Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was hoping to avoid his clash with US
President Barack Obama this week in Washington.
Four days before his
showdown at the White House with the American leader, Netanyahu addressed the
Knesset. His speech was the most dovish he had ever given. In it, he set out the
parameters of the land concessions he is willing to make to the Palestinians, in
the event they ever decide that they are interested in negotiating a final
peace.
Among other things, Netanyahu spoke for the first time about
“settlement blocs,” and so signaled that he would be willing to evacuate the
more isolated Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria. He also spoke of a
longterm military presence in the Jordan Valley rather than Israeli sovereignty
along the militarily vital plain.
Both strategically and ideologically,
Netanyahu’s speech constituted a massive concession to Obama. The premier had
good reason to believe that his speech would preempt any US demand for further
Israeli concessions during his visit to Washington.
Alas, it was not to
be. Instead of welcoming Netanyahu’s unprecedented concessions, Obama dismissed
them as insufficient as he blindsided Netanyahu last Thursday with his speech at
the State Department. There, just hours before Netanyahu was scheduled to fly
off to meet him in the Oval Office, Obama adopted the Palestinian negotiating
position by calling for Israel to accept that future negotiations will be based
on the indefensible – indeed suicidal – 1949 armistice lines.
So, just as
he was about to board his plane, Netanyahu realized that his mission in the US
capital had changed. His job wasn’t to go along to get along. His job was to
stop Obama from driving Israel’s relations with the US off a
cliff.
Netanyahu was no longer going to Washington to explain where
Israel will stand aside. He was going to Washington to explain what Israel
stands for. Obama threw down the gauntlet. Netanyahu needed to pick it up by
rallying both the Israeli people to his side and rallying the American people to
Israel’s side. Both goals, he realized, could only be accomplished by presenting
his vision of what Israel is and what it stands for.
And Netanyahu did
his job. He did his job brilliantly.
ISRAEL TODAY is the target of an
ever escalating campaign to demonize and delegitimize it. Just this week we
learned that a dozen towns in Scotland have decided to ban Israeli books from
their public libraries. One Scottish town has decided to post signs calling for
its residents to boycott Israeli products and put a distinguishing mark (yellow
star, perhaps?) on all Israeli products sold in local stores to warn residents
away from them.
Israelis shake their heads and wonder, what did we do to
the Scots? In San Francisco, there is a proposition on the ballot for the fall
elections to ban circumcision.
The proposition would make it a criminal
offense to carry out the oldest Jewish religious ritual. Offenders will be
punished by up to a year in prison and a fine of up to $1,000.
Israelis
shake their heads and wonder, what did we do to the people of San Francisco? It
seems that everywhere we look we are told that we have no right to exist. From
Ramallah to Gaza, to Egypt, to Scotland, Norway, and San Francisco, we are told
that we are evil and had better give up the store. And then Obama took to the
stage on Thursday and told us that we have to surrender our ability to defend
ourselves in order to make room for a Palestinian state run by terrorists
committed to our destruction.
But then Netanyahu arrived in Washington
and said, “Enough already, we’ve had quite enough of this dangerous
nonsense.”
And we felt things we haven’t felt for a long time. We felt
empowered. We felt we had a voice. We felt proud. We felt we had a
leader.
We felt relieved.
The American people, whose overwhelming
support for Israel was demonstrated by their representatives in both houses of
the Congress on Tuesday, also felt empowered, proud and relieved. Because not
only did Netanyahu eloquently remind them of why they stand with Israel, he
reminded them of why everyone who truly loves freedom stands with
America.
It is true that the American lawmakers who interrupted
Netanyahu’s remarks dozens of times to applaud wanted to use his presence in
their chamber to send a message of solidarity to the people of Israel. But
during the course of his speech, it became apparent that it wasn’t just their
desire to show solidarity that made them stand and applaud so many times.
Netanyahu managed to relieve them as well.
Since he assumed office, Obama
has been traveling the world apologizing for America’s world leadership. He has
been lecturing the American people about the need to subordinate America’s
national interests to global organizations like the United Nations that are
controlled by dictatorships which despise them.
Suddenly, here was an
allied leader reminding them of why America is a great nation that leads the
world by right, not by historical coincidence.
It is not coincidental
that many American and Israeli observers have described Netanyahu’s speech as
“Churchillian.” Winston Churchill’s leadership was a classic example of
democratic leadership. And Netanyahu is Churchill’s most fervent pupil. The
democratic leadership model requires a leader to set out his vision of where his
country must go and convince the public to follow him.
