It is difficult to overstate the intensity of the shock that befell Naftali Bennett and his small entourage, upon receiving the updates from the massacre in Be'er Sheva.
As a rule, Bennett made a custom for himself: to apply thick layers of powder on a problematic reality and hope that the public would buy the goods.
He portrayed the terrible failure of the deaths of hundreds of people in the fifth wave of the Corona as a "dizzying success."
Ben-Gurion established Jerusalem as the capital of Israel at the end of the War of Independence, in order to establish world facts on the ground. The US Ambassador to Israel, Tom Nides, has been living in a hotel in Jerusalem since coming to Israel, because it is our capital.
Bennett, with inconceivable contempt, took a step that none of his 12 predecessors, not even the most megalomaniacal, dared to do, and moved the residence into his private home.
The connection between the attack and Abbas' membership in the coalition does not exist.
Demonstration against government policy, the scene of the attack in the WC, Photo: Dudu Greenspan
If on all these scandals Bennett somehow skips, the four corpses in the navel of a city penetrates even the thickest skin.
The astonishment was doubled and multiplied, both because of the number of murders and because in the preliminary discussions the warnings focused on East Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria.
No one pointed to Be'er Sheva or Little Israel at all.
The attack was a difficult landing for him and his men, from the historic summit in Sharm el-Sheikh.
At 15:12 he landed in Israel.
Less than an hour later, reports of the carnage arrived in the Negev capital.
One moment, Bennett at the center met with an unprecedented tripartite meeting with two of Arab leaders - Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Emirates heir to the throne, Muhammad bin Zayed.
Another moment, the daughter of hatred for the Jews erupts under his nose, leaving behind a field of carnage.
Commissioner of Police on the attack in Be'er Sheva: "The police responded quickly, the Israeli police are small in the face of growing missions" // Photo: Police spokeswoman
Levant did not have much to do in the face of the attack.
In the strange structure of his government, the police and the Border Police are under the authority of the Minister of Internal Security, Amar Bar-Lev. The IDF is subordinate to Bnei Gantz.
The GSS is the only body relevant to the attack and which Bennett has the authority to direct, but they have only to collect information after the fact.
The opposition was quick to link the attack to Mansour Abbas' membership in the coalition and the struggle for planting in the Negev.
The truth is that there is no connection between things.
There were also terrorist attacks in Be'er Sheva and the surrounding area during Netanyahu's time, including riots and lynching during the Guardian period.
The pus of governance in the Negev, the weakening of the status of the Bedouin who support Israel and the flourishing of radical Islam among them - all happened in Netanyahu's shift.
Both the procedure for confiscating weapons for terrorist killers and the appointment of the infamous Commissioner, Kobi Shabtai - are all Netanyahu's legacies. He or the Likud members cannot comment on these failures.
Weinstein, Photo: Gideon Markovich
Interesting things in this context are revealed by Yehuda Weinstein, the former Attorney General in his new book, "The Adviser."
Weinstein describes the ease with which he folded the right-wing laws that Netanyahu sought to promote: a law bypassing the High Court, the Associations Law, the Nationality Law, the Regulation Law, the Preference Law for IDF Servants, the Hearing Law for Judges.
According to Weinstein, Netanyahu removed them from the agenda even without an argument.
"The prime minister has nurtured our friendship and responded to almost every claim I have made to him," he writes in his book.
According to him, only Sarah Netanyahu's interrogation clouded their relationship.
Upgraded boundaries
If there is one thing that Netanyahu did, and in which Bennett is certainly stepping in his big shoes, it is these ties with Arab countries.
On the foundations laid by Netanyahu Bennett is building the building.
At the interpersonal level, the current prime minister is softer than Netanyahu, and therefore, apparently, manages more easily to develop friendships with the leaders he knows.
This is part of the explanation for the triangle in Sharm el-Sheikh, the like of which has never been seen before.
Two Arab leaders hold an almost day-long summit with the participation of the Israeli prime minister.
They publicize the event and pose for a photo with the Israeli flag.
And perhaps most importantly - they are not talking about war, peace or Palestinians, but just about neighborly relations.
Such normalcy.
In the first place, the meeting was not intended to be published.
At least that is what Israel claims.
Still, Channel 12 reporter Yaron Avraham revealed it even before it began.
Based on the little information that came out in retrospect, it seems that the conversations were a kind of brainstorming session on the various issues on the agenda.
It does not appear to be a joint move that is about to unravel.
Summit, this week, Photo: AFP
So what were they talking about?
Two huge issues are shaking the world, and therefore our region as well.
One is the war in Ukraine and the other is the nuclear deal with Iran.
