Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has killed the messenger because he didn’t like the message, and simultaneously has also shot himself in the foot. Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon publicly attacked the acceptaince of a “ceasefire,” and asserted “It was a slap in the face to every Israeli.”
Danon was right, and he expressed the outrage of all Israelis, of anybody who cares about Israel’s existence.
Did Danon undermine the Prime Minister? Danon’s public position against the ceasefire only strengthened Netanyahu’s hand in dealing with the Gaza ceasefire negotiations, with Obama and other countries.
Instead, Netanyahu will lose in the next Israeli elections.
Netanyahu could have played good-cop/bad-cop to the world powers. He should have said, “Look, Danon is expressing the real and legitimate rage every Israeli is feeling in being indiscriminately bombed by a bunch of rabid terrorists. Therefore, I have to cut a better deal against Hamas.” He showed weakness by firing someone who is telling the truth.If the Prime Minister cowers at the world’s reaction to Danon’s musings, imagine how scared he will be when it comes to truly attacking Hamas instead of bombing a bunch of empty buildings.
And the real problem is Hamas knows how truly weak and powerless Netanyahu is and that he won’t truly attack Gaza.
The Prime Minister has “Lady Macbeth” Livni constantly whispering “War-crimes, war-crimes” in his ear. Livni and dozens of other current and former Israeli officials can’t travel to many places in Europe because there are outstanding war-crime warrants for their arrest for their roles in Operation Cast Lead. It’s likely that Livni’s pushing the 2-State Solution isn’t because she believes in a PA State, but that she is being literally blackmailed by the EU, and by Obama into herding Israel’s Jews into a new Auschwitz.
One could say, “Danon made Bibi look bad to the Israelis.” But is the Prime MInister so politically fearful of Danon? If that’s the case then Israel is really in trouble, because its leader would then be 1) strategically scared of the world powers, 2) locally afraid of local Likud politicians, and 3) afraid of fighting Hamas – exactly when he should be fearless. Netanyahu said that “Hamas has unified all of Israel”, but Instead of acting on that, he is proving to the world he really believes Israel is hopelessly fractured.
Is Netanyahu so desperate for a ceasefire deal that he believes that it was Danon’s comments that upset the apple cart when Foreign Minsiter Lieberman has been attacking his policies louder that Danon did? Firing Danon, a loyal Israeli Deputy Defense Minister, shows that Netanyahu can’t stop Hamas missiles, he can only fire an honest MK. Israel should brace itself for weeks of missiles and of weak and feckless leadership of a Prime MInister who has lost his moral and military compass.