egomaniacal serial underminer (we seem to specialize in those here in Israel). But Goldberg? Goldberg is a reporter and he'll talk to anyone. If you think he conspired with Livni or any other politician in this country, go ahead and prove it, but don't make accusations like that without backing them up. Whatever happened in 2011 has no connection to today.
The good news is that (maybe) the Goldberg incident has angered Netanyahu enough that he won't make a serious offer to take Livni into his (likely) new government.
Likud sources said on Wednesday that it was very unlikely
that Netanyahu would give Livni’s party a serious offer to join the coalition if
he wins Tuesday’s election, due to the animosity between the two. They said he
preferred a coalition with Yesh Atid and Kadima on the Left, and religious
parties on the Right.
You've got to be kidding. Kadima leader Shaul Mofaz lasted about three weeks in Bibi's current government, while Yesh Atid will not go into a coalition with the religious parties on the Right. And did I mention that 'religious parties on the Right' does not include Naftali Bennett's Jewish Home?
The Likud sources said Netanyahu would likely only
invite Bayit Yehudi to join the government when his coalition would already have
61 MKs, so he would not have to rely on the party remaining in the coalition
following diplomatic concessions.
Really? Let's do the math. Likud-Beiteinu is 32. Kadima is 2 at best. Yesh Atid is 11. Shas is 11 and United Torah Judaism is 6. That's 62. You really think Bibi's going to make a government of 62 in which the he's got the Haredi parties and Yair Lapid fighting with each other all the time? My guess is (and I don't want to speculate about it too much before Tuesday night, because I don't really believe the polls) that coalition is far more likely to have Bennett than Yesh Atid or Kadima. On the other hand, I've seen pundits I highly respect all over the map on who will be in the coalition....
Bayit Yehudi started a new campaign on
Wednesday featuring a picture of Netanyahu and Bayit Yehudi chairman Naftali
Bennett with the slogan “Supporting Netanyahu, voting Bennett.” Bayit Yehudi
officials said they hoped the ads would encourage Netanyahu to include Bayit
Yehudi in the next coalition.
But a joke by Bennett on Channel 10 that
was seen as insulting Netanyahu’s wife, Sara, might have made that possibility
less likely. After Bennett, who sparred with Sara when he was her husband’s bureau chief, recalled that he and the prime
minister had served in the same army unit, he was asked about Sara.
“Sara
and I did a course on terror together,” Bennett said.
And you Americans thought Michelle Obama was a piece of work? But there's a difference here. While President Obama doesn't need his cabinet members to form a coalition, Prime Minister Netanyahu does. I have my doubts that Bayit Yehudi will be excluded because Bennett - who was Netanyahu's former bureau chief - didn't get along with the notoriously cantankerous Sara Netanyahu. Do you want to see my proof? Here's a picture of another former Netanyahu bureau chief:
Recognize him? He was foreign minister until a couple of weeks ago, and his party is running alongside the Likud in this election....
But I have to admit, I envy Goldberg. For a reporter to become the story always leads to good things in the future, so long as no charges against him are proven.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
