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Pity the prime minister
By Yossi Verter
Tags: Israel news

On Monday evening Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sat contentedly in his office at the Knesset. A few minutes earlier, he had decided to defer the vote on the biometric database bill. A few hours earlier, he had decided to defer the issue of splitting the attorney general's post as well. Defense Minister Ehud Barak and the Labor Party were staying in the government; Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman was not resigning for the nonce.

And then Yedioth Ahronoth journalist Shimon Schiffer called, seeking the reaction of the Prime Minister's Bureau to the Americans' statement of opposition to some building project in East Jerusalem.

What's this about, Netanyahu asked his people. No one knew. Netanyahu asked them to call in Interior Minister Eli Yishai, whose purview includes Jerusalem. Yishai ran over from his office. That's when they figured it out: It was about the northwestern part of the Gilo neighborhood. Netanyahu called several of the relevant players. He was told that this was strictly a technical matter, that on the following day, the Jerusalem District Planning and Building Commission would be approving the construction of 900 new housing units in the neighborhood.
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He knew he was about to get slapped, but it is doubtful he imagined the barrage of condemnation: from U.S. President Barack Obama, who said the construction in Gilo did not contribute to Israel's security, to the secretary general of the United Nations, who called Gilo "a settlement" before the European Union, which strongly condemned everything happening in East Jerusalem, including the demolition of an illegal structure on Wednesday.

"I really pity Netanyahu," said one of his ministers. "There hasn't been another prime minister like him - he has entirely frozen building in the settlements. Ever since this government was established in April, not a single tender has been issued or plan approved, not even in East Jerusalem. The fact of the matter is that building has been frozen, under a right-wing government, with [Minister without Portfolio] Benny Begin, [Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe] Bogey Ya'alon, [Foreign Affairs Minister Avigdor] Lieberman, [National Infrastructure Minister] Uzi Landau and Eli Yishai - but Bibi is getting clobbered, relentlessly.

"Under [former prime ministers] Rabin, Barak, Sharon and Olmert, there was a lot more building, and the Americans accepted them warmly," the minister said. "Bibi freezes construction and he gets clobbered. The authorization given this week in Jerusalem is an entirely formal thing. It will be a long time before they build in Gilo. The Americans know this - it's been explained to them, but they're going their own way. If it were dependent on Netanyahu, that commission wouldn't have convened. I have no doubt that in his heart he really, really didn't want this, but in retrospect, what could he have said apart from what he said, that Gilo is a integral part of Jerusalem and is part of the Israeli consensus?"

Wonderful!

"How are you?" someone asked opposition leader MK Tzipi Livni (Kadima) on Wednesday.

"Just fine," she said.

"Think again," the questioner hinted and asked again, "How are you?"

Livni caught on fast. "Wonderful!" she cried joyfully and laughed a big laugh.

The Kadima Knesset faction meeting had begun very late that Monday, and was allotted only half an hour, as Livni had spoken at the Saban Forum and was running late. MK Shaul Mofaz wanted to present his diplomatic plan, but there wasn't enough time. He sat down to her right, and she opened the meeting with an announcement that immediately after Mofaz returns from abroad next Wednesday, his plan will be discussed comprehensively and thoroughly.

Mofaz interrupted her: "Unity in Kadima is important to me," he said coldly. A sarcastic grin spread across Livni's face. "Wonderful," she said through her teeth.

"Your attempt to prevent me from presenting my plan isn't contributing to unity," said Mofaz.

"Wonderful," said Livni, pursing her lips.

Mofaz pressed on: "I'm not going to make an issue of it, but at the first opportunity I will want to present my plan -"

"Wonderful," Livni interrupted.

And Mofaz completed his sentence: "- which is very important to the state of Israel."

"Wonderful," Livni concluded.

Afterward, Livni's supporters said that Mofaz would not have behaved like that if the party chair weren't a woman. Mofaz's supporters said she would not have shown him such scorn if he were not Mizrahi.

There is also another side to this story. This week Livni's associates said that for weeks, she has been chasing after Mofaz and trying to arrange a meeting to mitigate the bad blood between them. He has been ignoring her, and does not answer phone calls from her bureau. She called him directly and invited him to a discussion on diplomatic policy.

"What diplomatic issue is on the agenda?" asked Mofaz.

"There are several issues," she told him.

He sounded guarded. Livni asked if he would prefer to meet one-on-one beforehand. Mofaz stalled.

The day before Mofaz presented his plan at a press conference, on November 8, he and Livni bumped into each other in a staircase during a Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee tour of a classified installation.

