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Who is loony?
By Gideon Levy

Benjamin Netanyahu has once again demonstrated he is a political virtuoso. One may even start to suspect that he invented Moshe Feiglin. Talk is one thing - "we'll uproot Feiglin" - but the result is something else: The Feiglins helped reinvent the Likud Party leader. Now Netanyahu is portrayed exactly as he wished: as a moderate leader, responsible, enlightened and level-headed, as opposed to all those Feiglins. They are "loony," and he is a statesman; they are extreme, a foreign growth, and he is the next prime minister, who will bestow peace and security on Israel. Netanyahu should be grateful to the man who enabled him to deceive the media and the public.

Nonetheless, the question must be asked: What exactly is the difference between Netanyahu and Feiglin? How are Netanyahu's positions - while it's doubtful anyone knows exactly what they are - different from his rival's "extremist" positions? This question was not raised at all in the ridiculous Likud party primaries. The bitter truth is that Netanyahu is essentially no different than Feiglin. They are all Feiglins in the Likud. The difference lies only in the media coverage and the rhetoric.

Netanyahu, like Feiglin, supports a continuation of the occupation and both are adherents of the one-state solution - a "Jewish," occupying and racist state in which two types of people live: Jews, superior, and Arabs, inferior. Neither have any real intention of changing the current state of affairs. Feiglin speaks about a Jewish state, racial purity, and Netanyahu indeed does not dare to utter such things, but the non-solution he proposes - like anyone who opposes a complete end of the occupation - will continue to bolster the status quo, which means a Jewish state, ostensibly, with a huge Arab population living a dog's life.
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Netanyahu never has outlined his vision for the next 20-30 years. And no one in our shallow media has ever demanded this of him. What does he think it will be like here, with more than 3 million Palestinians, whose numbers are only growing? What exactly will happen to them under the occupation? Will they join the Zionist movement? Will they willingly leave their homes? Will they live forever under the Israeli boot? Isn't that loony?

Unlike Feiglin, Netanyahu lacks the courage to outline his real doctrine, whose results would mirror those of Feiglin's. Feiglin responds to Netanyahu's haughty statement, "if they give, they will receive," by saying, "they won't give and they won't receive; the enemy must be vanquished." But what's the difference? After all, even when the Palestinians gave, surrendering most of the Land of Israel, they did not get a thing. Even when terrorism subsided, their miserable lives and the conditions of the large prison in which they live did not improve a bit. And what exactly will Netanyahu "give" them? What bone will he toss them if they behave "nicely"? A quarter of Hebron? Half of Nablus? And how much longer will it be possible to talk about terror, of course only Palestinian terror, another one of Netanyahu's favorite topics, as Israel is killing four times as many of their men, women and children - while Palestinian terror nearly has disappeared from our streets?

Indeed, there is one difference: Unlike Feiglin, Netanyahu speaks at length about sand slipping through the hourglass on the Iranian threat. Oh, how he loves to talk about the Iranian threat. It is a winpning card. And what could be bad about searching for the coin under the lantern instead of where it is really located, to become Mr. Iran in Israel and the world and completely disregard the truly dangerous hourglass - the Palestinian problem? The fact that nothing sustains terrorism and Iran like the occupation is something that our very own expert on global terror and Iran is blind to.

