National Infrastructures Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer believes that either of the US presidential candidates would be good for Jews and Israel, feels secure about his position in the Labor Party and thinks that jailed Fatah-Tanzim leader Marwan Barghouti should be released as a potential credible head of negotiations on an accommodation with the Palestinians.
Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer.
Photo: Ariel Jerozolimski [file]
"Any experience we have had with an American president, Democrat or Republican, has been good - at least it was with former president Bill Clinton and outgoing President George W. Bush," Ben-Eliezer said in a meeting with Jerusalem Post editorial staff on Tuesday.
"I think that if Barack Obama is elected, Israel has no reason to fear. We should welcome any elected president... Our experience proves that in all cases when Israel feared a new elected American president, we received better treatment than we expected," Ben-Eliezer said.
Meetings with Obama advisers had given him the impression that the Democratic candidate was surrounded by people who had already proved their good intentions, he said.
Ben-Eliezer, a father of five and a grandfather of eight, will turn 73 in February. He made aliya from Basra, Iraq, in 1950.
His resumé includes a 30-year career in the IDF that saw him become a brigadier-general and a rich political life in various incarnations of the Labor Party and with Ezer Weizman's Yahad Party in the 1980s (no relation to the current Meretz-Yahad). He has also held portfolios in several governments: construction and housing, deputy prime minister, communications, defense and, in the current and previous governments, national infrastructures.
Ben-Eliezer told the Post staff he was not worried about the upcoming Labor Party primary and had not asked anyone to guarantee him a position on Labor's candidates list for the next Knesset.
"I've been through 12 primary campaigns in the Labor Party and they don't scare me. I remind you that during the last primary, I was head of [Defense Minister Ehud] Barak's elections headquarters, a campaign that won him the party leadership," he said.
When asked why, then, a demand to secure a position for him in the list had come up, Ben-Eliezer denied any connection to the initiative.
"This idea didn't come from me. I didn't ask for it and I think that I'm one of the happiest people in Israeli politics," he said.
Ben-Eliezer added that he knew that Labor was heading into a "tough struggle," but that his motto had always been that there were no shortcuts in politics.
Ben-Eliezer is a great supporter of Barak and believes that he has been done great injustice. "Sometimes I tell myself, good God! This man is Mr. Security, he's the No. 1 in this field in this country, the best defense minister Israel has ever known. But he... faces difficult personal limitations. We might face another terrible security period, and someone needs to handle these things and these people," he said.
Ben-Eliezer is still a true Labor man when it comes to the peace process and the diplomatic efforts Israel should be engaged in to eliminate the Iranian threat, as well as the tension on the country's northern border from Syria and Hizbullah, and on the southern border with the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
"Israel can't initiate preventative steps without the cooperation of the US and the world, who must impose economic sanctions on Iran. Israel cannot be on the front line of the battle against Iran, because the only thing Israel can offer is a military operation. The international community must speak out; the Arab world is also scared," he said.
When asked if Israel should assassinate Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Ben-Eliezer responded: "Not everything we want is possible, he is one of the most guarded people [in the world]."
Besides, he added, there was another, more important "client" - a reference to Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah, although he did not mention Nasrallah by name.
Nonetheless, Ben-Eliezer envisions the release of Barghouti, currently serving five life sentences for five murders and 40 years for an attempted murder, as enabling Israel to speak to a Palestinian leader who can deliver.
"If it was up to me, I would release Marwan Barghouti tomorrow morning. I'm a great supporter of negotiating with the entire Arab world, but this isn't always feasible. The prescription is not military, it is diplomatic," Ben-Eliezer said.
He added that as he saw it, Israel had no real partner for a practical agreement with the Palestinians. However, he stressed that it was important to continue both public and secret diplomatic efforts and to keep these channels open, even if terrorists in Gaza were accumulating large quantities of explosives, weapons and rockets, just as Hizbullah was doing in the North.
"We are responsible for all people living in Israel and you can't let people [in Sderot or up North] live under daily rocket fire and ambulance sirens. On the other hand, you always hope that something might change," he said.
Since the interview was held on the day of the 13th annual memorial for Yitzhak Rabin, the question arose of whether another political murder was possible.
"We shouldn't generalize. I know the leadership of Judea and Samaria and the settlements there. I served as the commander of this area and I know this sector very well. Most of this sector is quiet and relaxed and accepts the fact that it lives in a democratic state. On the other hand, there is a small group of people, several hundreds, known as the 'hilltop youth,' and they try to destroy any good thing... I think the government must dismantle this group," he said.
"I was standing next to Rabin when the assassination happened," he recalled. "A month earlier, right-wing activists had tried to kill me. The next day, I came and pounded on the cabinet table and warned that a murder could take place.
"They silenced me and Rabin came to me, hugged me and told me, 'A Jew that would murder a Jewish minister? That's impossible!'
"I believe it's possible," Ben-Eliezer said.
