Two books about Benjamin Netanyahu have recently landed on my desk: One, "Bibi: My Story", written by Netanyahu himself; the other one, "Cracking the Netanyahu Code," by renowned journalist, Mazal Mualem. Netanyahu's book (591 pages, published by Sella Meir-Shibolet) is longer than Mualem's work (431 pages, published by Kinneret Zmora-Bitan). Theoretically, as he is the focus of the two books and is aware of all the various details of the tales told in them, Netanyahu's autobiography could well have been a genuine account of his story, replete with hitherto untold details. However, this is not the case.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
Netanyahu does uncover previously unknown material, he admits errors, and also debunks many of the smears leveled at him over the years. And yet, a chasm separates between the Netanyahu as he was and still behaves in real life and the manner in which he recounts in "Bibi: My Story". Perhaps it is only natural that Netanyahu decides to tell those tales that he wants us to remember rather than what he would prefer us to forget. We all have negative traits that we prefer not to shout about from the rooftops. This is especially true of a unique personality such as Netanyahu, reminding us of the old adage of our sages, "Anyone who is greater than another, his evil inclination is greater than his."
The disparity between the story told by Netanyahu himself and the actual events of his life is neatly dealt with in "Cracking The Netanyahu Code". This is a book in which tremendous efforts have been invested, packed with immense volumes of knowledge accumulated by the author. Mualem states that she devoted seven years to working on the book, during which she interviewed hundreds of people. That level of depth is apparent in almost every line. Such a small volume of words appears to behold a considerably greater amount of meaning. She rose to the challenge of "peeling away the various layers of his character", and I for one believe that her effort is the best I have read, at least to date.
Obama the throat cutter
Mualem revokes numerous events that she didn't even cover as a reporter, and as far as I know, she recounts them with meticulous precision. Footnotes and references – that are still missing in the autobiography - also serve to validate and explain these descriptions.
What is even more important, unlike many of her fellow journalists, Mualem is not afraid to level criticism at Netanyahu but nonetheless does not diminish him as a character. As a personal witness to the very moment of his political birth, she is ready to point out his achievements and just what makes him such an eminent figure, including a number of new revelations. For example, the first meeting between him and Obama in 2009, after they both entered office.
It is well known that in this meeting, Obama laid down the famous demand of "not one brick", in relation to construction in Judea and Samaria and Jerusalem. Mualem reveals that this was accompanied by an additional, chilling gesture. "He (Obama) raised his hand in a gesture simulating cutting someone's throat and said, 'I know how to deal with people who oppose me'" (p. 287). Incidentally, this alarming threat is conspicuously missing from Obama's autobiography, not only Netanyahu's version.
Her investigative journalism shows beyond the shadow of a doubt, that during that time, Obama was clearly the main cause of the embittered relations between Israel and the USA. The Israeli media, which tends to bend over backwards when it comes to dealing with America, told a completely different story at the time, of course. Mualem shows how Netanyahu steered the ship through stormy waters in his dealings with the Americans during those years, both on the Palestinian and Iranian issues.
She was; however, unable to discover if the considerable amount of flexibility he demonstrated in the secret negotiation channels with the Palestinians was an attempt at strategic deception, both vis-a-vis the international community and also the left-wing elements in his government, or perhaps there was a genuine intent here. But the enigma – and this is the code that Mualem cracked – lies not in the facts, but rather in Netanyahu himself, who according to one of the heads of the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) who worked with him: "Even Netanyahu's shadow doesn't know what he is thinking" (p. 10).
In other words, there is no real way of knowing what Netanyahu "really" wants as he doesn't know either. Or, perhaps it would be more accurate to say that he wants to have the best of all worlds. He loves his wives but likes to play the field too. He does everything possible to reach an agreement with the Palestinians but at the same time he swears allegiance to the Land of Israel. He justifies all means to eliminate Iran's nuclear program, "but backs off at the moment of truth" (p. 322). This built-in antithesis accompanies Netanyahu everywhere.
