AS MOST BOYS GROWING UP in the U.S., I was fascinated by Indians, a/k/a “Native Americans” in PC-speak.
Many Indian tribes had a special chief — leader — who was skilled in dealing with threats from outside the tribe.
The only time a war chief had authority was when the tribe was threatened. Otherwise, the war chief was just another member of the tribe.
ISRAEL HAS HAD “war chiefs.” Menachem Begin was a war chief, which is how he, and Egypt’s war chief, Anwar Sadat, managed to make a so-far long-lasting peace.
Benjamin Netanyahu is NOT a war chief.
In fact, he seems to have worked against the men who could serve Israel as a war chief.
Netanyahu kowtowed to Hamas several times. The last time, this week, he obliged Hamas and Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman resigned.
According to Liberman, “I have tried to remain a faithful member of the cabinet and to make heard another view, even at a great electoral and political price,” Liberman said. However, Tuesday’s ceasefire with Hamas “cannot be interpreted in any way other than a capitulation to terrorism." 1
Netanyahu claimed he had “secret” information; apparently so secret he could not, or would not, share it with his war chief. Granted, Liberman is not a Likudnik; he heads the Yisrael Beitenu (Israel [is] our home) party.
Liberman is a “hawk,” a man who was frustrated by Netanyahu’s constant flip-flopping on Gaza and the “settlements” and many other issues.
Another “hawk,” Naftali Bennnett, also of Yisrael Beitanu, wants Liberman’s old job.
Bennett’s demand for the defense minister position is opposed by fellow cabinet ministers Moshe Kahlon of the Kulanu (All of us) party and Aryeh Deri of Shas (the late R. Ovadia Yosef’s party). Deri was convicted of corruption before being named to Netanyahu’s cabinet.
Bennett told Netanyahu "There is something to do. I told the prime minister yesterday to appoint me defense minister so Israel can back to winning."1 Bennett has long criticized the Netanyahu government’s reluctance to respond more forcefully to Gaza rocket attacks, and has advocated ground incursions into the Gaza Strip.2
Both Bennett and Kahlon threaten to pull their parties out of Netanyahu’s coalition; Bennett and Yisrael Bietnu if Netanyahu refuses to appoint Bennett as Defense Minister and Kahlon if Netanyahu appoints Bennett to the post.
Either way, the current government is on shaky ground.
Meanwhile, there is, or was, a bill in the Knesset that would allow Israel’s president, a largely ceremonial position, to appoint whomever the president wished to form a new government. Currently, the president is obliged to ask the leader of the party with the most seats in the Knesset to try to form a government. All governments, from Ben Gurion on, are formed as a coalition, usually by blackmailing the person named to head the new government.
Sources
1. http://tinyurl.com/yafx7j7y
2. http://tinyurl.com/ycwcs59p
3. https://www.haaretz.com/1.4705992
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