May 27, 2011, 3:10 AM
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Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was hoping to avoid his clash with US President Barack Obama this week in Washington.
Four days before his showdown at the White House with the American leader, Netanyahu addressed the Knesset. His speech was the most dovish he had ever given. In it, he set out the parameters of the land concessions he is willing to make to the Palestinians, in the event they ever decide that they are interested in negotiating a final peace.
Among other things, Netanyahu spoke for the first time about "settlement blocs," and so signaled that he would be willing to evacuate the more isolated Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria. He also spoke of a longterm military presence in the Jordan Valley rather than Israeli sovereignty along the militarily vital plain.
Both strategically and ideologically, Netanyahu's speech constituted a massive concession to Obama. The premier had good reason to believe that his speech would preempt any US demand for further Israeli concessions during his visit to Washington.
Alas, it was not to be. Instead of welcoming Netanyahu's unprecedented concessions, Obama dismissed them as insufficient as he blindsided Netanyahu last Thursday with his speech at the State Department. There, just hours before Netanyahu was scheduled to fly off to meet him in the Oval Office, Obama adopted the Palestinian negotiating position by calling for Israel to accept that future negotiations will be based on the indefensible - indeed suicidal - 1949 armistice lines.
So, just as he was about to board his plane, Netanyahu realized that his mission in the US capital had changed. His job wasn't to go along to get along. His job was to stop Obama from driving Israel's relations with the US off a cliff.
Netanyahu was no longer going to Washington to explain where Israel will stand aside. He was going to Washington to explain what Israel stands for. Obama threw down the gauntlet. Netanyahu needed to pick it up by rallying both the Israeli people to his side and rallying the American people to Israel's side. Both goals, he realized, could only be accomplished by presenting his vision of what Israel is and what it stands for.
And Netanyahu did his job. He did his job brilliantly.
ISRAEL TODAY is the target of an ever escalating campaign to demonize and delegitimize it. Just this week we learned that a dozen towns in Scotland have decided to ban Israeli books from their public libraries. One Scottish town has decided to post signs calling for its residents to boycott Israeli products and put a distinguishing mark (yellow star, perhaps?) on all Israeli products sold in local stores to warn residents away from them.
Israelis shake their heads and wonder, what did we do to the Scots?
In San Francisco, there is a proposition on the ballot for the fall elections to ban circumcision. The proposition would make it a criminal offense to carry out the oldest Jewish religious ritual. Offenders will be punished by up to a year in prison and a fine of up to $1,000.
Israelis shake their heads and wonder, what did we do to the people of San Francisco?
It seems that everywhere we look we are told that we have no right to exist. From Ramallah to Gaza, to Egypt, to Scotland, Norway, and San Francisco, we are told that we are evil and had better give up the store. And then Obama took to the stage on Thursday and told us that we have to surrender our ability to defend ourselves in order to make room for a Palestinian state run by terrorists committed to our destruction.
But then Netanyahu arrived in Washington and said, "Enough already.We've had quite enough of this dangerous nonsense."
And we felt things we haven't felt for a long time. We felt empowered. We felt we had a voice. We felt proud. We felt we had a leader.
We felt relieved.
The American people, whose overwhelming support for Israel was demonstrated by their representatives in both houses of the Congress on Tuesday, also felt empowered, proud and relieved. Because not only did Netanyahu eloquently remind them of why they stand with Israel He reminded them of why everyone who truly loves freedom stands with America.
It is true that the American lawmakers who interrupted Netanyahu's remarks dozens of times to applaud wanted to use his presence in their chamber to send a message of solidarity to the people of Israel. But during the course of his speech, it became apparent that it wasn't just their desire to show solidarity that made them stand and applaud so many times. Netanyahu managed to relieve them as well.
Since he assumed office, Obama has been traveling the world apologizing for America's world leadership. He has been lecturing the American people about the need to subordinate America's national interests to global organizations like the United Nations that are controlled by dictatorships which despise them.
Suddenly, here was an allied leader reminding them of why America is a great nation that leads the world by right, not by historical coincidence.
