Israel – without Bibi?
It just wouldn’t be the same if he loses this third round, which I hope will not happen - and his chances seem better than ever.
He’s been a sense of comfort.
This we know – he won’t do anything reckless. He’s been a steady hand. Israel knows this. America knows this. The world knows this.
He’s been the face of Israel for more than 10 years, and it’s been a good face, good-natured, trustworthy, reliable.
This does not mean he is perfect. Or maybe he is. Yes, he is, as perfect as can be with so much of the world upon Israel’s neck.
To the Left, he’s not been generous enough, to the Arabs, and to the Right, he’s been too generous; the building freezes, for one, failure to end the scourge of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Easy for us to say he should do this or that, but we don’t know the pressure he’s under, as he was under Obama, and even under Trump.
As he himself has said, if he wanted to be “popular,” all he’d have to do is give away the store.
Everybody, it seems, knows better what’s to be done, but finally, only one man has to do it without rocking the boat.
The world wants concessions, more Gush Katifs. Netanyahu has not fallen for this. He has not done this. This warrants much credit, seeing what came before, so far as leadership, and what could come after, should voters fail him.
The world wants concessions, more Gush Katifs. Netanyahu has not fallen for this. He has not done this.
This warrants much credit, seeing what came before, so far as leadership, and what could come after, should voters fail him.
He’s had to navigate through a world that watches every step he makes, so every move, from his office, must be made with the entire world in mind.
No other leader is trapped like this.
Globally, he’s been an artist, somehow making friends for Israel around Africa and Asia. They’re coming to Israel to visit a world-class tech powerhouse, which Netanyahu fostered.
Regionally, Sunni states now turn to Israel for support, protection, security, and normalcy.
Most of all, Israelis ask for nothing more than that – normalcy.
This, as much as possible, he has provided.
Always the caveat. There is nothing normal along the border with Gaza. This still needs to be figured out, and maybe he should have figured it out a long time ago.
But Hamas knows all the tricks and already has 10,000 children prepared to serve up as fodder; ready for headlines at CNN and the BBC and The New York Times.
That is something to consider.
Domestically again, the economy is humming along, but there’s the usual friction among differing and bickering political and religious groups.
But that’s normal in a healthy, vigorous country.
If the opposing party feels it can improve on Netanyahu’s record, by sharing leadership with the Arab bloc, then Israeli voters do have a sharp choice to make.
This needs serious thought…and portends a seismic shift for what’s to become of the nation’s character and destiny.
If they vote that other way, the man who steered them with a sure-hand for more than a decade won’t be there to get them out of this one.
There will be no Bibi to run to anymore.
New York-based bestselling American novelist Jack Engelhard writes regularly for Arutz Sheva.
He wrote the worldwide book-to-movie bestseller “Indecent Proposal,” and the authoritative newsroom epic, “The Bathsheba Deadline,” followed by his coming-of-age classics, “The Girls of Cincinnati,” and, the Holocaust-to-Montreal memoir, “Escape from Mount Moriah,” for which contemporaries have hailed him “The last Hemingway, a writer without peer, and the conscience of us all.” Website: www.jackengelhard.com
