It is not possible to wholeheartedly support a move made by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, even when the need arises to praise it, such as the agreement signed over the weekend with the Lebanese government.
The Lebanon agreement will not lead to peace; it is more reasonable to assume it will, as always, lead to an explosive situation. But considering the alternative, a bloody stagnation, a dead end, and the heavy price the IDF and residents of the North were required to pay, the Israel-Lebanon agreement was the right move, the lesser evil, the attempt to nevertheless achieve some kind of diplomatic finishing move.
Even if a “finishing move” cannot be achieved, then the deal is at least a start.
But Netanyahu managed to spoil this as well, in a way that raises serious questions regarding his general fitness. During his Saturday press conference, he marketed the agreement to try to appease the anger on the Right and delivered a monologue that cannot be described as anything other than completely insane.
During his speech, Netanyahu said that “The haredi (ultra-Orthodox) hesder yeshivas are sending me a message, and saying,’When you send people into the yeshivas and remove Torah students and take them to prison, no one enlists. We received a wave…simply an enormous response from the haredi public and youth – they want to enlist, but when arrests are sent to Torah study halls, it causes us to receive the opposite result. If some country in Europe sent police into yeshivas and imprisoned young people who study Torah, then you would be horrified.'”
What is going on with this man? First, there is no such thing as a haredi hesder yeshiva – fake! It does not exist. There are hesder yeshivas of the Religious Zionist movement, and no one carries out arrests there. There are plenty of haredi yeshivas, and there are no arrests there either.
This is an event that did not happen. This is an event that someone planted in the distorted mind of someone who finds it difficult to utter a truthful word without blushing and stammering.
Netanyahu’s monologue sounds roughly like one of the nighttime social media posts of his Qatari consigliere, Yonatan Urich. Beyond the anecdote and the lie, to which we have already become accustomed, the question is, what is going on with the man? Is he that disconnected?
Netanyahu’s call to establish broad government was infuriating
Netanyahu made another infuriating statement during the event – the call to establish a broad government. Yes, he announced that he would invite everyone into his government, that he would establish a broad government, and spoke about unity.
The man who, at this very time, in the financial moments of his rule and of the Knesset’s term, is leading a jihadist assault on democracy, on its institutions, on the judicial system, on the media, is calling for unity – without blushing, without stammering, and without being ashamed.
With one hand, Netanyahu showers his non-Zionist partners with enormous amounts of honors, money, and laws. With the other, he continues to dismantle state institutions. Now it turns out that he also has a “third hand,” and with it, Netanyahu is calling for the establishment of a broad government. He is apparently counting on everyone, apart from him, being remarkably stupid, completely naive, or lacking any memory or insight.
Last attempt at Lebanon deal ended with Lebanese president Gemayel’s assassination
But back to Lebanon, the problem with the deal is that it is like having a wedding without a bride present. The last time we spoke about peace with Lebanon with a friendly Lebanese president, Bashir Gemayel, it ended with his assassination in 1982. The last time we signed a security agreement with Lebanon, in 1983, it ended with the dismantling of the Lebanese army and chaos. Hezbollah barely existed back then – now it does.
The agreement grants Israel several significant achievements, but it is written on ice that could easily melt. For this to succeed, the internal matter in Lebanon, disarming Hezbollah, first needs to be resolved. No one has the strength or time for that. The US must calm the local Lebanese headache so that they can fight the Iranian migraine.
They forced this agreement on the courageous Lebanese government in a way that left us no option but to object. We have no reason to object. What remains is to see whether it will also work on the ground for IDF soldiers in the security zone and the residents of the communities along the border.