It is not coincidental that many American and Israeli observers have described Netanyahu's speech as "Churchillian." Winston Churchill's leadership was a classic example of democratic leadership. And Netanyahu is Churchill's most fervent pupil. The democratic leadership model requires a leader to set out his vision of where his country must go and convince the public to follow him.
That is what Churchill did. And that is what Netanyahu did this week. And like Churchill in June 1940, Netanyahu's success this week was dazzling.
Just how dazzling was make clear by a Haaretz poll of the Israeli public conducted after Netanyahu's speech before the Congress.
The poll found that Netanyahu's approval ratings increased an astounding 13 percentage points, from 38 to 51 percent in one week. Two-thirds of the Israelis who watched his speech said it made them proud.
As for the US response, the fact that leading Democrats on Capitol Hill, House Minority Leader Steny Hoyer and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, felt it necessary to distance themselves from Obama's statements about Israel's final borders makes clear that Netanyahu successfully rallied the American public to Israel's side.
This point was also brought home with Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz's interesting request to Republicans during their joint meeting with Netanyahu. In front of the Israeli leader, Wasserman Schultz asked her Republican counterparts not to use support for Israel as a campaign issue. Her request makes clear that following Netanyahu's brilliant triumph in Washington, Democrats realize that the president's poor treatment of Israel is an issue that will harm them politically if the Republicans decide to make it an issue in next year's elections.
WHILE THE democratic model of leadership is certainly the model that the founders of most democratic societies have in mind when they establish their democratic orders, it is not the only leadership model that guides leaders in democratic societies. This week, as Netanyahu demonstrated the strength of the democratic leadership model, two other leadership models were also on prominent display. The first was demonstrated by Obama. The second was exhibited by opposition leader Tzipi Livni.
Obama's leadership model is the model of subversive leadership. Subversive leaders in democracies do not tell their citizens where they wish to lead their societies. They hide their goals from their citizens, because they understand that their citizens do not share their goals. Then once they achieve their unspoken goals, they present their people with a fait accompli and announce that only they are competent to shepherd their societies through the radical shift they undertook behind the public's back.
Before Obama, the clearest example of subversive leadership was Shimon Peres. As foreign minister under Yitzhak Rabin, Peres negotiated his deal with the PLO behind the public's back, and behind Rabin's back - and against their clear opposition. Then he presented the deal that no one supported as a fait accompli.
And as the architect of the deal that put the PLO terror forces on the outskirts of Israel's major cities, Peres argued that only he could be trusted to implement the deal he had crafted.
Eighteen years and 2,000 Israeli terror victims later, Israel still hasn't figured out how to extricate itself from his subversive legacy. And he is president.
Today, Obama recognizes that the American public doesn't share his antipathy towards Israel. So as he adopts policies antithetical to Israel's security, he waxes poetic about his commitment to Israel's security. So far his policies have led to the near disintegration of Israel's peace with Egypt, the establishment of a Fatah-Hamas unity government in the Palestinian Authority, and to Iran's steady, all but unimpeded progress towards the atom bomb.
As for Livni, her model is leadership from behind. Although Obama's advisers claimed that this is his model of leadership, it actually is Livni's model. A leader who leads from behind is a follower. She sees where her voters are and she goes there.
In Livni's case, her supporters are on the Left and their main spokesman is the media. Both the Left and the media oppose everything that Netanyahu does and everything he is. And so, as Livni sees things, her job as the head of the opposition is to give voice to their views.
As Netanyahu stared Obama down in the Oval Office and reminded Israelis and Americans alike why we have a special relationship, Livni was telling audiences in Washington and Israel that Netanyahu is a warmonger who will lead us to devastation if we don't elect her to replace him soon. With Obama adopting the Palestinians' negotiating positions and with Fatah embracing Hamas, rather than honestly admitting that all hope for peace is dead for the duration, Livni said that Netanyahu is leading us to war by defending the country.
Netanyahu's extraordinary leadership this week has shown that when used well, the democratic model of leadership trumps all other models. He also showed us that he has the capacity to be the leader of our times.
In the coming weeks and months, the threats to Israel will surely only increase. And with these escalating threats will come also the escalating need for strong and certain leadership.
Netanyahu should realize what his astounding success means for him as well as for Israel.
