Caroline Glick: Netanyahu’s great challenge
In recent weeks, coalition chairman MK David Bitan has told the media that Netanyahu has pledged not to resign if indicted in light of the trivial nature of the probes. Netanyahu’s ability to remain in his position, in opposition to the non-binding norm dictated by the Supreme Court in 1993, will be a function of the public’s view of him and of the investigations against him. And if Netanyahu is strong enough to stay, then his intention not to fold will have a salutary impact on the fairness of the investigations against him.Gil Troy: Go Netanyahu, go – for your sake and Israel’s
If the prosecutors realize they will have to win a case against a sitting prime minister rather than one they have already forced from office in disgrace, their decision about whether or not to indict Netanyahu will be based far more on the investigations’ findings and far less on their political views than in the past.
Although prosecutors do not care what the public thinks of them, they do care what their colleagues think of them. And if they indict a sitting prime minister and then fail to convict him while he is still in office and popular, their colleagues will not think well of them.
So it all boils down to governing. But how should Netanyahu govern? If Netanyahu follows the lead set by prime minister Ariel Sharon when he and his sons were under investigation, and abandons his political base to appease the Left, he will harm his chances of remaining in power. Netanyahu will become as unpopular as Ehud Olmert was when he was indicted. He will not avoid indictment. And he will not be reelected.
If on the other hand Netanyahu is loyal to his voters and implements the Right’s policy on Judea and Samaria – namely, applying Israeli law to Area C of Judea and Samaria in anticipation of the era that will begin when 82-year-old PLO chief Mahmoud Abbas dies – then he will not only be able to stay in office if indicted, he will win the next elections even if he is still enmeshed in criminal probes.
Israel is enduring a moment of split-screen governing. Side by side, headlines report Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu planning unprecedented visits to South America in November and his opponents anticipating his imminent indictment.Ben-Dror Yemini: We must stop Raed Salah and his ilk
It’s time for Netanyahu to go to his Caesarea retreat and think. He should think about his character. He should think about his actions. He should think about his legacy. And he should think about his people and his nation.
If Netanyahu and his wife are innocent of the mounting allegations against them, he is behaving appropriately. If he really stayed within the law while accepting boxes of cigars and cases of champagne, he shouldn’t quit. He should hold his ground if he really knew nothing about the submarine deal, which, more than a putrid story of bribery, threatens the state’s security by wasting money on unnecessary purchases and by exposing these superfluous submarines to Iranian chicanery through the Revolutionary Guard’s investment in the German manufacturer ThyssenKrupp.
If innocent, Prime Minister Netanyahu is morally obligated to champion the rule of law against the media lynch mob. Israel needs him to defend the principle of electoral legitimacy and stop the criminalization of politics. Our Gotcha Age is bad for democracy. Politicians should be defeated by voters at the ballot box, not slander on the Internet and in the press. We should argue prime ministers out of office, not indict them.
Sheikh Raed Salah was arrested again on Tuesday. These are his best days. He's succeeding. Three of his followers carried out the terror attack on the Temple Mount and caused an outbreak of violence; the murderers' funeral became a display of solidarity with the shahids (martyrs) not unlike Hamas's anti-Semitic rallies; a young Arab man was killed in Jaffa and a Channel 2 reporter was almost lynched while covering the funeral while nearby businesses refused to give him refuge. The impression we're left with is that Israel's Arab citizens are becoming the enemy from within.The libel that kills
But we ought to be careful not to give the strife-mongers and barons of incitement—the Salahs and Zoabis of the world—more credit than they deserve. There are Hamasniks among them, to be sure. But before the wounds that have a hard time healing become an incurable disease, we should remember that polls conducted in recent years show most Israeli Arabs are actually in a different place—somewhere far less violent and enraged.
According to Israeli Democracy Index, for example, 55 percent of Arabs are proud to be Israeli, and in complete contradiction to the fight their leadership wages, over 50 percent of Arab youths want to do national service. The percentage of recruits among them increases every year.
How can this gap between the polls, which give cause for optimism, and even the process of Israelization among the country's Arab citizens on the one hand, and the displays of violence and hatred on the other hand, be explained?
Raed Salah, the leader of the Islamic Movement's outlawed Northern Branch, refers to himself as the Al-Aqsa sheikh, sailed on the Gaza blockade-busting Turkish ship Mavi Marmara, and for years has spoken of his vision for a global caliphate with Jerusalem as its capital. He is also the same man who for years has disseminated the false warning that "Al-Aqsa is in danger."
His latest arrest, one of dozens, presents a legal question: Has this false suggestion that Israel is somehow planning to destroy Al-Aqsa mosque shifted from being an abstract claim to being an actual weapon, considering that it has motivated vehicular rammers, stabbers, shooters and murderers in recent years?
In practice, the answer is clear: This libel does indeed kill. Quite literally. Hundreds of attacks in recent years were motivated by this falsehood.
It is enough to consider the indictments issued against the attackers, as well as their own statements and Facebook pages, to understand that this libel -- rooted in the days of Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Amin al-Husseini -- has gone beyond the point of just venomous propaganda. It has been turned into an actual weapon, the equivalent of a suicide bomber, a Qassam rocket or a gun. Those who repeat this libel over and over are akin to an attacker who pulls the pin of a grenade or starts a timer on a bomb.