Opinion of Benjamin Netanyahu

[Hindsight was 2020]

A fascist

[Vosem]

Netanyahu has had both much higher highs and much lower lows (and the end of his story has not been written). I think if he were to, say, choke on a pretzel and die tomorrow that history would judge him quite harshly, and yet the future of the Israeli economy and the future of Israeli foreign policy would very much continue to be built on the accomplishments of his governments.

Israel is a much smaller country and he did not rule in such an acute period of crisis, but the comparison I'm drawn to FDR. Netanyahu's failures -- of security policy, of personal corruption gradually allowing political corruption of the worst sort -- are inexcusable and perhaps unrecoverable, and yet the successes -- the rapprochement with Arab states, the unprecedented triumph in Western public opinion, the economic boom, the foresight in standing up to disastrous decisions in the 2000s -- are also massive, and no future Israeli government will abandon them. (Similarly, FDR's failures -- beyond the construction of the welfare state, the control of the press, and deepening of racial animosities across much of the government -- are totally unforgivable, and yet a different leader may have been unable to preserve the democratic process at all, or may not have fought in the Second World War, or done so as competently. Both sides of the equation are so heavy that the man can quite reasonably be called the country's greatest leader, or the worst in its history, and neither assessment is wrong.) What is there to say?

On balance definitely an HP, but the scales of both his successes and his failures are very large.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

If I were an Israeli Jew living in range of Hamas rockets, I'd view him as an FF.  I'm not, of course, so I can have the luxury of being critical.

Benjamin Netanyahu understands that Hamas (and, indeed, the entire Palestinian Authority) do not recognize Israel's right to exist within ANY borders.  Benjamin Netanyahu understands that as long as Hamas remains in existence; they make no bones about their desire to destroy Israel in its entirety.  I fail to understand why Ukrainians should wholeheartedly back Zelenskyy (whose commitment to the Rule of Law is also sometime thing) to the bitter end, but Israeli Jews should repudiate Netanyahu in favor of someone who will advocate policies that will allow Hamas to get a second wind to launch a rocket at their house.

So, yes, he's unseemly in a number of ways.  But most of the things I can say negatively about Netanyahu, I can say about Zenenskyy.  So I'm neutral on Netanyahu; if he's the choice of Israeli voters, I'm OK with that.  I can understand the feelings of Israelis.  The history of modern Israel is a history of victory on the battlefield, only to be undermined in negotiations.  Netanyahu understands this, and I can sympathize with Israeli voters appreciating that.

I have not voted in this poll, nor will I.

The two strongest opposition leaders in Israel are Gantz and Lapid, both of whom support equally strong military policies regarding Gaza without the corruption and alliance with violent ethnic ultranationalists. Unless of course you mean that Atlas posters would like to see Netanyahu replaced with someone who would advocate radically different security policies, which, fair enough, that's exactly what I would like to see.

I suppose the Israeli voters are in a situation comparable to 1972 for Atlas Democrats.  Those who didn't like Nixon had their choices.  They could choose Henry Jackson, who would maintain our military and a Cold War posture, or they could choose George McGovern, who would cut our fleet of ships from 16 carriers to 6 and reduce our number of troops significantly.  Israeli voters could choose their current version of Henry Jackson.  Many Atlas Leftists would saddle them with someone who advocated radically different security policies, far more different than the difference between Nixon and McGovern.  Some of McGovern's supporters honestly wanted America to lose the Vietnam War.  Many Atlas Democrats who oppose Netanyahu simply don't think that Israel has a right to exist.  

McGovern was a flawed candidate; he was a candidate I liked at the time and would have voted for, but only because I was (a) 15, (b) didn't want the Vietnam War to last another 4 years, and (c) advocated a LOT of defense cuts that seemed to me, as a 15 year old, as an act of punting away an advantage.  Still, he was a Democrat, and the Democrats were "The Party of The People".  In hindsight, however, it was Peace Through Strength that won the Cold War, and the job of the US Military is to DETER War, even moreso than it is to prosecute our wars.  Many Atlas Leftists here don't want Netanyahu because they don't want Israel to deter Hamas; they want to embolden Hamas.

Netanyahu is Israel's version of the 1964 Barry Goldwater, who asked "Why not Victory?" regarding the Cold War.  Yes, he's unsavory in a number of ways, but Israel was attacked by Hamas, which is likely a proxy for Iran.  In situations such as that, nations want leaders who are fixated on victory.  If one wants to question Netanyahu's alliance with unsavory ultranationalists, that's fair enough, but let's not forget that we defeated Hitler through an alliance with Josef Stalin.  

This argument fails because Netanyahu's strategy (of kicking the can down the road) has in fact led to the only direct invasion of Israel proper by hostile forces in the country's history, and he is completely discredited in the eyes of the military and the public.

[President Johnson]

Bibi Nethanyahu, the most popular guy on Atlas.