The people of Israel and our many friends around the world will continue to stand behind him proudly if he continues to lead us as well and wonderfully as he did this week.
And we will admire him. And we will thank him.
Originally published in The Jerusalem Post.
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I pray that one day soon Israel's leaders will go even further, and choose a One State solution
The Land of Israel is yours, promised to you by your God. It is obvious to everyone that the Peace process is a "piece" process, designed to eliminate israel piece by piece
I'm so glad that Netanyahu stood up to Obama this week. In the UK, PM Cameron bowed the knee to him, and boy, are we in trouble
BTW don't worry about Scotland. On the same day they announced their policy on Israeli books, a plume of ash from an Icelandic volcano grounded all air traffic
The God of Israel promised "I will bless those who bless you, and curse those who curse you"
Re: Subversive leadership, I note that Shimon Peres is still at it. Even though his position as President of Israel is supposed to be an apolitical and ceremonial role only, today's news reveals he is having secret meetings with Abbass. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/144548
Please, will someone just put this wicked man in his place? Surely it is time to impeach him.
I'm sorry, but I have a growing sense of disquiet about all this. Does being dazzled and relieved by Netanyahu's assertiveness in the face of Obama's aggression mean people will be willing to gloss over the fact that Netanyahu has reiterated his willingness to surrender parts of the Biblical and historical Jewish homeland (to people who despise Israel and have a full sense of entitlement to every square inch of land the Jews live on) and furthermore to consider 'creative' solutions for Jerusalem?
Israel is currently fighting to survive on a very small portion of the land originally mandated to her. I don't know what strategic game Netanyahu is playing but every single time he says he's prepared to divide the land further and think 'creatively' about Jerusalem he weakens the strategic strength of the nation he says he's responsible for leading to peace.
As a believer in the God of Israel, I know how this ends: Israel, you win. In God's strength (and in that alone) you triumph gloriously, as a people you become fully restored to the land (all of it) and to your God, but boy oh boy the process is painful to watch. Succumbing to the pressure and paying lip service to this 'land for peace' lie- I'm sorry, but it just goes against everything God has planned for you. As unrealistic or naive it may sound, when you stop talking about being willing to surrender your birthright you are telling God you are proud to be where He is planting you.
As for the nations putting such unrelenting, hostile pressure on you to divide, God is answering that. He is dealing with their hatred and opposition (to you, to Him). So Israel, be encouraged. Stand tall, in the strength of the God of Israel and in that alone. Hold your position and refuse to yield any part of it. I can't stress that enough.
The Prime Minister's words made many of us Americans long for him to be our president.
Re: Netanyahu and Churchill: remember what the current president did with the bust of Churchill.
But then Netanyahu arrived in Washington and said, "Enough already.We've had quite enough of this dangerous nonsense"
'We felt relieved.'
'Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged Tuesday to make "painful compromises" for peace with the Palestinians.
Caroline,
Netanyahu did not say enough already.
He offered up the best of Zion as a painful sacrifice to evil forces for what he knows are lies of peace.
That's not honorable but cowardly
Not everyone felt relieved.
The settlers have endured enough pain under the Peres,Bibi,Barak troika.
Isn't it time for the Livni's,the left latte sippers and clubbers of Tel Aviv to feel the pain of this peace ?
Caroline, Netanyahu's speech was amazing in light of what many of us were fearfully expecting to hear, but I feel a sense of disquiet at the thought of giving up any part of Israel to appease enemies who only will rest easy if we no longer exist. We can expect no support from the US unless those who stand together with Israel are willing to circumvent what Obama and his government stand for today. No, this is not my government. I have always been a proud American remembering how so many of us fled from oppression to a land of freedom. As we baby boomers grow older we are actually afraid of the direction our leadership is taking. Israel must continue to stand strong in the face of constant adversity. It is the only place we Jews have left. Shabbat shalom and bless you for the strength and courage you and all Israelis share.
