Two books about Benjamin Netanyahu recently landed on my desk.

One, "Bibi - My Story", authored by Netanyahu himself.

The other, "Zofan Netanyahu", by the journalist Mazal Moalem.

Netanyahu's book (591 pages, published by Sela Meir - Shibulat) is longer than Moalem's (431 pages, published by Kinneret Zamora Beitan).

Theoretically, since he is the focus of both books and knows all the details of the plots described in them, Netanyahu's autobiography could have been honest and full of much more innovations.

In practice, this is not the case.

Although Netanyahu has revelations.

He admits his mistakes, and also refutes many of the slanders thrown at him over the years.

And yet, there is a huge difference between Netanyahu as he was and still is in real life, and the way he tells his story in "My Life".

Perhaps naturally, Netanyahu instills in him what he wants them to remember, not what he would prefer them to forget.

After all, every person has negative sides that he is not really proud to report to the world.

All the more so when it comes to a unique personality like Netanyahu, about whom sages have already said, "The greatest of all is his friend - his creation is the greatest of his right."

The gap between Netanyahu's story about himself and the mask of his life as it is, is closed in the "Netanyahu Code".

This is a very well-invested book, which compresses the author's vast knowledge.

Moalem notes that she spent seven years writing it, during which she interviewed hundreds of people.

This depth is evident in almost every line, considering the little that contains the many.

She took on the challenge of "peeling back the layers of his character", and in my opinion did it in the best way that I have at least read to date.

When Obama cut his throat

Moalem goes back to countless events that she didn't even cover as a reporter, and as far as I can tell, she describes them with exemplary accuracy.

Footnotes and references - still lacking in autobiography - also attack and justify her descriptions.

What is even more important, unlike many in the journalistic barangay, Moalem does not spare criticism of Netanyahu but does not diminish him.

As a first-person observer of his political birth moments, she stands by his greatness and achievements, including quite a few revelations.

For example, the first meeting between him and Obama in 2009, after they took office.

It was known that Obama dictated in this meeting the demand, "not even one brick", regarding construction in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem.

Moalem discovers that she was accompanied by another horrifying gesture.

"He (Obama) waved his hand in a throat-clearing motion and said, 'I know how to handle people who oppose me'" (p. 287).

By the way, even from Obama's autobiography, and not only from Netanyahu's, this alarming threat is absent.

From her investigation it becomes unequivocally clear that the main poisoner of Israel-US relations in those years was Obama. The Israeli media, which is accustomed to bowing epically to America, then of course told the opposite story. Moalem shows how Netanyahu navigated the stormy ship against the Americans in those years, Both in the Palestinian issue and in the Iranian one.

It did not occur to her to find out whether the great flexibility he showed in the secret conversation channels with the Palestinians was a strategic deception, both towards the international arena and towards the left wings in his governments (Ehud Barak, Tzipi Livni), or whether it was a genuine intention.

But the mystery - and this is the code that Ualem deciphered - is not in the facts, but in Netanyahu himself, as one of the Shin Bet chiefs who worked with him said: "Even Netanyahu's shadow does not know what he is thinking" (p. 10).

That is, there is no way to know what Netanyahu "really" wants, because he doesn't know either.

Or perhaps more correctly, he simultaneously wants one thing and the opposite.

He loves his wives but shepherds foreign fields.

He is doing everything to reach an agreement with the Palestinians and at the same time swearing allegiance to the Land of Israel.

He dedicates everything to eliminate the Iranian nuclear program, "however, at the moment of truth he retreats" (p. 322).

This contrast accompanies Netanyahu everywhere.

In the Iranian context, Moalem insists on condemning Netanyahu as someone who "did not make a single historical decision".

Here, too, her explanation goes to the root of his personality.

It is not, she states, about "cowardice" or "pressures", but that "Netanyahu feels threatened in an environment of uncertainty... (but) leadership decisions are made in a climate of uncertainty" (p. 322).

Moalem spent seven years writing the book.

This depth is evident in almost every line.

She took on the challenge of "peeling back the layers of his character", and in my opinion did it in the best way I've read to date

The "Netanyahu Code" covers Netanyahu in breadth and depth, but one component is missing.

Moalem reviews in detail Netanyahu's astonishment at the betrayal of him by the judicial system that he defended all these years.

In the next editions it is worth adding the revelations in the book "The Counselor" by Yehuda Weinstein.

The former ombudsman describes the almost mafia-like deal, in the framework of which Netanyahu completely bowed to the lawyers. After all, he does not have free meals. The return was immunity from investigations.

***

The intrusive personality analysis of "Zofen Netanyahu" stands for the connection that exists in him between the persecution of the Jewish people throughout history and the feeling of "everyone is against us", which accompanies him and his family.

Indeed, if the books have a common denominator, it is Netanyahu's total Jewishness, which is the guiding line of his life.

Two short episodes that I have seen with my own eyes, in the many years I have been covering him, will illustrate this.

In 2010, I accompanied his visit to the United Nations Assembly. His entourage was swallowed up in one of the corridors, but he suddenly got back on his heels, took off his glasses and looked intently and with pleasure at some exhibit. It was an ancient menorah.

A similar incident occurred in 2016 during the visit to Beijing. The hosts presented He has the translation of Maimonides' "Strong Hand" into Chinese, on a nanochip.

I was next to him when he held the tiny item.

His enthusiasm skyrocketed.

These were authentic moments.

This is Netanyahu without masks, and this is the merchandise he is putting up for the public's choice, for the fifth time in the last three years.

Does he deserve support?

Politics is, as you know, a choice between alternatives, and many voters, especially those with right-wing positions, are seriously debating these days - which is less bad for them.

