Internal Enemies
By Jim Fletcher
Israel has no rest.
At the moment that Israel fights on multiple fronts, and is now seemingly at odds with Donald Trump, there is a subtle threat inside the country that is still a threat. For three decades, Israel’s media have hated Benjamin Netanyahu. Notice this report from The Jerusalem Post:
“Despite extensive IDF forces throughout southern Lebanon, a Hezbollah terrorist on Tuesday managed to penetrate the border fence with Lebanon before IDF troops killed him.
“IDF sources emphasized to The Jerusalem Post that the terrorist did fire on IDF troops from within Israeli territory, but only having just crossed through the border fence, and not any further in.
“Still, the penetration itself into Israeli territory at a time when the IDF nominally has said it has full control of southern Lebanon was a major embarrassment for the military and a public relations win for the Lebanese terror group.”
This last paragraph is irresponsible, coming from a major Israeli news source. “Embarrassment.” “Public relations win.”
Giving kudos of a sort to Hezbollah. The electrifying 1998 column, “The Year of Hating Bibi,” by Ari Shavit, exposed the effort to harm new Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Considered to be a political upstart, at a time when Yitzchak Rabin and Shimon Peres were giving grace to the “Peace Now” camp, Netanyahu was a rising star in the Likud (which he’s come to dominate these last decades). Even though Shavit was on the Left, he understood that the intense dislike of Netanyahu, and the obsessive analysis of him, distracted from serious policy issues. In short, the better path ahead for Israel.
This hatred for Netanyahu has never abated. It is as white-hot today as it was then. Journalist Yaakov Katz, formerly editor of The Jerusalem Post, was a teenager when Netanyahu won the top spot the first time. He doesn’t like Netanyahu. The former commando had defeated, narrowly, Peres, who was a legendary politician. Peres served in nearly every major political capacity. Ironically, Peres had served as Minister of Defense during the Entebbe incident, and his recommendation to proceed greatly swayed the cabinet of Rabin. We know of course that Netanyahu’s older brother, Jonathan, led the assault team at Entebbe, so the relationship between Bibi and Peres was always complicated. The moving eulogy given by Peres at Jonathan’s funeral remains a highlight in Israel.
But journalists like Katz take constant potshots at Netanyahu. As the latter is now facing elections, the effort is underway to influence the public. Often by “cooking” the data and polls to make Netanyahu seem vulnerable. Yet time after time he has won.
It was some time after Entebbe that Shimon Peres changed political course, forever after appealing to the Peace Now crowd, the left-wing media that was delusional and felt they could negotiate with the PLO. As the brilliant writer Charles Krauthammer noted, Peres began to believe in a “Maginot Line of five-star hotels” dotting the “Palestinian” landscape, as if economic prosperity could sway a genocidal Arab generation away from murder and mayhem. This view that terrorism could be reasoned with has been the chief weakness of Israeli intelligentsia for a very long time. Realists like Netanyahu knew what Begin and Jabotinsky always knew: their enemies would only understand defeat.
Bibi’s father, Benzion, was a fierce Zionist. He taught his three sons that the Jews had a right to the Land and would endure. The essence of Zionism.
This is the idea the Left came to hate.
Benjamin Netanyahu has often acknowledged the Bible in stating that Israel, well, let me first quote an AI overview:
“The phrase ‘no place among the nations’ is a direct translation or interpretation of the biblical prophecy in Numbers 23:9. When the pagan prophet Balaam looked down upon the encampment of the Israelites, he declared: ‘There is a people that lives apart and does not reckon itself among the nations.’” This is what Netanyahu has always understood, while his political enemies have always thirsted to be accepted among the nations. They cannot be, because that is not what God decreed.
Here is another comment from the Post report:
“It could also undermine the sense of safety among northern residents, some of whom were told to remain in their homes until the situation was resolved with a higher degree of certainty.”
You see? Once again the negativity, which is designed to demoralize the populace. Yes, there is anxiety among the population, but I think it’s irresponsible of the media to aid the enemy just because a particular politician is hated. They would have you believe Israel is less safe under Netanyahu. How absurd. Do they really believe the hapless Bennett and Lapid would be better?
History will one day note that Benjamin Netanyahu kept Israelis safer during his tenure than most. His successes have made him a target.
Which makes all Israel a target.