Caroline Glick...I have admired your defense of Israel and forwarded/posted/shared your commentary for a long time. Regarding your comments here, as they relate to Netanyahu/Obama etc. I agree. What compels my comment today however is your conclusion that the move to ban circumcision (RE San Francisco)is somehow directed at Israel. The fact that Jews continue to perform this barbaric practice along with Christians and others merely means your are also guilty of the crime of mutilation which if performed on females would seem abominable to you. However, since you are but one category of people that continue this hideous practice please don't assert that the attempt to stop it is directed at Jews which I think you know already. I'm puzzled why you would bring circumcision into your commentary but I'm glad you did. Jews who practice and condone this irreversible mutilation of children are no better in this regard than other barbaric tribes. For the most part Israelis defend individual rights. In this case however there is nothing that can be said to change the fact that circumcision is a crime whether it's officially labeled as such or not. I never would have brought this up here but since you felt it relevant to associate the attempt to make it illegal in the US with an attack on Jews I am obliged to respond. The fact that Jews not only regard circumcision as normal, but something to celebrate, is repugnant. You're appalled by the way Muslims treat women? What are you doing to your boys?
What really angers ROM on circumcision is that God instituted it in Covenant with Abraham, father of the Jewish people and they hate God but don't mind killing their own babies.
You won't hear this hypocrite comment on the rights of unborn humans cut out of the wombs of their mothers in barbaric bloody pieces.
The problem with the world today are the number of phony hypocrites who have nothing to say about the savagery and inhumanity of their hedonistic compatriot baby killers for pleasure sex and the new Nazi's of our time the Muslims but you can always find the cowards quick to criticize Israel.
Yes, it was a rare moment these days to see somebody, anybody, spell it all out in the real world in front of congress. And why was it so hard to see a whole video of the speech anywhere on line? I finally snapped out of it and found it intact at C-Span. Congratulations to Bibi and Israel and Caroline too, if I might hazard a guess.
By the way, for barbaric sexual practices on men, I don't think anything can compare with the weird sexual mutilation that is called "transgender surgery" where men, typically, are castrated and their genitals carved up into some weird parody of a vagina. Don't hold your breath waiting for protests against this in San Francisco.
Shortly after Obama was elected, I sent Ms. Gluck an email suggesting that she tell Benjamin Netanyahu that he had become the leader of the free world.
I wasn't kidding, and I was right.
Burke Chester
Ormond Beach, Florida
I can't comment on the reception to the speech in Israel but in the USA, the American public (not just the Democratic and Republican representatives in Congress) were absolutely enthralled and mesmerized by Netanyahu's address. For a fabulous analysis see this article in the Americanthinker.com: http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/05/congress_gets_an_american_pres.html
As the American Thinker contributor explains and as Caroline Glick emphasizes as well, Netanyahu was a complete foil for our globetrotting apologist president--the one whose Attorney General has called us all a "Nation of Cowards" and whose wife said on the campaign trail that only when her husband was nominated by the Democratic Party could she "for the first time" be proud of her country.
Then when Netanyahu interviewed with Sean Hannity on Fox News and went on and on about the stroll he took down the Potomac with his wife, Sarah, quoting from the monuments to the Korean War veterans and to Abraham Lincoln, Netanyahu, through imagery and history, was able to connect with and demonstrate to the American public how their American President comes up painfully short in leadership and national pride but that Israel and its leader, Netanyahu, are standing in the wings ready, willing and able to fill the Grand Canyon-size void in leadership that Obama represents.
Netanyahu's speech was a good one. Now what?
I too was unsettled when Mr. Netanyanu opened the door for "compromise", but he also set conditions the Palestinians can never meet.
1. recognition of Israel by Abbas
2. a demilitarized state
3. troops along the Jordan River
I wish he would have shown the Balfour and the San Remo conference and mentioned that if Israel's borders are illegitimate so are the borders of Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan which were set during the same time by the same diplomats.
Yep. that would have been good.
Caroline, G-d Bless You for standing up for the truth! Many Americans are very worried about the direction our country is taking. I am Jewish, married to a man whose grandmother was Jewish. We are both baby boomers and we are beginning to feel very uneasy here. We felt so proud of Bibi Netanyahu and so ashamed that this country has elected such an evil man as president. I never thought I would live to see America go down as much as it has since this man took office. I feel he is dedicated to humiliating and destroying America, as well as any country that he views as imperialist. It is a colonialist view that his father (the Kenyan muslim) held and it seems he is living it out. All Israelis should be extremely proud of Prime Minister Netanyahu for having the courage to stand up against evil!
