Friday, June 12, 2009

Binyamin Netanyahu: Canny Operator

Amitai Etzioni is a heavyweight scholar, not a clueless journalist nor a lowly blogger. So when he comes out with a contrarian thesis, you don't want merely to brush it aside.

His thesis today is that Netanyahu has outfoxed Obama. Obama needed a wedge issue to twist Israel's arm on, so as to gain legitimacy in the Arab world. Netanyahu obliged, by moving the post years backward; now, when he caves in for Obama's credibility, he'll merely be giving what has long ago been given, and not something new.

What can I say? I hope he's right.

His article then goes on to elaborate some other important facts about the goals of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. Nothing us news junkies don't know, but he's right that most people generally aren't very well informed.

1 comment:

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Now the only question is whether Bibi will fold in that widely anticipated speech.

My two shekels say yes, but...