The Damage Netanyahu Has Wrought on Israel
People gather before a banner featuring Benjamin Netanyahu during an anti-government demonstration in Tel Aviv, Saturday..Credit: Jack Guez/AFP
There was a time when Israel would be up in arms whenever some junior country would threaten to recognize a Palestinian state. Since the outbreak of the war in the Gaza Strip, hardly a week goes by without some European nation announcing its intention to consider recognizing Palestine.
After the United Kingdom, France, Ireland, Slovenia and Malta, now Spain says it intends to accomplish this by July.
Madrid seemed hardly fazed by the Knesset’s pathetic response, which decided to object to any sort of unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state, as if there was a majority in the Knesset for bilateral recognition.
In a Facebook post promoting a book by right-wing activist Akiva Bigman, “How Netanyahu Turned Israel into An Empire” (Sella Meir, 2019), Netanyahu wrote: “Since there is no chance of you hearing about it from the media, I will give you its concluding paragraph.” Here is a bit of that quote: “With the passage of time and as the political dust and petty doings settle, Netanyahu will take his place in history as one of the three greatest Jewish leaders in modern times, alongside [Theodor] Herzl and [David] Ben-Gurion.” Netanyahu wants us to realize that he “navigated Israel through complex situations with its enemies, and also built bridges and agreements, marching it toward a grand future.”