A current event from 46 years ago: a secular-religious crisis brought forward the Knesset elections. Yitzhak Rabin rushed to Washington to have his picture taken with President Jimmy Carter before the polls opened. Their conversation took place privately, and immediately afterwards the prime minister left for Florida to address Jewish activists. The Israeli media saved the money for the flight to Florida, and from there to New York. Therefore, it was agreed that Yoram Ronen and I would represent television and radio, and that we would report to the media in Israel.
Rabin spoke and went up to his room, which was attended by, among others, Simcha Dinitz, Ephraim Foran and Eli Mizrahi, as well as Ronen and I. Rabin was short-tempered and tired and irritable and irritable, lit a cigarette with a cigarette, his spirit was bad. He ordered the door closed. No one in his entourage got up. Atmosphere of disintegration.
Ambassador Dinitz briefed on the conversation with Carter. All is well. Relations are good. Prambling, almost in a whisper it was said that the parties discussed the non-agreed issues between them. We asked, and Dinitz evaded. We wrote down and passed it on to all the media, and flew to New York.
Hours passed before we found out that Dinitz had given us grandmother stories. While there were clichés about the American commitment to Israel, at the core of the conversation Carter spoke to Rabin in blunt and aggressive language, with harsh criticism that is not customary between countries. Why am I going back to that terrifying night in Florida? Because tonight the Israeli media is expected to repeat Dinitz's reporting technique.
Just as Tzachi Hanegbi announced at the time that President Joe Biden had invited Netanyahu to the White House in Washington, but neither bears nor forest, so it sounds like relations between the United States and Israel are normal. It will be some time before we know what was really said in the Biden-Netanyahu conversation, whose assessment in New York indicates a decline in Israel's status, which has gone from being the first lady in the Middle East to a political mistress (Hebrew heritage says: "The king when he walks with his wife walks in public, and when he walks with his mistress walks in the caches").
A few hours before the meeting, things look like this:
• There has been a decline in Netanyahu's personal ability. The United States is not the right country to attack pro-democracy protesters. From Bibi's point of view, the slander that those protesting against him are colluding with the PLO and Iran harms him in America. In the past, no such errors were recorded in his moves.
• The flood of reports was swallowed up by a sentence that Elon Musk said to Bibi yesterday, that even Tesla expressed opposition to their meeting. This is a worrying development regarding the average American's attitude toward Israel.
The U.S. has just carried out a disgraceful prisoner exchange deal with Iran, cashing out five of its citizens for $6 billion. Biden continues negotiations with the ayatollahs to renew part of Barack Obama's agreement with Tehran that was canceled and inspired by Netanyahu. Israel was excluded from the discussion.
• Biden shifted the Iranian issue to an angle beam. The responsible media in the West focuses its interests on curbing the Chinese dictatorship. The U.S. deals with Iran at a secondary level of interest, and in any case no longer questions Israel's opinion. Bibi was ousted from this arena.
There has been a decline in Netanyahu's personal ability. The United States is not the right country to attack pro-democracy protesters. From Bibi's point of view, the slander that those protesting against him are colluding with the PLO and Iran harms him in America. In the past, no such errors were recorded in his moves
• The big mine at the meeting will deal with concessions to the Palestinians, which are required of Israel in order to enter as a third side in the normalization deal with Saudi Arabia. Bibi arrives at Biden without prior discussion with security officials about the nuclear project claimed by the Saudis, and without being able to give the Palestinians even a single grain of sand in Area C. He has nothing to offer as long as Smotrich and Ben-Gvir are full partners in his government.
Netanyahu's public life now looks similar to that of President Richard Nixon in the summer of 1974, who maneuvered unsuccessfully to get out of Watergate. Then the president groaned at the criticism in his country and fled to roam the world suffering from excruciating pain from thrombophlebitis – a blood clot that had domesticated in his legs. These days, Netanyahu is somewhat reminiscent of Nixon in the twilight of his career.
Wrong? We'll fix it! If you find a mistake in the article, please share with us