The opinion polls show that Netanyahu is the most popular leader in Israel today. This says something about Israel and its mood: It does not want peace. It's unlikely Netanyahu's star-struck supporters have ever even asked themselves where this man, whom they seek to crown and anoint, wants to lead Israel. They only know that they are supporting a moderate statesman - as opposed to the extremist Feiglin. Thus, Netanyahu has made fools of them yet again. And whom does he have to thank? Feiglin.
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  1.   Levy - The Israeli Chomsky 09:18  |  Tod Zuckerman 19/08/07
  2.   not surprising... 09:32  |  ravi 19/08/07
  3.   Gideon Levy 09:37  |  Zorik B 19/08/07
  4.   Here is an equitable and practicable plan to end the occupation: 09:38  |  Uzi 19/08/07
  5.   Levy & the loony 09:58  |  Rahamim S 19/08/07
  6.   G.L.JewsR a people not a Race:1 Jew state vs. 22 arab states 09:59  |  sam 19/08/07
  7.   WHO IS BLIND? WHY ITS GIDEON AND AMIRA !! 10:09  |  paul harris 19/08/07
  8.   Levy is Right, But... 10:09  |  Moshe 19/08/07
  9.   Gideon Levy contradicting himself 10:25  |  S 19/08/07
  10.   Strange `Morality` from Haaretz 10:48  |  Shalom Freedman 19/08/07
  11.   Haaretz & other delusional leftists suffer from the Oslo syndrome 10:55  |  Uzi 19/08/07
  12.   Will Gideon Levy stand up and say: Yes I accept the universally 11:11  |  Avihu 19/08/07
  13.   Gideon Levy the Racist, like Hamas supports Arab terrorism. 11:20  |  Ken Jurist 19/08/07
  14.   I, Too, Back a JEWISH State 11:23  |  David 19/08/07
  15.   Hamas: Left-Wing Encouraged Us to Attack Israeli civilians 11:28  |  David Stoler 19/08/07
  16.   The way the left thinks. 11:37  |  Eric Myers 19/08/07
  17.   OCCUPATION IS A RACIST POLICY ALL ALONG 11:55  |  indrajaya 19/08/07
  18.   Netanyahu`s vision vs Gideon Levy`s vision 12:03  |  Sam 19/08/07
  19.   Olmert, Netanyahu, Feiglin, Livni, It doesn`t matter 12:06  |  Natallie Durson 19/08/07
  20.   To reassure Tod (#1) 12:10  |  Yair 19/08/07
  21.   # 7 paul harris 12:16  |  Igor 19/08/07
  22.   # 7 paul harris 12:19  |  Igor 19/08/07
  23.   Rant on, Gidon, you`re as relevant as a neonazi website 12:21  |  martyrmaker 19/08/07
  24.   Netanyahu: Last PM to Reach Signed Accords w/ Pals 12:34  |  Ovadiah ben Avraham 19/08/07
  25.   Deconstructing Gideon Levy 12:41  |  Ovadiah ben Avraham 19/08/07
  26.   Haaretz: a sensationalist newspaper 13:05  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 19/08/07
  27.   # 13 G Levy & the racists 13:47  |  Jonathan M 19/08/07
  28.   Levy & the occupation 13:52  |  Maurice Ben 19/08/07
  29.   Levy- the provocative agent 14:05  |  igal azuelos 19/08/07
  30.   Levy is The Lying LOONY-AntiIsraeli Read Haaretz For Their Work 14:16  |  Ben 19/08/07
  31.   Gideon Levy Boycott 14:46  |  JonathanInTelAviv 19/08/07
  32.   Gideon Levy is off the mark 14:48  |  Brod 19/08/07
  33.   G-D COMMANDS PALS LIVE AT PEACE UNDER ISRAELS SOVEREIGNTY ?? 15:11  |  Bill 19/08/07
  34.   What the difference between Levy and degenerate? 15:12  |  Sal 19/08/07
  35.   Gideon Levy is nothing but a neo-socialist 15:16  |  Svetlana 19/08/07
  36.   Not one intellignet response! 15:22  |  Respectful 19/08/07
  37.   Gideon just lost all credibility 15:22  |  Eric Wood 19/08/07
  38.   317 at last indrajaya admits muslims are racist 15:32  |  victor hardman 19/08/07
  39.   subtext : "the feiglins" 15:39  |  Rowan Berkeley 19/08/07
  40.   Gideon 16:00  |  Ralph 19/08/07
  41.   Margie in Tel Aviv #26 16:03  |  GABE1 19/08/07
  42.   Margie #26 16:04  |  guido 19/08/07
  43.   gideon levi 16:05  |  Dr. Allan 19/08/07
  44.   Ban Haaretz 16:10  |  Dr. Allan 19/08/07
  45.   Ban Haaretz 16:10  |  Dr. Allan 19/08/07
  46.   Ban Haaretz 16:10  |  Dr. Allan 19/08/07
  47.   to David 16:32  |  Puhi 19/08/07
  48.   the pope 16:37  |  the pope 19/08/07
  49.   Not Than I`m A Bibi Supporter But There`s No One Else 16:42  |  Jane 19/08/07
  50.   Levy is a Columnist Not a Reporter 16:53  |  Jane 19/08/07
  51.   Likud: The illusion of a future 17:10  |  Tosefta 19/08/07
  52.   jewish population in germany 17:17  |  mehmet 19/08/07
  53.   Margie in Tel aviv 17:18  |  bev 19/08/07
  54.   Netanyahooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!! 17:21  |  tadchase 19/08/07
  55.   # 44, DR. ALAN 17:34  |  indrajaya 19/08/07
  56.   To the best of my knowledge, Gideon Levy is an active 17:58  |  Danny 19/08/07
  57.   # 50 Levy a columnist ? 18:12  |  Amnon C 19/08/07
  58.   Hope all the people in Israel read your article and wake up! 18:14  |  J.M.Jordan 19/08/07
  59.   Feiglin is no loony. His way is the future. 18:16  |  Chaim 19/08/07
  60.   Levy And Kahane 18:24  |  Choni Davidowitz 19/08/07
  61.   #52 Mehmet. Not all minorities are the same. 18:26  |  Chaim 19/08/07
  62.   So? 18:30  |  Colin Wright 19/08/07
  63.   #58 CHAIM THE COMMIES IN EUROPE AT THE OUTBREAK OF 18:43  |  paul harris 19/08/07
  64.   Levy supports another racist judenrein State 18:49  |  David Teich 19/08/07
  65.   # 52 Mehmet - Jewish Germans are not a threat 18:50  |  Paul Henzen 19/08/07
  66.   #14 Sticking to his guns 19:33  |  The Other Alan 19/08/07
  67.   Great Uzi, you can keep dreaming 19:40  |  Daniel 19/08/07
  68.   # 19 Fortunately it does matter, Fatma, it very much does... 19:43  |  Misha 19/08/07
  69.   Levys Article is one sided and to many untruths 19:46  |  Hausman 19/08/07
  70.   #62 really colin you suppose he would deliver anti israel tirades 20:06  |  victor hardman 19/08/07
  71.   Amnon-He Does Stretch the Truth for Political Motives