They don't like Netanyahu, and their reasons are with them.

But it is very difficult for them with the bloc of his rivals.

Maybe they would vote for Shaked, but she has no chance of passing the percentage of blocking, so it is a waste of votes.

Sitting at home is also out of the question.

Silence is slime.

to choose the lesser evil

There are plenty of reasons why not to vote for Netanyahu, but it is worth examining whether his shortcomings are greater than those of a group of his opponents.

First the symbols.

Lapid started his term at Yad Vashem - not at the Western Wall like Netanyahu.

Yad Vashem is of course a very important site, but the reason for our existence is the "Land of Zion and Jerusalem", not the Holocaust.

Netanyahu would never have declared that "the anti-Semites were slave traders who threw slaves off ships. The anti-Semites are members of the Hutu tribe in Rwanda who massacred members of the Tutsi tribe," as Lapid said.

The reason for this is that in Netanyahu's eyes, "he is from one past and the whole world is from the other", as our sages said about Avraham Avino.

This is Shink's Judaism from his father's house.

One chose to go to the Wall, one near Vashem - and that's the whole difference between Netanyahu and Lapid // Photo: Kobi Gideon,

On the other hand, Minister of Transportation Merav Michaeli, who will be an integral part of any Lapid coalition, spat in the face of millions of Jews in Israel and around the world last week when she chose to hold a ceremony in Haifa, on Shabbat - the weekly day of rest according to both Halacha and law.

Michaeli dishonored one of the most fundamental of Israel's sanctuaries in a deliberately provocative act.

Lapid and Gantz, her present and future partners, did not disapprove of the act.

This will be the direction of the RLV coalition, if it is formed. Every voter should ask, is this the public behavior they wish to encourage?

And of course there is MK Ofer Kasif, on whom the Lapid coalition will also rely. This jewel accuses the IDF soldiers of "executing children", and defines Israel's defense minister as a "war criminal".

In the political situation that has arisen in Israel, not joining the Netanyahu bloc means strengthening the treasury.

With all the difficulty, is this the trap to fall into?

After the symbols come the deeds.

Lapid's three months as prime minister are an excellent opportunity to understand where Israel will go with a coalition in which he is a central figure.

The maritime border agreement with Lebanon, which he presented to the government this week, expresses folding under American pressure.

Furthermore, there is a joint attempt by him and the Biden administration to misrepresent a "historic agreement".

MK Ofer Kasif, on whom the Lapid coalition will also rely, accuses the IDF soldiers of "executing children".

In the political situation that has arisen in Israel, not joining the Netanyahu bloc means strengthening the treasury

The American side's briefings throughout the week sharpened this.

"A historic and monumental breakthrough between Israel and Lebanon," the US State Department announced. Biden, when it was clear that he was struggling to remember the facts, told CNN that "I spoke on the phone with the president... with... the prime minister of Israel and the president of Lebanon.

They reached a historic agreement on peace in the Mediterranean, after being in a state of war for a long time." This was a wild exaggeration.

But Lapid also spoke of a "historic agreement", in an attempt to burnish his image as a statesman. In practice, as a senior American official said, their concern was Mainly for the Lebanese. "Lebanon is facing a crisis in all areas, but without facing the crisis in the energy market it has no chance of recovery.

Most Lebanese have less than two hours of electricity a day.

It is impossible to lead a life like this.

This is great news for Lebanon.

On Israel's side - this will give it a kind of stability and security in the Mediterranean Sea so that it can pump the gas and make sure that their country is protected," said the American senior official.

The road to the agreement passed through Israeli agreement to give Lebanon 100 percent of the disputed territory;

Allowing a company chosen by the Lebanese government to drill in Israel's economic waters;

Waiver of Israel's demand to recognize the line of defense lines as a border, and additional flexibilities.

Netanyahu was also ready at the time to be flexible with the Lebanese, but the willingness to compromise reached 60 percent.

No one thought of giving everything.

Torch method

The softened line against the Americans is no accident.

As I recall, Lapid agreed to the opening of the American consulate in Jerusalem - Shaked and Bennett stopped him at the last minute.

As detailed here last week, he is bringing the Palestinians back to the table in order to receive a European hug.

To his credit, he does not hide his worldview.

In Lapid's eyes, Israel is part of the liberal-Western bloc.

On the other hand, Netanyahu's view is that Israel stands on its own.

That is why Lapid condemns Russia, while Netanyahu is silent.

His reckoning with Putin is not that of Western Europe.

There is a connection between the political view and the Jewish one.

For Lapid, whose position is obviously legitimate, Jewishness is general, universal, "a people like all nations", as some of the founders of Zionism aspired, and anti-Semitism is like the slave trade.

With Netanyahu, despite his clearly irreligious lifestyle, the Jews stand on their own.

"A nation shall dwell alone", which will never be able to surrender to others - not even to American presidents, however friendly they may be.

This spirit is at the root of his connection with the ultra-Orthodox and the national religious people.

That is why he enacted the nationality law.

Therefore, when he stands before world leaders, he carries the entire Jewish history on his back - the burden of Shalpid, and also Gantz, who know it and feel it, much less than him, and therefore he initiated the sovereignty while Gantz short-sightedly thwarted it.

Indeed, Netanyahu is not without shortcomings, but the affairs of the state were managed no less well with him than in the outgoing government - and in many areas, better.

Those who are unable to support him, by the way, can turn to one of the satellite parties.

So in the bottom line, what is at stake is a decision between a strong but casual and left-wing Israel and a prosperous, right-wing and Jewish Israel.

At least for me the choice between the two is clear. 

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