Opinion Spotlight on Netanyahu
His governments fallow imagination aggravates Gazas pain,endangers Israelis...
There was a time,long before the flotilla was conceived,when it was generally agreed that Binyamin Netanyahu was a tough nut,but he knew his mind and therefore knew what he was doing. Netanyahus last term as prime minister was,by present standards and the then continuing pain of Yitzhak Rabins assassination,marked by verbal belligerence. When Ehud Baraks succeeding Labor-Meimad-Gesher (One Israel) administration collapsed in less than two directionless years which saw the beginning of the Second Intifada,Israel elected Ariel Sharon,and the Middle East hasnt been the same since,for better and for worse. But,after Sharons successor Ehud Olmerts controversial premiership and Tzipi Livnis failure to take over,there was nostalgia for Netanyahu.
Using the trite hawk-versus-dove formulation to explain every bend in Israeli politics hasnt worked since the formation of Kadima. Theres no better proof of the collapse of the categories than the current administration, which is a mad wedlock of Likud,Labor,Yisrael Beitenu,Shas. This administration was always expected to be hardline,and it showed itself to be so in the time Netanyahu took to acknowledge the two-state roadmap,to say nothing of constructions in West Bank settlements. However,the scariest question thats being asked now and thatll be asked for a long time is how Israel whose defence forces and intelligence operatives once epitomised efficiency,whose government never failed to be creative in meeting strategic and tactical challenges has come to this state of unthinking amateurism. The IDFs rappelling down to the Turkish-led flotilla in international waters and shooting dead 10 civilian activists is the nadir,till date,of this inability to think through tactics,behind which stands a newfound strategic bluntness.
The fallow (potent but unused) imagination of Netanyahus government will end up not merely aggravating the humanitarian crisis in the blockaded Gaza Strip but also jeopardising Israels own security.
To enlarge the perspective,and go back,near-biblically,to where it all began,Israels problem is the continued lack of a leader even of the stature of a Menachem Begin,let alone a David Ben-Gurion. And that crisis of leadership characterises the entire Middle East Arabs and Israelis. Irrespective of Netanyahus undoubted political acumen,in his second turn as PM,heading a multichrome coalition with a loony fringe,it may be the case that the gravity of the current historic moment is defeating him. The colourful diversity of his coalition is only making matters worse,knowing where the pressure to remain intransigent comes from.
Its not certain that if Kadima had joined the coalition,a Likud-Kadima-Labor government the three big and sanest parties would have better directed policy and peace,with or without the roadmap. Maybe it would have been altogether unworkable. However,the rot at the top is dripping down to the Israel Defence Forces,the Mossad (to go by the prolonged embarrassment of the January Dubai hit) and the general policy discourse. Tactically,if there was intelligence about a likely resistance on board the flotilla,why was the IDF made to rappel and that too in darkness,especially when IDF rules allowing soldiers to shoot in self-defence bolstered the chances of fatalities? Strategically,regardless of the identities and antecedents of those on board,regardless of German MPs and Nobel laureates,how did Israel so easily bite the bait by assaulting the flotilla and scoring a diplomatic own-goal that will reverberate for years? Bluntness and broadsides do not help when a states momentary military tactic disproportionately impacts its diplomatic legitimacy.
Yet,this is the new hallmark of Israeli functioning miscalculating,rushing head on,overreacting,and isolating itself further. Almost 80 per cent of Gazans may need urgent humanitarian assistance,Turkeys military (traditionally pro-Israeli) is losing its clout,the UNSC has substituted Israel for Iran,Egypt is under pressure to open the Rafah border with Gaza,and Israels prized blockade has helped only Hamas,which has succeeded in making many forget its militant character and destructive designs and benefited from the tunnel taxes it collects under the sealed borders. Only abject Gazans and anxious Israelis pay for the blockade. Not Hamas.
Under the circumstances,there are a few clear policy imperatives for Netanyahu lift the blockade,proceed with the proximity talks with Mahmoud Abbas,work overtime in rescuing ties with Turkey and easing the pressure on Egypt. Unfortunately,this second time round,Netanyahu is cornered by Israels demographic changes and the impact thats had on domestic politics. With his cabinet being called the ship of fools and the ministerial septet the seven idiots in the domestic press,he must risk his government to arrest Israels free fall. Ironically for the hapless residents of Gaza,their best bet at the moment is a calculating,clear-eyed Israel that prioritises its own long-term interests once more,and immediately. Because,the moment Israel veers off this suicidal path,itll end the Gaza siege.
sudeep.paul@expressindia.com
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