That is what
Churchill did. And that is what Netanyahu did this week. And like Churchill in
June 1940, Netanyahu’s success this week was dazzling.
Just how dazzling
was made clear by a
Haaretz poll of the Israeli public conducted after
Netanyahu’s speech before the Congress.
The poll found that Netanyahu’s
approval ratings increased an astounding 13 percentage points, from 38 to 51
percent in one week. Two-thirds of the Israelis who watched his speech said it
made them proud.
As for the US response, the fact that leading Democrats
on Capitol Hill, House Minority Leader Steny Hoyer and Senate Majority Leader
Harry Reid, felt it necessary to distance themselves from Obama’s statements
about Israel’s final borders makes clear that Netanyahu successfully rallied the
American public to Israel’s side.
This point was also brought home with
Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s
interesting request to Republicans during their joint meeting with Netanyahu. In
front of the Israeli leader, Wasserman Schultz asked her Republican counterparts
not to use support for Israel as a campaign issue. Her request makes clear that
following Netanyahu’s brilliant triumph in Washington, Democrats realize that
the president’s poor treatment of Israel is an issue that will harm them
politically if the Republicans decide to make it an issue in next year’s
elections.
WHILE THE democratic model of leadership is certainly the
model that the founders of most democratic societies have in mind when they
establish their democratic orders, it is not the only leadership model that
guides leaders in democratic societies. This week, as Netanyahu demonstrated the
strength of the democratic leadership model, two other leadership models were
also on prominent display. The first was demonstrated by Obama. The second was
exhibited by opposition leader Tzipi Livni.
Obama’s leadership model is
the model of subversive leadership. Subversive leaders in democracies do not
tell their citizens where they wish to lead their societies. They hide their
goals from their citizens, because they understand that their citizens do not
share their goals. Then once they achieve their unspoken goals, they present
their people with a fait accompli and announce that only they are competent to
shepherd their societies through the radical shift they undertook behind the
public’s back.
Before Obama, the clearest example of subversive
leadership was Shimon Peres. As foreign minister under Yitzhak Rabin, Peres
negotiated his deal with the PLO behind the public’s back, and behind Rabin’s
back – and against their clear opposition. Then he presented the deal that no
one supported as a fait accompli.
And as the architect of the deal that
put the PLO terror forces on the outskirts of Israel’s major cities, Peres
argued that only he could be trusted to implement the deal he had
crafted.
Eighteen years and 2,000 Israeli terror victims later, Israel
still hasn’t figured out how to extricate itself from his subversive legacy. And
he is president.
Today, Obama recognizes that the American public doesn’t
share his antipathy towards Israel, and so as he adopts policies antithetical to
Israel’s security, he waxes poetic about his commitment to Israel’s security. So
far his policies have led to the near disintegration of Israel’s peace with
Egypt, the establishment of a Fatah-Hamas unity government in the Palestinian
Authority, and to Iran’s steady, all but unimpeded progress towards the atom
bomb.
As for Livni, her model is leadership from behind. Although Obama’s
advisers claimed that this is his model of leadership, it actually is Livni’s
model. A leader who leads from behind is a follower. She sees where her voters
are and she goes there.
In Livni’s case, her supporters are on the Left
and their main spokesman is the media. Both the Left and the media oppose
everything that Netanyahu does and everything he is. And so, as Livni sees
things, her job as the head of the opposition is to give voice to their
views.
As Netanyahu stared Obama down in the Oval Office and reminded
Israelis and Americans alike why we have a special relationship, Livni was
telling audiences in Washington and Israel that Netanyahu is a warmonger who
will lead us to devastation if we don’t elect her to replace him soon. With
Obama adopting the Palestinians’ negotiating positions and with Fatah embracing
Hamas rather than honestly admitting that all hope for peace is dead for the
duration, Livni said that Netanyahu is leading us to war by defending the
country.
Netanyahu’s extraordinary leadership this week has shown that
when used well, the democratic model of leadership trumps all other models. He
also showed us that he has the capacity to be the leader of our times.
In
the coming weeks and months, the threats to Israel will surely only increase.
And with these escalating threats will come also the escalating need for strong
and certain leadership.
Netanyahu should realize what his astounding
success means for him as well as for Israel.
The people of Israel and our
many friends around the world will continue to stand behind him proudly if he
continues to lead us as well and wonderfully as he did this week. And we will
admire him. And we will thank him.
caroline@carolineglick.com