WHEN ONE thinks about Franklin Delano Roosevelt, one remembers his saying "We have nothing to fear but fear itself." Thinking of Winston Churchill, one remembers: "Never was so much owed by so many to so few."
Thinking about Bibi, what profound saying does one remember? Nothing but his comment about the many corruption cases in which he is involved: "There will be nothing because there is nothing."
BINYAMIN NETANYAHU'S main occupation, between criminal interrogations, is traveling abroad and meeting with the world's leaders. One week in Paris meeting President Macron, the next in Moscow meeting President Putin. In between, an African country or two.
What is achieved in these multiple meetings? Well, nothing to speak of.
That is very shrewd. It touches a deep nerve in Jewish consciousness.
For many generations, Jews were a helpless minority in many countries, West and East. They were entirely dependent on the graces of the local lord, count, Sultan. To remain in his good graces, a member of the Jewish community, generally the richest, took it upon himself to gratify the ruler, flatter him and bribe him. Such a person became the king of the ghetto, admired by his community.
As a phenomenon, Bibi is a successor of this tradition.
NOBODY LOVED Abba Eban. Even those who admired his extraordinary talents did not admire the man. He was considered un-Israeli, not a he-man as a typical Israeli man should be.
Bibi's public standing is quite different. As a former commando fighter he is as he-mannish as Israelis desire. He looks as an Israeli should look. No problem there.
But ask one of his admirers what Bibi has actually achieved in his 12 years as prime minister, and he will be at a loss to answer. David Ben-Gurion founded the state, Menachem Begin made peace with Egypt, Yitzhak Rabin made the Oslo agreement. But Bibi?
Yet at least half of Israel admires Bibi without bounds. They are ready to forgive him countless affairs of corruption -- from receiving the most expensive Cuban cigars as gifts from multi-billionaires to outright bribes which may amount to many million dollars. So what?
The social composition of his camp is even odder. They are the masses of Oriental Jews, who feel despised, downtrodden and discriminated against in every respect. By whom? By the Ashkenazi upper classes, the "whites," the Left. Yet nobody could be more Ashkenazi upper-class than Bibi.
Nobody has yet found the key to this mystery.
SO WHAT is Netanyahu's "vision" for the future? How is Israel to survive in the next decades as a colonial power, surrounded by Arab and Muslim states which may one day unite against it? How is Israel to remain master of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, populated by the Palestinian people, not to mention East Jerusalem and the shrines holy to a billion and a half Muslims throughout the world?
It seems that Bibi's answer is "Don't look, just go on!" In his way of thinking, his solution is: no solution. Just continue what Israel is doing anyway: deny the Palestinians any national and even human rights, implant Israeli settlements in the West Bank at a steady but cautious pace, and otherwise maintain the status quo.
He is a cautions person, far from being an adventurer. Most of his admirers would like him to annex the West Bank outright, or at least large chunks of it. Bibi restrains them. What's the hurry?
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