Leadership,Representation and Management.

By MICHAEL BENJAMIN
Updated: NOVEMBER 27, 2016 07:08
 Of late governments are in crisis. They are unable to lead, represent and manage. People act whenever they feel disempowered or disenfranchised; we saw this in America. People expect and are demand proper management of well-formed decisions representing their desires. 
Oslo is a case in point; the decision may have been smart, but the management was disastrous.
Crises oblige leaders to come forth. We expect the leader to show the direction, install purpose and confidence. He must manage the situation.
We have seen three watershed events this month.
The election of Trump is a bloodless revolution. Netanyahu has blundered into a mess concerning the submarine purchase, which may well bring down his government. The forest fires and Nasrallah added complications.
The sea change in American policy is hard to predict. The policy will be different from Obama's; it will be less committed and involved than Obama's and in all probabilities, it will be more supportive. In this respect, Trump can be expected to manage his policies and fulfil the overall American wish to support Israel but not to be over involved. We can only guess the type of leadership Trump will adopt.
In Israel Netanyahu's leadership skills are always questioned. The man is eloquent but completely devoid of charisma; he does not evoke trust. Netanyahu is not a leader. There are no other obvious leaders, and his management skills have been excellent. He has managed the economy and our foreign policy in difficult times with extreme skill.
As long as Netanyahu continues to a good manager, his lack of leadership skills are less obvious.
This week, in the submarine crisis, he showed a distinct lack of managerial skill. A wise man does not get into the problems that the smart man knows to solve. Netanyahu was neither's wise nor smart. There was a general feeling in Israel that something was amiss. This indiscretion could turn out to be his equivalent of Hillary's emails. The country could forgive him and even sympathize with him over the non-stop investigations and title-tattle concerning his wife. The submarine fiasco seems to be of a different ilk.
In the midst of the crisis, Israel, experiencing unusual weather, suffered a series of firestorms. There is no doubt the geographical location of each storm was strange. The fire was hurting the Jews and not the Arabs. There were both smoke and suspicion in the air. The hour demanded we disperse the smoke and extinguish both the incendiary fires and incendiary language.
The average Israeli feels the soldier, who shot an Arab in Hebron, is not having a fair trial. Unfair, prejudicial statements, made by the Prime Minister and the Minister of Defence, publicly prejudged him.
 Netanyahu has not learned the lesson. He, far too gleefully, cast aspersions over Arabs and the fires. The average Israeli felt a déjà vu. We recalled a panicked Netanyahu, at the time of elections, resorted to similar Arab bashing. I am by no means PC. I too have my suspicions; even more so after speaking with an Arab friend. He told me he had suspicions. However, I am not a leader.
Good leadership would entail leading the fight against the fires, giving a sense of confidence and exemplifying the goodwill shown between Arab and Jewish Haifa dwelling neighbors. They fought the fires together and helped each other in the spirit which is the benchmark for all Israeli inter-communal relations. Investigations and conclusions come later.
The fires have demonstrated three facts. There may well be collaborators who at times of crisis, given the right weather, will set a fire in strategic places. The fire has shown we are very vulnerable. The crisis showed Netanyahu cannot lead in the hour of need.
Over the border is a very determined charismatic leader-Nasrallah. Nasrallah is a visionary and a leader; he is also showing himself to be a very good manager. There can be no doubt Hezbollah is punching above its weight. It is doings so due to Nasrallah's leadership. Nasrallah is a smart and insightful man
He too will have noticed Israel's political and, new-shown, defensive vulnerabilities. He knows our defense strategy is to defend the town's and let rockets fall uninterrupted if they are not going to hit towns. Nasrallah now can aim at the wooded areas around Haifa and cause almost as much damage as he could by hitting Haifa.
Nasrallah knows he blundered badly by provoking Olmert. He also knows the Iranians would not want to get into another war. The Russians in all probabilities would be only too pleased to see Israel remove the Hezbollah from the equation. After the fall of Aleppo, Putin has no need for the Hezbollah. The Hezbollah  strengthens the Iranian hand -something which will not please Putin. These factors should stay his Nasrallah's hand.
Nasrallah realizes Netanyahu is now in a corner. Israeli Prime Ministers under pressure tend to do one of two things. Either make peace or go to war. For the weakened Netanyahu, who has no room to maneuver in his right-wing government, the peace option is a nonstarter. He is hoisted by his own petard.
We are now in a situation where Obama's restraining hand is absent; we have a lame-duck Prime Minister under extreme pressure and the newly discovered an unexpected defensive vulnerability we should correct. Opposing us is a canny Nasrallah, who has many factors to consider. He has to find a solution. One solution is to pre-empt.
A short fuse is now even shorter.
The future is far from definite. One thing is certain; whatever happens will neither express leadership nor management. And the people will pay, yet again.


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