"I want to discuss your plan soon," Livni said to him, "but next Monday [November 15, when the Knesset faction was to meet], I am speaking at the Saban Forum and I won't be there in time. In addition, Haim Ramon, [MK] Avi Dichter and [MK] Meir Sheetrit want to have their say. I understand that you'll be flying abroad in a few days. Tell me when you are coming back, and we'll set up a discussion immediately after you return."

Mofaz muttered something. Livni asked her aides to coordinate with Mofaz's aides a new date to discuss diplomatic issues. There wasn't anyone to talk to. On Sunday of this week, she asked faction chair MK Dalia Itzik to contact Mofaz. Everyone answers when Itzik calls. Mofaz didn't answer. On Monday morning, he called Itzik and demanded in no uncertain terms that the discussion be held that very day. Itzik explained that there wouldn't be time, that Livni was at another engagement and that the meeting wouldn't go on for more than half an hour. Mofaz threatened to bring lawyers.

At about the same time, his associates informed journalists that they would do well to come to the faction session, for the "photo-op" at the beginning of the meeting, because it was going to be interesting. That was the atmosphere when Livni and Mofaz entered.

"He's the one who behaved in a way that wasn't appropriate," said Livni in closed conversations. "He's the one who's looking for a fight, for headlines at any price, because for some reason he thinks this will serve him well. After all, he didn't really want to share his plan with the faction, because a week earlier he presented it to the whole world and its cousin at a press conference. He wants to replace me, and that's okay, it's his right - but I'm not impressed by this schtick of flexing his muscles.

"One couldn't have acted more appropriately than I did. I contacted him, I offered that we discuss his plan right after he returns from abroad, for two hours, three, however long is needed. Had he not been going to the United States, the discussion would have been held the day after the faction meeting, this Tuesday. I suggested we discuss his plan next Thursday, the day after he comes back. Now he is asking to postpone it to the following Monday. I agree. I have no problem, but I'm not going to agree to accept anyone's threats, like if it isn't right here and right now, then etcetera etcetera.

"I'm prepared to bring his plan to a vote in the faction tomorrow," said Livni. "I am not sure that he is."

Berl and the jet set

The President's Conference, the gala event convened under the patronage of President Shimon Peres, took place about a month ago. This year, in the shadow of diplomatic isolation, fewer international movers and shakers came than last year: Baron David Mayer de Rothschild, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, the presidents of Croatia and Macedonia, Tony Blair and garden-variety billionaires like the president of Skype and the founder of Wikipedia. The dominant language was English, with light, random sprinklings of Hebrew.

The event was funded entirely by donations. The first conference, in May 2008, will be remembered as the Sheldon Adelson conference. Adelson is a gambling baron who contributed millions of dollars to the conference, and was honored by being given the opportunity to make the opening speech - together with his wife - to the astonishment of then-U.S. president George W. Bush.

This time, at the beginning of the year, the conference organizers applied, inter alia, to the Berl Katznelson Foundation for a donation. About two months ago, shortly before the conference began, the foundation's board met and approved giving the Presidents' Conference a respectable NIS 200,000.

What does a foundation named after Berl, the Labor Zionist leader, have to do with a conclave of the jet set? What does a foundation that was set up in 1944 "to establish a seminary for youth leaders and labor movement activists" have to do with paying for suites and first-class tickets for notables and moguls? What does an educational institution created in the sprit of socialism, which was intended to "serve as a productive center for the movement's thinking and values," have to do with a capitalist show?

"Poor Berl is turning over in his grave," said a Labor Party source. "If he were to knock on the gates of the conference, in his blue shirt with the laces, they would throw him out."

The chairman of the Berl Katznelson board is former MK Efi Oshaya of the Labor Party, a close associate of Peres. "We collaborate with all kinds of bodies," said a senior foundation official, who asked to remain anonymous. "At the Presidents' Conference we worked with several discussion groups. We donated to them just like other organizations."

What organizations, for example?

"Youth movements, secular yeshivas, Radio Sderot, social organizations."

How are Radio Sderot or youth movements connected to the Presidents' Conference?

"The conference dealt with issues important to the state of Israel."

Was Defense Minister Ehud Barak, whose relations with Peres have never been closer, behind the matter?

"No way. Barak didn't even know about it. The application came to us. The chairman recommended it, the board approved it."

MK Eitan Cabel was secretary general of the Labor Party until eight months ago. I asked him whether the donation sounded reasonable.

"It's very, very, very hard for me to believe," said Cabel.

Believe it, I said.

"Why on earth does the Berl Katznelson Foundation need to help the president?" wondered Cabel. "The foundation's declared aims are to promote the labor movement's heritage and values. I remember that in my day we gave only to organizations of that sort. With me that wouldn't have passed, with all due respect to the President's residence and to the president."
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