Afrasianet - The absurdity of Netanyahu's men's campaign to repair the great damage in his "Great Sparta" speech, an attempt to frame his words as a slip of the tongue. This in itself is a renewal of the rules. A slip of the tongue is considered in the dictionary to be "utterance that came out of the mouth unintentionally" (like the case in which he called his young son Avner "Abraham"). But that is not what happened here.
Netanyahu read his speech from a piece of paper. It is known that this person is keen on his speeches, reviews them several times, deletes and adds, and certainly an economic speech that he will deliver at an important economic forum.
The paragraph in question was eloquent, justified, and, unfortunately, realistic. Calling it a "slip of the tongue" is like buying a gun and ammunition suitable for it to carry out an assassination. He is practicing shooting, cleaning the weapon, positioning himself on the roof of a house, aiming at the target for a long time and pulling the trigger, and in the interrogation he says that the bullet was accidentally fired while he was hunting birds.
But for someone who is accustomed to lying and denial, what's the point of trying to hide the truth, no matter how empty and pathetic that truth may seem? Therefore, one can only wonder about the prime minister's mental state when writing the speech. Was he balanced? Grim? Depressed? Defeated? Prof. Hagai Levin, president of the Association of Public Health Physicians (who is not a psychiatrist), believes that Netanyahu should have presented himself to a specialist to examine his mental fitness level to perform his role. Ostensibly, this recommendation has a basis. This could have been gleaned precisely from the day after the hasty press conference held to correct the "misunderstandings," as Netanyahu put it; misunderstandings are the responsibility of the listener, and again: we are all responsible for his exception.
If his behavior in the original speech suggested depression, we saw the manic phase the next day. "I have full confidence in Israel's economy," he said at the press conference. (The problem is that the economy is no longer reliable.) "The economy is very strong, and it amazes the world. Markets are aware of the benefit of investing in Israel." Interest? A country on the brink of international isolation? The deplorable and pathetic performance did not mitigate the damage done to the markets by a single microgram, and more importantly, it did not alleviate the collective trauma that has afflicted sane and productive Israel, which is groaning under the constraints of this person's malign government.
In the meantime, he opened a front with China, which he accused of imposing a "blockade" on Israel with Qatar, a few days after giving the order to the crazy and failed attack in Doha, which united the entire Arab world against Israel. Like a torchbearer, dark and sick, he jumps between the squares carrying a pot of fuel, pouring and lighting, lighting and pouring, and he knows no satiety.
During a meeting in his office, he was rude to Kan News excellent correspondent Mikhail Shemesh, offering a protective shield to the suspect who refused to interrogate her, Mai Golan, and discrediting Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, who accused him of "hesitation" over his stance on the "Gideon 2" operation to occupy Gaza.
All the "supporters" who came out that evening touched on the last two topics. But the issue of economics and the issue of misunderstandings were ignored as if they were the voice of a swan. The qualification certificate he gave Golan, as well as his attack on the government's legal adviser and the attorney general, who dared to order the investigation of suspects in the government and the coalition, illustrated to what extent Netanyahu is the human "zero point" of corruption and decadence in Israel. Violent generalized tumor spreads rapidly.
If it weren't for the neurotic standards he firmly left here during the years of interrogating and prosecuting him, a petty figure like Gülen would not have dared to evade interrogation and compare Ghali Behrav Miara to the prostitutes and addicts with whom she grew up in her youth.
Yesterday, after hiding her in her apartment, which has immunity from police entry, her mother sent Rimona to the well-groomed Investigation Station 433 only to show up shortly afterwards at the police station and drag her mother outside, shouting at the astonished cops. All of her advisers arrested will be prosecution witnesses against her, one of whom will be a royal witness.
If she is convicted and sentenced to some of the offenses attributed to her, she may end up in Neve Tirza prison, and perhaps meet with some of her former acquaintances, assuming that her immunity will be lifted in the Knesset committee, which is uncertain. The coalition has a majority. If there's one thing this gang is good at, it's protecting its members, and no one knows when they'll need it themselves.
