Dear Mr. Netanyahu,
In your speech commemorating the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, you said that that you are Rabin’s partner in his vision for peace. Will all due respect, Mr. Prime Minister, this is a falsehood.
Rabin took risks for peace. He knew that he would make many enemies by signing an agreement with the Palestinians and by renouncing the greater Land of Israel. He did not play games; he said what he wanted to do and he did it. In fact he took so many risks that he paid with his life.
You, Mr. Netanyahu, say one thing and do another. Nobody really knows what you want, and there are many commentators who think that even you don’t know. Of course we all know your excuse: even though Israel has the best opportunity ever to arrive at a final status agreement with the Palestinians, you say you can’t move ahead, because your coalition will fall apart. In doing so, you imply that this coalition is a fact of nature; you conveniently forget that you chose to create this coalition.
Rabin took risks. You don’t even run the risk of a coalition with Tzipi Livni and Kadima, because you are afraid that she will not support you if you are not serious in the peace process. That is not being Rabin’s partner in the vision for peace.
Your speech was peppered with more falsehoods.
You claim that Israel is in better shape than ever: "Now we are less divided within ourselves." "We now hear less screams, people listen to each other more, and social gaps are narrowing."
I don’t know whether you seriously believe what you said. Israel has never been as divided by hatred between the religious and the secular, between left and right, Jews and Arabs as it is now. Of course there are fewer screams. The peace camp tends not to scream; it also doesn’t call for violence. But don’t mistake the lack of violent, hate-filled demonstrations of the sort you participated in against Rabin for political harmony and unity.
Rabin also did a lot to narrow social gaps. But what do you mean when you say that “social gaps are narrowing”? Do you mean that Israel has reached a degree of concentration of economic power unparalleled in the Free World? Or do you mean that the income gaps between rich and poor have reached unheard of levels?
You also said that, "In the 15 years that passed, fundamental Islam has strengthened. It won the elections in Gaza, took over southern Lebanon, and has threatened the United States." There is no doubt that radical Islam is a serious factor, not just in the Middle East but in global politics. But could you please explain how this is connected to your insistence on resuming construction in the settlements? How exactly do the settlements protect us from Hezbollah’s rockets?
In your emphasis on fear, you conveniently skip all the facts that could give reasons for optimism. Is this why you failed to mention that the Salaam Fayyad has created a security force in the West Bank that both the IDF and the Palestinian population trust?
There is, of course an explanation: Mr. Netanyahu, you have built a career on capitalizing on fear and hatred. In your first run for prime minister, you kept fanning hatred for what you called “the elites” - and that included everybody who didn’t agree with you. In your current government, you no longer generate hatred against the elites: you just allow your coalition partners to disqualify anybody who is not on the political right as disloyal to the State of Israel.
And more than anything, you are now making a career built on blind hatred against Israel’s Arab citizens. Of course, you never initiate anti-Arab legislation; you just go along with Avigdor Lieberman and Eli Yishai in everything they propose, including the phenomenally damaging idea of the loyalty oath. Since you came to power, almost every week an anti-liberal law has been proposed, and I can’t remember that you opposed any of them. You carry responsibility for the damage done to Israel’s democracy.
Mr. Netanyahu, I think that you actually do believe in liberal democracy. But because you are incapable of taking risks, you stick to your “natural partners”, and you are running a coalition that pushes Israel towards anti-liberal ethnocracy.
So please, do not call yourself Rabin’s partner, until you are willing to take the slightest political risk for peace and true democracy.
