Trump's sudden invitation to Netanyahu and Gantz made the election a beauty contest among politicians who are pretty tired of the public - for a referendum on sovereignty and Zionism • Commentary
Israel is expected to annex the area. Ma'aleh Adumim // Photo: AFP
We do not know what is inside President Donald Trump's peace plan. But from everything we have experienced so far from the government in general and the president in particular, it is clear that he does not agree with the premise on which the Oslo process was based. Oslo and everything that has come out since then is based on the assumption that the PLO has a veto on Israel's right to safeguard its interests and exercise its rights in Judea and Samaria.
This week's talks by Blue and White people, party chairman Benny Gantz and the South, have unequivocally shown that his people are adhering to this assumption. Without the PLO's approval - or the "international community", as Gantz put it, it is the same - Blue and white do not want to apply Israeli law to the Jordan Valley, and nothing.
Trump's sudden summons puts Gantz in the trap. On the one hand, by Gantz's invitation alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump is increasing him. He regards him as an unmissable national leader, almost equivalent to Netanyahu. Trump also unequivocally shows that while he does not want to interfere in elections, it is no longer possible to enslave the handling of substantive matters to Israel's never-ending election board.
On the other hand, Trump's approach may not align with Yael German's approach. It will not deviate a millimeter from the Oslo outline, which states that Israel is to blame for the absence of peace, and that in order to achieve peace - Israel must appease the PLO by giving up all or almost all of Judea and Samaria and half of Jerusalem, even assuming a massive deportation of hundreds of thousands of observant Jews. To agree to the Trump peace plan, Gantz must break away from the anti-Israeli narrative of the post-Zionist left, including his party members.
If he does, he may unravel his party.
Alternatively, if he sided with Garman v. Trump, rejecting the president's pro-Israel approach - an approach that disproves the idea that Israel's enemies have a veto on exercising its rights as a sovereign state - then its chances of winning elections are diminished.
What’s certain is that Trump’s sudden invitation is changing the face of the election. Another beauty pageant between politicians who are quite tired of the public tired of polling booths, the election became at one moment a referendum on sovereignty and Zionism. It's unclear what's in the president's plan. But it will probably be interesting to find out.