Terrible failure
What high spirit and euphoria did we see this week in Ministers Smotrich and Ben-Gvir? The former speaks with bright eyes about the "real estate boom" in the Gaza Strip and the negotiations he is conducting with the Americans about the "proportion distribution" of inherited land. The other shouts angrily at a police meeting and promises to build a neighborhood for police officers in the Gaza Strip overlooking the sea, "tall buildings with all the tools." While soldiers are killed and wounded, and the abductees are tortured underground and used as human shields above, these rioters celebrate their messianic fantasies.
Both are the main cause of the current operation, stupid and bloody, in the Strip. However, the exclusive responsibility of the head. "Gideon's Chariots 2" will become a particularly dark chapter in the history of this terrible war. Once again, the entry of IDF soldiers without a specific target into a dangerous urban area, and an attempt to clear it completely, is like trying to get water out of a bucket from a pierced boat. Once again, hundreds of thousands of destitute Palestinians are starving and fleeing the bombing to the south, and hundreds of civilian deaths are added to the number projected around the world, which sees Israel as a brutal and separate state led by an extreme and barbaric right, and a government that has lost its mind.
Next week, the title of "Mr. Takli," which has been (rightly attributed) to Netanyahu, will be added to the title of "Mr. Palestine." Many Western countries and large democracies that Israel has begun to distance itself from may announce their recognition of the Palestinian state, with or without certain conditions. The United Nations General Assembly in New York will be historic in every sense of the word.
After it ends next Friday, the founder of Palestine, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, will take to the podium in a pre-familiar scene, playing the role of the victim, making violent accusations with a series of well-known slogans: "The catastrophe of European Jewry," "The October 7 massacre," "A gift to Hamas" and "Negation of Zionism." His English will be great, his well-known games will fill the hall, but the smell of failure will overwhelm everything. "Why now?" I asked a senior Western diplomat familiar with the matter. "The debate about timing is legitimate," he admitted. "But we have a response, because the two-state idea is now in unprecedented danger. The reality of uncontrolled construction in the settlements, the construction in Area E1, the theft of Palestinian land, the seizure of areas and the expulsion of residents from their villages and lands, in addition to the increasing settler violence – all of this is a major threat to the two-state solution."
Netanyahu accuses you of giving a gift to Hamas, especially after October 7, I told him. "This is really not a gift to Hamas," he said. "On the contrary, Hamas aspires to a single Islamic state at the expense of Israel. At the end of July, we published a joint statement with almost all European countries, other countries such as Canada, Australia, Turkey, the Arab League, and Muslim countries such as Indonesia, which called for an end to the war, the expulsion of Hamas from the Gaza Strip, its disarmament, and the release of all abductees. It agreed to sign on the condition that Britain and France recognize a Palestinian state. Perhaps this is a good opportunity for Israel to turn over a new leaf.
The claim in Israel, published by Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sa'ar, is that European presidents have bowed to pressure from Muslim immigrants who are growing in number in their countries, I said. "This is a claim that parallels what was said at the time, which is that Jews control the world economy. Muslim immigrants have integrated into the countries that have absorbed them, and they have become part of politics, the economy and culture," the Western diplomat said.
Netanyahu threatens the world that "a unilateral step by you will be met with a unilateral step by Israel. It clearly alludes to the annexation of areas in the West Bank. How will you respond, and will you respond?" she asked. "Absolutely," he added. "The answer would be very harsh. Other sanctions will be imposed, mainly in the area of trade and the economy. This will be much more dangerous than what is happening now. No one should mistake Israel for thinking that we will recognize a Palestinian state while you annex territories, and that's how it ends. Any annexation – for us there is no symbolic annexation – will necessitate a serious deterioration in relations with Israel."
What will happen then? I wondered desperately. "The coming weeks will be very important," he replied diplomatically.
Yossi Firter