Netanyahu’s clash with Obama shows what good can result when you repudiate the ethics of altruism that call for your own self sacrifice. Obama and the Palestinians are chastised and the anti- Israeli rabble, who have never shut their traps a second, suddenly have nothing to say.
No one really cares if the Palestinians get a state. Not even the Palestinians. All they care about is the destruction of Israel and getting a state is the means to that end. If Israel was wiped off the map their lives would be vastly more difficult and would not solve anything, but they don’t care. They want to destroy for the sake of destruction. They are nihilists to the core.
Obama, Europe and the Palestinians know they cannot achieve their aims of Israel’s annihilation by themselves. Israel is too strong to conquer militarily. They need the help of the Israel itself and guilt is the weapon they use. Hence the constant refrain about how nasty Israel is to the poor Palestinians, evading the fact that the Palestinians are actively engaged in the subversion of any deal ever struck with them.
The only purpose of a state is for the protection of the rights of its own citizens. A state that violates the rights of its citizens is also a danger to other peaceful states. A Palestinian state would be a terror state from the start. It must not be allowed to form.
Your column was on the mark. Frankly, I never thought that Netanyahu had it in him. I hope that this is the start of a new beginning. The Israelis and Jewish people need a strong, proud, articulate leader, perhaps it is Netanyahu.
Best wishes,
Benjamin
On the political front Geert Wilders deserves full support that those living in Gaza and Westbank must move to Jordan (palestine) and if Egypt attacks with Hamas / Fatah unilateral declaration defacto war on Israel provoking EU sanctions ... Sinai cannot be returned this time.
And as Russia blocks western intervention in Syria thus marking 'allied' echec in Libya.
And as Pervez Musharraf implicitly denies Bin Laden was assassiniated (Jeremy Paxman, Piers Morgan) and will rally the Pakistani elections.
But on the economical front I was wondering what dear Caroline thinks of Israeli Thorium High Temperature Reactors in combination with a substantial Electric Automobile ?
The democratic state has a God given right and obligation to protect it's citizens. To do otherwise is to relinquish it's right to govern.
First the rights of the citizens should be preserved by voting the despot out of office; as in the case of Livni, Peres and Obama. The second option is to remove the despots from a position of power via the legal system. If these measures fail, then the citizens have the right to remove the despots by other, more forceful means.
Our countries were created out of sweat, blood, and the grace of out God. Now these despots are destroying the country with subversion, acquiescence to muslim murders, and lies to the good citizens of each nation.
Soon our countries will be faced with the requirement to take up arms and defend our way against the rising Arab and UN menace. We should not shrink from the task. To defeat them is to prevent another holocaust, the loss of democracy and the need to accept the political correctness that they use to enslave.
If the head of the Nazi snake was removed, then the loss of so many innocent people would have been saved. Look around at the number of snakes that exist today.
How was Obama's message, wrt the '67 (or '57 or '49)borders, and refugees, different from George W. Bush's as provided in one of his Road Map speeches?
http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2008/01/20080110-3.wm.v.html
Osama Hamdan: "I think that we are entering the phase of the liberation of Palestine. When we talk about the liberation of Palestine, we are talking about the notion of Return: the return of the refugees to their homeland, and the return of the Israelis to the countries from which they came." […]
If that is what Obama supports, I think he shall wholeheartily understand if the American Indians ask for the borders of 1492.
The Land of Israel belongs to the Jewish People.
Period. End of Sentence.
Bibi is more of a leader like Obama than Caroline states.
Before he took office, he pledged to END the Oslo Accords, but yet continued them after he took office.
He voted IN FAVOR of the Gaza Expulsion and yet resigned from the government one week prior to its implementation in order to make us think that he opposed it the whole time. And he had the power to stop it if he had truly wished to do so.
Now we are supposed to celebrate a leader who offers up Israel on a silver platter if only the Arabs will go back to following their "Phased Plan for Israel's Destruction" by lying about wanting peace for a few months.
I'm sorry, but Bibi Netanyahu's suggestion was not much different than Obama's, yet why is he getting such praise?