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ANALYSIS / Netanyahu is beginning to look worried By Yossi Verter, Haaretz Correspondent Tags: Israel News, Gideon Sa'ar  This week, for the first time since he took office, Prime Minister Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu has been looking worried. People who have spoken with him found him short-tempered, almost testy. The problems piling up on his desk are burying the sweet victory of his return to the Prime Minister's Bureau: His approaching visit with U.S. President Barack Obama is looking less and less like cause for rejoicing amid the ill winds emanating from Washington. Before that he has Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to deal with, and in between, a budget that skimps on education, welfare and health, and is cruel to children at risk, the unemployed, demobilized soldiers, widows and new mothers. After the draft budget was submitted to government ministers Wednesday night - proposing cuts in funds for Holocaust survivors, the elderly and the disabled - Netanyahu's bureau sent out a hysterical beeper notice to reporters retracting the cuts. Labor Party ministers who just a week ago were singing Netanyahu's praises boycotted the Knesset session on Monday, when the plenum voted to split various ministerial portfolios. However, the one who blew Netanyahu's fuse this week was his protege and right-hand man, who put together his coalition: Gideon Sa'ar, the new education minister. This week, for the first time, Netanyahu found out what it means to be in Sa'ar's sights, when the latter decided to fight for the education budget, which has already been cut numerous times over the past decade. Advertisement It began at the meeting of the Likud ministers last Friday, when Netanyahu and Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz presented the budget. At the end of the discussion Netanyahu said something along the line of: Okay, we're deciding that we support the government's budget. Just a minute, said Sa'ar. What do you mean? You can't force us in advance to support the budget unanimously. That isn't constitutional. Every minister has to vote according to his conscience. Netanyahu demurred. All right, he said, but it's still possible to ask for your support. Every morning since then, the prime minister has woken up to an enthusiastic media campaign against the proposed education cuts: Sometimes it involves Sa'ar; another day, it's his ministry director general, Shimshon Shoshani. A front-page article of this sort appeared in the mass-circulation Maariv on Tuesday, with the headline "The schoolchildren will pay," next to a picture of Bibi looking pleased with himself; there have also been embarrassing quotations from him from the election campaign about his planned "revolution" for education following his so-called economic "revolution" as finance minister. Yossi Sarid, one of Sa'ar's predecessors as education minister, described Thursday in Haaretz how he advised the new rookie minister not to compromise. On Wednesday Sa'ar spoke in the Knesset during a debate on the cuts that was initiated by the opposition and told lawmakers that in 2007, Israeli pupils performed worse than Jordanian pupils and only slightly better than Iranian and Syrian students, in the sciences. What also annoyed Netanyahu was Sa'ar's vote against the budget at the government meeting this week, along with the ministers from Labor and Shas. I gave him the highest-ranking portfolio of all the Likud ministers (true, Yuval Steinitz is finance minister, but only nominally), and this is how he is paying me back? Netanyahu grumbled to someone. Some tried to fan the flames between Netanyahu and Sa'ar, to transform the education minister's fight over his budget into a potential fight between them over the Likud leadership. Netanyahu knows that Sa'ar will never run against him. Moreover, Sa'ar will always ultimately support him in the face of criticism. "I know that certain people are trying to create enmity between me and the prime minister, but they won't succeed," said Sa'ar. "I am certain that Netanyahu is going to be on the side of education." On Wednesday night they met privately. Apparently it was a good meeting. It is not yet clear how the education budget is going to look next Tuesday when the government votes. Netanyahu cannot afford the resignation of an education minister and his director general so quickly. Sa'ar cannot afford to return to the back benches of the Knesset. They'll have to meet somewhere in the middle. 