Netanyahu Will Pay Heavy Price at the Polls

Netanyahu’s alibi for ‘conceding’ to Hamas or cached version

(Haaretz) – Netanyahu and Lieberman came to power in no small measure because of Operation Cast Lead. The residents of the south voted in their masses for the pair, who had taken Olmert and Livni to task for their failure to get rid of Hamas. The challengers from Likud and Yisrael Beiteinu promised in every setting before the 2009 elections that they would accomplish what Olmert and Livni didn’t. Ultimately, their own past criticisms have come crashing into the reality of the present. What remains of their fiery speeches is the understanding of the limits of force.

What remained for Netanyahu to do at the Sde Boker ceremony was present his alibi to the south’s residents and Likud’s voters. What remained was for him to explain why he was willing to settle for a cease-fire that included concessions to a terrorist organization, rather than overthrowing Hamas as he had promised.

Netanyahu’s first line of defense was to underline the accomplishments of the past week. We had hit the leaders of the terrorists, destroyed thousands of missiles, we had hit Hamas installations and restored deterrence. Netanyahu’s second line of defense was to explain the complications that made him reluctant to launch a ground operation in Gaza. “Israel is at the heart of an unstable, complex and dangerous region … and we must act with diplomatic wisdom,” he said. His third line of defense was to repeat election promises to residents of the south: We will look after you, repair the damage and give you compensation.

Although the exit strategy from Pillar of Defense is almost identical to the one from Cast Lead, the balance of power it leaves between Israel and Hamas is worse. Rocket fire on Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and a parade of Arab foreign ministers to the Gaza Strip, giving legitimacy to Hamas, are just two examples.

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Despite all this, if a cease-fire is achieved tomorrow or the next day and quiet in the south lasts a year or two, the operation will be crowned a glorious success. Barak likes to talk about the results test. If the goal is achieved, it doesn’t matter how we got there. But Barak knows that if in another two or three weeks the rocket fire resumes, Pillar of Defense will be remembered as a resounding failure. In such a situation, he and Netanyahu and Lieberman will pay the price.

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