Israpundit.com
By Ted Belman
According to Jeffery Goldberg writing in the Atlantic, What Obama is Actually Trying to Do in Israel this kerfuffle is all about Obama’s attempt to weaken Netanyahu’s government to force him to take in Kadima.
I’ve been on the phone with many of the usual suspects (White House and otherwise), and I think it’s fair to say that Obama is not trying to destroy America’s relations with Israel; he’s trying to organize Tzipi Livni’s campaign for prime minister, or at least for her inclusion in a broad-based centrist government. I’m not actually suggesting that the White House is directly meddling in internal Israeli politics, but it’s clear to everyone — at the White House, at the State Department, at Goldblog — that no progress will be made on any front if Avigdor Lieberman’s far-right party, Yisrael Beiteinu, and Eli Yishai’s fundamentalist Shas Party, remain in Netanyahu’s surpassingly fragile coalition.
So what is the goal? The goal is force a rupture in the governing coalition that will make it necessary for Netanyahu to take into his government Livni’s centrist Kadima Party (he has already tried to do this, but too much on his terms) and form a broad, 68-seat majority in Knesset that does not have to rely on gangsters, messianists and medievalists for votes
I don’t believe Netanyahu has to do this or wants to move more to the left. Besides all ministers in his government have supported his strong stance.
If Labour bolts, with is 11 seats Netanyahu will still have 61 seats, a majority. That’s why Netanyahu has to keep Shas happy.
Haaretz asked Knesset Speaker Rivlin, in your opinion is Netanyahu capable of withstanding the campaign of heavy pressure being imposed on him from all sides?
Those in the know in the United States understand that any change in the coalition will lead in the end to Netanyahu’s downfall. They know that and they know Netanyahu knows it. The moment the prime minister loses his principal support, which is the support of the right and the center, Kadima, which is a center-left party, will bring him down without hesitation. Netanyahu must not zigzag for the sake of political survival. He must not lose his main support, which is the right, unless he reaches a point in which his opinions change drastically.
Do you really think there will ever be peace here without our handing over neighborhoods in East Jerusalem to the Palestinians?
Of course. Until 2000, we talked only about Abu Dis as the designated Palestinian capital. People here understood that Jerusalem was not even under discussion. Even Meretz adhered to that during a certain period. Even Yossi Beilin in his agreement with Abu Mazen [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas] in 1995 clearly stated that Abu Dis would be the capital of the [Palestinian] state.
What Obama is really trying to do is get Israel to accept the Saudi Plan.