'A top lawyer' There is something about new governments that energizes and arouses respect. In the blink of an eye, ministers who had accumulated tremendous power lose their fancy offices, battalions of advisors, secretaries and troupe of bodyguards. Among Kadima's top brass, former finance minister Roni Bar-On looks less deeply scarred by this transition than his colleagues. Former transportation minister Shaul Mofaz, former public security minister Avi Dichter and former Knesset speaker Dalia Itzik were looking lost this week. Nor has former foreign minister Tzipi Livni entirely internalized her new role as opposition leader. She skipped the opening session of the Knesset. Instead of spearheading the parliamentary fight against the split in ministerial portfolios this week, ridiculing the education budget, or dwelling on the quarrels between Netanyahu and Sa'ar - and the prime minister's attempts to evade the two-state formula - she chose to spend the week in Washington in talks with U.S. officials and at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) lobby's conference in Washington. She garnered minimal attention there. In Livni's absence, Bar-On presented the no-confidence motion against Netanyahu's government. He was cruel, blunt, even wicked. He even took a shot at President Shimon Peres, who at that very moment was conducting public relations for Netanyahu in Washington. "A top lawyer who has decided to represent any client and falls in love with his client, in order to soften the client's hearing in Washington on May 18," Bar-On said in the Knesset regarding Peres, who was Kadima's candidate for president and was strongly supported at the time, in his race against Reuven (Ruby) Rivlin, by Bar-On himself. "This is an absolutely accurate depiction," Bar-On continued. "About four or five years ago, I sat next to Peres in the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and he told me the following story: Every time foreign minister Abba Eban came to the United Nations General Assembly, everyone would say: Here is Israel's best defense lawyer. When prime minister Golda Meir came to the UN, everyone would grab their heads and say: Oy vey - the client has shown up. "These are crazy times," he sighed. "I hear Peres calling Bibi someone who will make history, and I ask myself whether Bibi knows he is such a person. Peres is setting such high expectations for the prime minister's visit, and I assume Bibi will have a hard time reaching this threshhold. "I watched Bibi's recorded speech to AIPAC. He declared he is prepared to negotiate! Is that what Peres was referring to when he said at AIPAC that Bibi is going to make history? What have we been doing here since Oslo, the road map, the Bush letter, [former prime minister Ehud] Barak at Camp David, Abu Mazen [Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas], [former prime minister Ehud] Olmert, Abu Ala [Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qureia] and Tzipi Livni? Haven't we been conducting negotiations? Is this how he has 'reinvented the wheel'? Negotiations?" Political 'health' "This whole business with Peres is very strange to me," Bar-On said. "His call to [Defense Minister Ehud] Barak to join the government. Is that his job? Is he the president of the country or the president of the government?" Had you not worked so hard for him in the Knesset in June 2007, maybe he wouldn't have been elected. Bar-On: "So I'm to blame for everything. It's my fault that the Olmert government fell, it's my fault that Tzipi Livni didn't establish a government in October, it's my fault that we didn't join the Netanyahu government and it's my fault that I wasn't an instructor at Ben Shemen [agricultural school] 6,000 years ago and didn't send Peres out to the field." Ruby Rivlin as president would never have given Bibi the services that Peres is giving him. "Personally, Ruby would have been glad to help Bibi, but with respect to his worldview he could not have done so - certainly not with the same degree of enthusiasm as Peres. Only because of his worldview, yes? Not because of his lack of talent." There are six houses on the small street in Motza. The Bar-On family lives in No. 2, and No. 3 is the Olmert family. Bar-On and Olmert are very close. They talk a lot about "the health of politics, the past and the future." "At the moment, Olmert is focused on one issue, his health," said Bar-On. "He has two hurdles ahead of him: recovering from the disease and getting through his legal issues." If he jumps these two hurdles successfully, will he return to politics? "I have no doubt that he will." Protecting authority Ehud Barak does not lack a sense of humor - until it comes to ministerial authority. At the most recent government meeting, Netanyahu officially announced the establishment of the "Ministry for the Supervision of Intelligence Affairs," headed by Intelligence and Atomic Energy Minister Dan Meridor. Over the top of his glasses, Barak looked daggers at the prime minister, who quickly added that Meridor's authority would not come at the expense of the defense minister. This was not enough for Barak. "[Former prime minister Menachem] Begin taught us that it is best that even the obvious be said and recorded in the minutes," he said. The ministers voted, the matter was approved, and transportation Minister Yisrael Katz said: "Nu, now we have an Israeli parallel to the Egyptian minister for intelligence affairs, Omar Suleiman. Dan Meridor is like him." Barak heard this. "Because Suleiman's responsibilities aren't defined, he has a lot of power in Egypt," he retorted. "Here, the authority of the minister for intelligence affairs is well defined." But what are his responsibilities? Environmental Protection Minister Gilad Erdan, who is the ministerial liaison vis-a-vis the Knesset, issued a statement about the new ministry, but did not list its responsibilities. Labor MK Ophir Pines-Paz took the opportunity to taunt Meridor. "My friend Dan," Pines-Paz said from the Knesset podium. "Is this what you came back [to Likud politics] for? Isn't this embarrassing?" Minister Meridor declined to respond. A government source told Haaretz that the matter of responsibilities will be finalized soon. