My Story 38

After the Rabin assassination, his bitter rival, Shimon Peres, became both Acting Prime Minister and Acting Defense Minister for the next seven months. He was the opposite of Rabin in almost every way. Rabin was a military man since his youth. Peres had never done military service, Rabin was moved by power, Peres by ideology. (His wife, Sonya, revealed that when they were dating, he would sit her down on a park bench, and read to her from Marx). He strongly differed from Rabin in his vision of peace. Rabin's motto was "We here, they there, Peace for Israel". He never thought that coexistence was possible, but rather two nations living peacefully side by side was the solution. Peres envisioned a confederation of Israel, Palestine, and Jordan, run with Jewish know-how and investment, and Arab labor. When they have decent jobs, there will be peace. He personally invested in Palestinian ventures, particularly the casino in Jericho. Many Arabs accused him of economic imperialism. Whereas Rabin was barely educated (his written Hebrew was full of gross errors), Peres was fluent in several languages. (Although his inability to properly pronounce the word "Peace" in English, made him the butt of derisive editorials in the Jerusalem Post, urging him to see a good urologist). Although his ideology was far more radical left than Rabin's, there were no inflammatory speeches urging us to die. It was more "I feel for your situation deeply, but I am charged with making Peace (mispronounced)". He called the Palestinian leadership his "friends". The Right was mostly silenced in the aftermath of the assassination, but he was careful not to "rub their noses in it". He would wait for new elections, after which he would pursue drastic measures for peace. But a new star had risen on the horizon for the Right. Benjamin Netanyahu, the brother of the Israeli hero Yonatan Netanyahu, who had led the Entebbe raid, and was its only Israeli casualty, was chosen to lead the Likkud party. A charismatic speaker, both in Hebrew and English, he represented the hope of the Right. He identified with the settler movement, and made overtures to all factions in the religious camp, in which he famously remarked that Labor had "forgotten what it means to be a Jew".The Left refused to take him seriously, satisfying itself with the slogan "Bibi is not fit for the job". Israeli media is almost entirely controlled by the Left, with the exception of the English language Jerusalem Post, which had abandoned that stand when it was taken over by a British Jewish company. The Leftist press published polls that showed Peres with a forty percent lead over Netanyahu. Labor didn't need to do anything, or so they thought. A televised debate between Peres and Netanyahu included a segment where each candidate would ask the other a question. After Netanyahu posed his question to Peres and received an answer, the moderator turned to Peres, inviting him to ask a question. Peres arrogantly said "I have nothing to ask him". Israel had adopted a new election system. Previously, the party that received the most votes, would have its head become PM. Now, every voter would cast two ballots, one for a party for the Knesset, and a separate one for PM. The idea was to eliminate the undue influence and extortion of the small parties. What no one had considered, was the fact that Arabs who held Israeli citizenship constituted twenty percent of the electorate. The ability to extort would now be theirs. The Arab vote was solidly behind Peres. However, shortly before the election, Peres sent troops into Lebanon in order to stop repeated shelling of northern Israeli communities. (Operation "Grapes of Wrath"). Israeli Arabs, whose loyalty was never solid, were furious. Their leadership met, and decided to boycott the election. Sure, they wanted Peres, But, after all, he had a forty percent lead, whereas their influence was only twenty percent. They could have their man in office, while sending a powerful message...or threat..to the Labor Party. They didn't consider the fact that the media's "facts" were heavily skewed. Bibi squeaked by with a narrow margin. I will never forget that election day. I went directly from morning services to the polling place, still wearing my Tallit and Tefillin. I was doing my part to save Israel and the Jewish people. I rejoiced when the results were in. It is important to understand that few Israeli communities are heterogeneous. Nearly everyone in Tel Aviv votes Labor. Almost everyone in Jerusalem votes Likkud. The newscasters cried the following day that these results could not be real, as "the nation is overwhelmingly for Peres". A bright new day had finally dawned. Or had it? While Bibi had promised in his campaign that he would end the hated system of "administrative detention", where any high political or military figure could have someone arrested and imprisoned without charges or trial, he now had arrested with administrative detention...his biggest supporters. Ariel Sharon, who had become the darling of the Right, and had campaigned tirelessly for Netanyahu, now reported that he couldn't even get him on the phone. Feverish negotiations were now carried on with the Left, in order to shore up his narrow base. He wanted no interference from his overzealous supporters.Restrictions on settlements were imposed, and talks with the Palestinians were made top priority. He agreed to a meeting with settler leaders. They said "if you continue like this, we will no longer support you". He looked them in the face, laughed, and said "what are you going to do? Vote for Peres?" Three years of duplicity and, from our perspective, treachery, had begun. Another three PMs came and went, each one worse than the former. Then, Netanyahu returned. The duplicity remained. But he always spoke SO NICELY.