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Last update - 10:54 05/12/2008 Speak to us, Bibi By Yoel Marcus Tags: Likud, elections, Netanyahu  When someone slips on a banana peel, the bystander's gut reaction is to burst out laughing. When the same fellow slips the next day on dog droppings, the bystander will say: Poor guy, yesterday a banana peel, today dog poop. But when the same fellow then walks into a telephone pole, the bystander will conclude that the problem is the klutz himself, always getting into some fix. The computer fiasco that sabotaged the Labor Party primary and turned it into a laughingstock at a time when the party is already scraping the bottom in public opinion polls intimates that this is not just a bit of random bad luck but a serial problem as Labor teeters on the brink of the political abyss. With the nosedive of Labor as borne out in the recent surveys, and the mortification in Kadima as its magic and strength ebb away, mainly because of Ehud Olmert, Likud under Benjamin Netanyahu is starting to look like the more stable option. If it weren't enough that Likud has tripled its chances of winning the upcoming elections, the gap between Likud and Kadima is widening every day, with Likud in front by six to seven seats. Advertisement Benjamin Netanyahu was Israel's prime minister from June 1996 to July 1999. From the way he has conducted himself in his eight years on the outside, it looks like he has learned more lessons than Ehud Barak. Now he is on the road to the comeback of all comebacks. It took Yitzhak Rabin 15 years to transform himself from a failed prime minister to a beloved leader with a worldwide following. Ehud Barak has been more successful at buying an apartment-cum-penthouse in the Akirov Towers than in repackaging himself as Labor's new leader. On the face of it, Netanyahu seems very much changed. Some say he has matured and given up the poses and the demagoguery. He won't be shouting "fraidy cat" in the town square anymore, or whispering into the rabbis' ears that people on the left are not Jews. His wife Sara isn't always at his side anymore, grinning from ear to ear. Some members of the international community even see him as a darn good economist. Bibi was already gone from the political map, like Menachem Begin after losing the elections seven times in a row. When Begin won, Pinhas Sapir invoked the proverb: For a righteous man falls seven times and rises again. Netanyahu may not be a sage, but he is definitely capable of more in-depth thinking than one might assume from his rabble-rousing speeches in the town square. To paraphrase Ariel Sharon, things you see from here, you don't see from there. The biggest lesson Netanyahu has learned, according to his friends, is that when you're sitting on top, things look different. Kadima and Likud together can form a broad, moderate government. In practice, the battle is between Likud's two factions. Sharon's Likud, renamed Kadima, is basically a stolen Likud - a Likud that turned away from the radical right toward the center of the political map. The person who has put a leftist cast on Kadima is actually Ehud Olmert, on his way out. No Kadima man, including Sharon, has ever spoken of giving away everything as Olmert has. Netanyahu's statement that absolute peace with the Palestinians will not happen in our generation is not as far-fetched as it sounds. Bibi is rather closed-mouthed when it comes to his views. But there are signs that if he continues on the path he has chosen, he may be able to steal Kadima. Bringing in people from the outside - Benny Begin and Dan Meridor, for example, two princes with opposite outlooks - allows for a wide berth in thinking. Some of the newcomers to Likud are like aliens from another planet. From Uzi Dayan and Moshe Ya'alon to everything in between, they are all graduates of the Labor movement. Bibi's father, Prof. Benzion Netanyahu the historian, might remind his son of what Ze'ev Jabotinsky said after the assassination of Chaim Arlosoroff: "We shall take the souls of your young people, Cain!" A long time has passed since then, but bit by bit, that prophecy is coming true in Likud. At the same time, Netanyahu is managing to neutralize Moshe Feiglin and his gang of extremists. Is Netanyahu moving toward the center or is he playing tricks on us? It's hard to know. Everyone agrees that he has not made a mistake yet. But that is not enough. Has he really undergone an ideological transformation, or is this just a clever campaign tactic? Israel's voters want to know where he is going. Speak to us, Bibi. Speak to us now. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Violence on film Two settlers filmed shooting at Palestinians turn themselves in to police. Warning to Iran Bush: United States will not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon.   1.   NETANYAHU`S NO GOOD.NEED GOVT THAT`S GOOD FOR THE JEWS!))))) 11:42  |  VOICE of MOSHIACH))) 05/12/08   2.   Are you kidding, Yoel Marcus....???? 11:43  |  Swiss (Dino) 05/12/08   3.   `darn good economist`-sure he is 11:47  |  Keynes 05/12/08   4.   Sharon would laugh his head off if he could read Mucous` latest.. 11:50  |  EL 05/12/08   5.   what does mr. netanyahu say about... 12:49  |  saul a. readner 05/12/08   6.   I hope you are right, Mr. Marcus 12:59  |  Edith 05/12/08   7.   Israel & the Arabs were at log head since the time was donkey... 13:37  |  Akram Zekaria 05/12/08   8.   speak to us Bibi 14:18  |  mike 05/12/08   9.   Netanyahu was the worst PM in Israeli history 14:19  |  D 05/12/08   10.   A more Eastern European approach 14:34  |  Mark Lincoln 05/12/08   11.   #2 Swiss Dino 15:18  |  MR 05/12/08   12.   if Sharon could change Netanyahu could change, too - 16:26  |  ivo 05/12/08   13.   Marcus may be right 16:27  |  Afikoman 05/12/08   14.   Arch opportunist Marcus hails whoever`ll be in power 19:53  |  Absolute Sweden 05/12/08   15.   10~ Mark Lincoln " And get the Joy Through Strength" 02:17  |  Akram Zekaria 07/12/08

Read & React Avi Issacharoff: Hebron settler riots were out and out pogroms Responses: 239 Obama's 'Palestinian friend' laments catastrophic U.S. policy in Mideast Responses: 255 Israel braces for settler violence in wake of Hebron house evacuation Responses: 200 IDF soldier assaults Haaretz photographer in Hebron Responses: 132 More Headlines 02:04 Hebron settlers accuse IDF of collective punishment 02:47 Clinton to Olmert: I will work for Middle East peace 02:46 Shin Bet admits intervening in Muslim cleric appointments to public office 23:36 Qassam fired from Gaza hits Ashkelon; IAF strikes rocket launcher 21:24 VIDEO: Settlers filmed shooting at Palestinians turn themselves in 22:33 Israeli soldier allegedly assaults Haaretz photographer in Hebron 22:35 Egyptian paper urges top cleric to purify his hand after Peres handshake 02:21 Israel provides NATO with intel on Iran nuclear program 02:13 Morocco tries man for 1989 murder of Belgian Jewish leader 21:49 Abbas slams Hamas for depriving thousands of Palestinians of haj pilgrimage 17:42 Infrastructure Min.: Demanding Olmert's resignation was a mistake 10:58 Report: IAEA chief says efforts to curb Iran nuke program 'a failure' 22:44 PA police: Settlers set fire to Palestinian home in Hebron 22:44 Islamic Jihad prods Palestinian factions to avenge Hebron settler riots 19:33 40 leftists arrested as they try to block Berlin neo-Nazi march 07:26 Bush: America will not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon 14:55 Israel eases travel restrictions at key West Bank checkpoint Previous Editions Select Day 05 dec 04 dec 03 dec 02 dec 01 dec 30 nov 28 nov 27 nov 26 nov 25 nov 24 nov 23 nov

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