The civilized world in general, and Jews in particular wherever they may be, owe a great debt of gratitude to Bibi Netanyahu.
Thanks to him, with a little help from the Almighty, Hamas will soon be consigned to the dustbin of history. He has been steadfast in his pursuit of this terrorist organization. Bibi has had to overcome important and daunting challenges to occupy the position he now inhabits.
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For one thing, he has had to endure the snubs and condescension of Barack Obama. Joe Biden, too, has (figuratively) slapped him in the face upon more than one occasion. Now, the Israeli Prime Minister has been threatened by this senile old man that if he does not make peace with Hamas, does not move in the direction of the two-state "solution," sticks to his refusal to release thousands of Palestinian terrorists in Israeli prisons -- US aid will be cut off. Mr. Netanyahu has been victimized by the Secretary of State representing a country that has not won a major war in 80 years (sorry, Grenada simply does not count) and whose army is riddled with wokeness.
Then there are the Europeans. They, too, have been on his case, to say nothing of the United Nations partners in crime with Hamas on October 7, 2023. Piling on are the South Africans, accusing his government of genocide, ethnic cleansing, and all the rest. The International Criminal Court has also savaged this man and his policies.
Throughout all of this, he has been calm, deliberate, rational, effective, and efficient. To say he has been a great leader, under exceedingly trying circumstances would be the understatement of the century. He has been a Rock of Gibraltar.
Thanks to him, the IDF is now in the final stages of dispatching Hamas. No greater compliment, in the present context, could be imagined.
Has he been perfect? Of course not. Perfection is not a human condition. With the benefit of hindsight, there are criticisms that could be launched at him. However, they are mainly of the sort that he has not fully lived up to his own principles. He has not fully succeeded in allowing Netanyahu to be fully Netanyahu.
For instance, in my view, he should have done more to settle the hash of the Israeli Supreme Couth. He made strides in sweeping away Israeli socialism and replacing it with free enterprise and private property rights but could have, should have, done even more in this direction. He should not have allowed any food, water, electricity, etc., into Gaza while Hamas still holds hostages and has not yet surrendered. He should have bombed Gaza more intensively before committing IDF troops to that battlefield. Every one of those soldiers' lives is precious, and, so far, over 200 of them have perished, defending their homeland.
Isn't Monday morning quarterback wonderful? Ex-post gives a far better perspective than ex-ante. Bibi has been operating under the latter, not the former. I have no doubt he regrets he was even more forceful in all these dimensions than he was actually able to be.
Perhaps his most important accomplishment is in resisting the so-called two-state "solution." Well, even one. For is it not true that ever since 2005 the Palestinians have had a state of their own in Gaza. This was not a government de jure; no other state recognized it as one. They were not a member of the U.N. But it certainly was a government de facto. They collected taxes, made rules and regulations, enforced them, etc. And what did they do with this one-state "solution" of theirs? Instead of embracing economic development and prosperity for their citizens, the Gazans, they have waged continuous war against the state to the east of them. Desalinization plants? No, tunnels from which to launch attacks on Israeli women and children. Hotels on their lovely coast? No, rocket launchers, placed in hospitals, schools, playgrounds.
Hold fast Mr. Netanyahu. Godspeed to you.
Never again.
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