The invasion of Ukraine leads to a sharp jump in wheat and fuel prices.
Each of these price increases, and certainly both together, are putting the Egyptian economy in danger of collapsing.
What can the Emirates do about this?
Mainly to increase economic aid to Cairo.
What can Israel do about this?
Even before the war broke out, and in fact even before the government was formed, Egypt began to change direction with Israel.
The hot peace model presented by the Emirates, Morocco and Bahrain, has led Egypt to change direction, seeking collaborations that it has avoided for more than 40 years of peace.
Last spring, a minute before the fourth election, the then Minister of Intelligence, Eli Cohen (Likud), visited Egypt, led by a large economic delegation.
At that meeting, the agreement in principle was reached on flights from Israel to Sharm el-Sheikh.
The positive momentum intensified after the formation of the current government.
In recent days, the latest details about the flights to the Pearl of Pearl in southern Sinai have been sewn up.
Bennett also spoke with al-Sisi about joining Egyptian airlines to the Ben Gurion Airport-Sharm line to lower prices. At the same time, as reported in "Israel Today", the border crossing in Nitzana will be upgraded so that Israel can increase purchases from Egypt, The economy there - at least will help.
The second heavy issue is of course energy prices.
The West wants to punish Russia with the most severe punishment of boycotting its gas and oil industry.
But such a move would further skyrocket prices and also leave European citizens without gas in the stoves.
Biden is therefore turning to all the other energy producers in the world, even to tyrannical Venezuela - an ally of Iran and a traditional enemy of the United States - and is seeking to increase output.
The old dilemma
Those who refuse to concede to him, and in fact are not even willing to receive calls from him, are the Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
Each has its own reasons.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (IPS) avenges Biden.
Now the Saudi ruler is returning.
Commentators in Saudi Arabia are asking what the whole region is asking: Why is Russian aggression responding to harsh international punishment, while the Western response to Iranian missiles on Jeddah and Dubai is gestures, payments and a nuclear deal with the ayatollahs?
By the way, non-Sisi also had an account with Biden, because the Biden administration also exerted heavy pressure on him in the beginning.
In this respect, it is safe to assume that the three leaders saw eye to eye with US problematic policies in our region.
Criticism of the United States is one thing, a provocative step towards it is already another matter, but it is the dowry that Mabz brought to Sharm.
A day before his plane landed on the peninsula, he received with honor the kingship of the mass murderer, the man whose hands are dipped in the blood of at least half a million of his people, Bashar Assad.
This meeting angered the United States, which is also angry at the Gulf states. The Americans, in both parties, are angry at the unfriendly behavior in the eyes of the CBS and the CIS, which do not respond to America's requests to increase oil production. In their view, their allies In the Middle East, where billions have been invested for years, they sit on the fence as soon as it is closest to World War III, but the embrace of Assad is unparalleled insolence.
What will Israel do to oust Iran from Syria?
Putin and Assad, 2020, Photo: Reuters
Assad's laundering process did not begin last Saturday in Abu Dhabi.
For many months now, voices have been heard in Arab countries calling for his return to the Arab League.
The emirate ruler, who is currently leading the move, has an interest in reducing Israel's opposition.
Much like the invasion of Ukraine, Israel once again finds itself in a dilemma between interests and morals, and between the regional and the global.
On a principled level it is clear that any sane person opposes rehabilitating Assad.
But in practice, Israel wants to throw Iran out of Syria, and in fact Russia and America are also interested in it.
So if Mabaz increases its influence in Damascus at the expense of the Revolutionary Guards, when the price is "only" a kosher certificate for Assad whose rule is already certain, maybe Israel should not torpedo the process? As well as new information that is expected to influence Jerusalem's position on the issue.
As far as I understand from sources in Jerusalem, there is still no Israeli position regarding Assad, since his visit to the Emirates has happened now.
But when the Israeli captains sit down to discuss the issue, they will have to carefully consider what the US will look like in a lukewarm position regarding the war criminal from Damascus. The American audience.
But an Israeli reconciliation with Assad may already be one exaggeration too many.
Already now extremists in the Republican Party, and certainly in the Democratic Party, are attacking Israel for an overly lukewarm attitude towards Putin.
If stuttered about Assad, that criticism may be overcome, and even by friends.
That is, even if it is regionally better for Israel to restrain a deal such as "training Assad in exchange for removing Iran from Syria," internationally, it could enter the dangerous realm of illegitimacy.
Particularly hostile journalists have already wondered this week on major television networks why the United States punishes Iran and Russia for human rights violations, but backs those of Israel so to speak. Such questions should not move from the margins to the center.
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