As far as the Iranian issue is concerned, Mualem's clear verdict is that Netanyahu "did not make any historic decision". Here too, her explanation goes to the very core of his personality. She determines that this is not the result of "faintheartedness" or "succumbing to pressure", but rather that "Netanyahu feels threatened in an environment of uncertainty... (But) leadership decisions are made in a climate of uncertainty" (p. 322).
Mualem spent seven years writing the book. That level of depth is apparent in almost every line. She rose to the challenge of "peeling away the various layers of his character", and I, for one, believe that her effort is the best that I have read to date.
Although "Cracking the Netanyahu Code" dissects Netanyahu from every possible angle, there is one element that is missing. Mualem provides us with extensive coverage of Netanyahu's surprise at how the very judiciary that he protected throughout the years, betrayed him. In the following editions, it might be worthwhile to add the revelations in Yehuda Weinstein's book HaYoetz (the Attorney General). The former Attorney General describes the almost mafia-like deal, in which Netanyahu almost completely capitulated to the jurists. Netanyahu does not give out any handouts. In return he received immunity from investigations.
***
The penetrative personality analysis served up in "Cracking the Netanyahu Code" places a focus on how Netanyahu embodies the link between historical persecution of the Jewish people and the feeling of "everyone is against us" that has accompanied both him and his family. And indeed, if there is a common denominator shared by these books it lies in Netanyahu's total Jewishness, which is something that has been the guiding force in his life. Two brief episodes that I witnessed throughout the many years that I have been covering him, will clearly illustrate this.
In 2010, I accompanied him on a visit to the UN General Assembly. His entourage was swallowed up in one of the corridors, but suddenly, he began to retrace his steps, he took out his eyeglasses and began to studiously inspect some display or other. This was an ancient Chanukah lamp.
A similar incident occurred in 2016 during a visit to Beijing. The hosts presented to him a Chinese translation of Maimonides' magnum opus, "Sefer Yad ha-Hazaka" (Strong Hand), on a nanochip. I was by his side when he held this minute item. His reaction was one of intense excitement and exhilaration.
These were moments of authentic emotion. This is Netanyahu without any masks, and this is the market stall he is now setting up for the public to choose from for the fifth time in the last three years. Is he worthy of support?
Politics evidently involves a choice between alternatives, and many voters, especially those with right-wing leanings, are currently faced with a difficult decision – which is the lesser of all the evils.
They don't like Netanyahu for reasons of their own, but they regard his rival bloc to be an equally bitter pill to swallow. They might have voted for Ayelet Shaked, but she has no chance of passing the electoral threshold and so this is tantamount to throwing your vote in the trash can. Neither is staying at home a viable option.
Choosing the lesser evil
There are plenty of reasons not to vote for Netanyahu, but it is worthwhile analyzing whether his drawbacks are greater than those of his rival bloc.
First of all, let's look at the symbols. Prime Minister Yair Lapid began his term of office with a visit to Yad Vashem – not the Western Wall like Netanyahu. Yad Vashem is of course an extremely important site, but our raison d'être is "The land of Zion and Jerusalem", and not the Holocaust.
Netanyahu would never have declared that "The antisemites were the slave traders who threw chained slaves into the ocean. The antisemites were the Hutu tribe members in Rwanda that slaughtered the Tutsis", as Lapid declared in his speech. The reason for this is that as far as Netanyahu is concerned, "He is on the one side and the entire world is on the other side", as our Sages said about Abraham the Patriarch. This is the Judaism he took in from an early age at home.
On the other side, Israel's Minister of Transport, Merav Michaeli, who will be an integral part of any Lapid-led coalition, spat in the faces of millions of Jews in Israel and across the globe when she chose to conduct a ceremony in Haifa, on Saturday of all days - the Shabbat or weekly day of rest according to both Jewish law and Israeli law.
In this intentional act of provocation, Michaeli utterly dishonored one of the fundamental tenets of Judaism. Lapid and Gantz, her current and future partners, expressed no misgivings about this act. This is a taste of things to come, should the just-not-Bibi bloc gain power. Every single voter needs to ask whether this is the public conduct that he or she wishes to encourage?