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Theft in Gaza Elite IDF soldier confesses to stealing credit card from Gaza home during Gaza war. Raising the Bar Israeli supermodel Bar Refaeli voted 3rd hottest woman by Maxim magazine.   1.   The PM Bibi 19:28  |  montrealais 08/05/09   2.   Netanyahu is panicking 22:47  |  Chris Linthwaite 08/05/09   3.   Will Netanyahu fall 22:53  |  Reid 08/05/09   4.   No need to fear 23:04  |  Brod 08/05/09   5.   Brod - the world does not respect Israel 23:51  |  Palestinian Brit 08/05/09   6.   This is what happens when 23:56  |  Mark Lincoln 08/05/09   7.   PM Bibi worried??? for what?? 00:01  |  Col [Res] Cohen 09/05/09   8.   #2 lintwit should be saying it about gb and not israel 00:21  |  v hardman 09/05/09   9.   #4 - The world doesn`t respect Israel. Very few do. 00:47  |  Spitzer 09/05/09   10.   That makes sense 01:03  |  Frank 09/05/09   11.   Col Cohen (res.) 02:23  |  Mark Lincoln 09/05/09   12.   Tsuris What me worry 02:33  |  Cornelius 09/05/09   13.   Maybe He Is Beginning To See The Light. 04:27  |  Cool B 09/05/09   14.   Bar-On talks like an opposition leader 05:19  |  Student 09/05/09   15.   alot of bibi`s worries were foreseeable; the rest HE created(2nd 06:59  |  eric 09/05/09   16.   Bibi... 08:35  |  Deacon2 09/05/09   17.   #5 a question for the posters that quote "the world" 08:47  |  v hardman 09/05/09   18.   An article that is based on wishful thinking and not much else .. 09:33  |  martin knopfman 09/05/09   19.   Domestic Genius 09:38  |  Mark of Lewiston 09/05/09   20.   Netanyahu only beginning to LOOK worried... 09:43  |  Esther 09/05/09   21.   Shenanigans 10:03  |  Colin 09/05/09   22.   alot of bibi`s worries were foreseeable; the rest HE created(3rd 11:00  |  eric 09/05/09   23.   #7 Col (res) Cohen 11:52  |  Chris Linthwaite 09/05/09   24.   #8 V Hardman 12:03  |  Chris Linthwaite 09/05/09   25.   #7.beg to differ.Israel small upgrades to US weapons.no help 13:59  |  justice 09/05/09   26.   What is Netanyahu`s approval rating amongst Israelis? 14:05  |  Chris Linthwaite 09/05/09   27.   bibi 16:20  |  ben feingold 09/05/09   28.   once a media start now an amateur 16:21  |  Paul 09/05/09   29.   He doesn`t know what is coming.. 17:22  |  Avid reader 09/05/09   30.   Scary 17:48  |  julie 09/05/09   31.   This is not a news report, it is wishful thinking 17:51  |  Realist 09/05/09   32.   The responsibilities of an Imposed Solution. 18:00  |  Lou Medel 09/05/09   33.   Psuedo-Bluster from the Dog of War 19:52  |  Herb Cohen 09/05/09   34.   Wake-up Call for #4 20:00  |  Herb Cohen 09/05/09   35.   To Lou Medel (# 32). No such thing. 20:06  |  flyingdoc57 09/05/09   36.   To FlyingDoc # 32 20:40  |  Herb Cohen 09/05/09   37.   #26 what is browns rating in the uk linthwaite 21:21  |  v hardman 09/05/09   38.   Does Bibi have any reason to start to appear to begin to... 22:27  |  Chris Lightweight 09/05/09   39.   Herb Cohen #34 22:56  |  Brod 09/05/09

Read & React Obama warns Netanyahu: Don't surprise me with Iran strike Responses: 267 Ex-diplomats, U.S. Jews urge Obama to push two-state solution Responses: 89 Gideon Levy / Anti-Semitism is rearing its head in Tel Aviv Responses: 55 IDF probing whether troops forced Gaza man to drink urine Responses: 38 More Headlines 20:39 Netanyahu urges Pope: Sound your moral voice against Iran 15:54 Jordan king to Netanyahu: Israel must accept Palestinian state 16:51 Lieberman's party proposes ban on Arab Nakba 18:38 Libya submits anti-Israel draft to UN Security Council 17:48 IN PICTURES / 'Lost' fans recreate show in clay models on Tel Aviv beach 21:20 U.S. Senate candidate refers to Senator Schumer as 'that Jew' 11:16 INTERACTIVE GUIDE / Pope Benedict XVI in the Holy Land 13:52 WATCH: Daily news round-up from Israel 11:51 Obama warns Netanyahu: Don't surprise me with Iran strike 18:17 Are the people who 'really run the world' meeting this weekend? 16:02 Six killed as truck collides with car in Kfar Sava 12:17 Why are more and more Israelis starring on American reality TV? 13:04 Israel rejects Vatican request to grant Christian Arab couple citizenship Previous Editions Select Day 13 may 12 may 11 may 10 may 08 may 07 may 06 may 05 may 04 may 03 may 01 may 30 apr

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