And of course, there is MK Ofer Cassif, upon whom the Lapid coalition will have to depend. This 'model citizen' accuses IDF soldiers of "executing children" and defines Israel's Minister of Defense as a "war criminal". In the current political situation in Israel, refusal to join the Netanyahu-bloc essentially means reinforcing Cassif. However difficult this may be, is this the sort of trap we want to fall into? After the symbols let's look at the actions. Three months of Lapid's tenure as prime minister have provided us with ample opportunity to understand where Israel will head with a coalition in which he is a central figure. The maritime border agreement with Lebanon, submitted to the government this week, is a clear example of buckling under US pressure. But perhaps beyond that, this has been a joint attempt by him and the Biden administration to falsely portray this as an "historic agreement".
MK Ofer Cassif, upon whom the Lapid coalition will also have to depend, accuses IDF soldiers of "executing children". In the current political situation in Israel, refusal to join the Netanyahu-bloc essentially means reinforcing Cassif.
Briefings given by the Americans throughout the week have underscored this. The US State Department declared this to be "A historic and monumental breakthrough between Israel and Lebanon". Biden, while obviously making a real effort to remember the details, told CNN that, "I have spoken on the phone with the president... with... the prime minister of Israel and the president of Lebanon. They have reached a historic peace agreement in the Mediterranean, after having been in a state of war for a long time." This was nothing more than wild exaggeration. But Lapid too, spoke of a "historic agreement", in an attempt to sculpt his own image as that of a statesman. In practice, as a senior US official noted, their concern was primarily focused on the Lebanese. "Lebanon is contending with a crisis on all fronts, but without successfully dealing with the crisis affecting the energy market it has no chance of recovering. For the most part, the Lebanese have less than two hours of electricity a day. It is impossible to live in such a manner. This is great news for Lebanon. As far as Israel is concerned – this will provide it with a form of stability and security in the Mediterranean, enabling it to pump the gas and ensure that the country remains protected," according to the senior US official.
The agreement was reached based on Israel's consent to giving Lebanon 100 percent of the disputed maritime territory; enabling the company chosen by the Lebanese government to drill inside Israel's economic waters; waiving Israel's demand to gain recognition for the security Buoy Line as its border, along with additional concessions.
Netanyahu was also prepared in the past to adopt some flexibility in this issue with the Lebanese, but his readiness for a compromise did not exceed the 60% mark. Nobody entertained the thought of giving everything up.
The Lapid Method
The softly-softly approach with the Americans is no coincidence. We all remember how Lapid agreed to opening the US Consulate in Jerusalem – Shaked and Bennett stopped him from doing so at the last minute. As was explained here last week in detail, he is bringing the Palestinian issue back on the agenda to be embraced by the EU.
To his credit, it should be said that he makes no effort to conceal his outlook. Lapid regards Israel as part of the Liberal-Western bloc. In contrast to this, Netanyahu's approach is that Israel stands on its own. It is for this reason that Lapid censures Russia while Netanyahu remains silent. His score with Putin is not that of Western Europe.
There is a strong link between his political and his Jewish outlook. For Lapid, whose approach is of course a legitimate one, his Jewishness is an overall, universal ideology, "a nation as all the other nations", as some of Zionism's founding fathers aspired, and so antisemitism is thus no different to the slave trade.
For Netanyahu, despite his "religiously irreligious" style of life, the Jews stand alone.
"A people who dwell alone", who can never give themselves up to others – not even to US presidents, however friendly they may be. This spirit lies at the root of his connection with the ultra-orthodox and the national religious camp.
It is for this reason that he enacted the Nation-State Law. Thus, when he stands facing world leaders, he carries with him the entire history of the Jewish people - this is much less familiar territory for both Lapid and Gantz, they don't feel the baggage weighing on their back as Netanyahu does, and this is why he initiated the issue of sovereignty while Gantz's short-sightedness led him to thwarting it. Netanyahu plainly does have his failings, but during his tenure, issues of state were managed no less deftly than the outgoing government – and in many spheres, probably even better. For those who, whatever the reason, are simply not capable of supporting him, there are a number of satellite parties to choose from.
The sum and substance of this all is that we are faced with a choice between a strong, but left-leaning State of Israel lacking any Jewish flavor, and a thriving, right-leaning and Jewish state. For me, at least, the choice between the two is crystal clear.
Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!
