Israel Palestine Infos
Uri Avnery
September 8, 2012.
The March of Folly
NOTHING COULD be more scary than the thought that this duo – Binyamin Netanyahu
and Ehud Barak – is in a position to start a war, the dimensions and outcome of
which are incalculable.
It’s scary not only because of their ideological fixations and mental outlook,
but also because of the level of their intelligence.
The last month gave us a small sample. By itself it was but a passing episode.
But as an illustration of their decision-making abilities, it was frightening
enough.
THE ROUTINE conference of the Movement of Non-Aligned Nations was to take place
in
This was bad news for the Israeli government, which has devoted much of its
energies during the last three years to the strenuous effort to isolate
If the location of the conference was not bad enough, the United Nations
Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, announced that he would attend, too. And as if
this was still not bad enough, the new president of
Netanyahu was faced with a problem: how to react?
IF A wise expert had been consulted, he might have asked: why react at all?
The Non-Aligned Movement is an empty shell. It was created
[or “founded”] 51 years ago, at the height of
the Cold War, by Nehru of
Since then, circumstances have changed completely. The Soviets have disappeared,
and the
If Netanyahu had kept quiet, chances are that the world media would have ignored
the non-event altogether. CNN and Aljazeera might have devoted a full three
minutes to it, out of courtesy, and that would have been that.
But for Netanyahu, keeping quiet is not an option. So he did something
exceedingly foolish: he told Ban Ki-moon not to go to
The aforementioned wise expert – if he existed – would have told Netanyahu:
Don’t! The Non-aligned make up more than 60% of the UN membership. Ban wants to
be re-elected in due course, and he is not going to insult 120 voters, much as
you wouldn’t want to insult 80 members of the Knesset. His predecessors have
attended all former conferences. He cannot refuse now – especially not after you
publicly ordered him around.
Then there was Morsi. What to do about him?
If another wise expert, this time on
So, as the Hebrew saying goes, better to swallow a frog – even two frogs – then
do something foolish.
BUT NETANYAHU couldn’t possibly follow such advice. It’s
would be contrary to his nature. So he and his assistants proclaimed
loudly – very loudly – that the 120 attending countries are supporting
Instead of isolating
The more so as both Ban and Morsi used the
(This speech was broadcast live on Iranian television. The translator evoked
general admiration for his presence of mind. Whenever Morsi said in Arabic “
THIS WHOLE episode is important only insofar as it illustrates the incredible
folly of Netanyahu and his close advisers (all of them handpicked by his wife,
Sarah, easily the most unpopular person in the country). They seem to be cut off
from the real world and to live in an imagined world of their own.
In this imaginary world, Israel is the center of the universe, and Netanyahu can
give orders to the leaders of the nations, from Barack Obama and Angela Merkel
to Mohamed Morsi and Ban Ki-moon.
Well, we are not the center of the world. We have a lot of influence, owing in
part to our history. We are a regional power, much beyond our actual size. But
to be really effective, we need allies, moral standing and the support of
international public opinion, just like everybody else. Without this,
Netanyahu’s pet project, to secure for himself a place in the history books by
attacking
I know that many eyebrows were raised when I categorically stated that neither
However, during the last few days, there has been an almost imperceptible change
of tone here. Netanyahu declared that the “family of nations” must lay down a
“red line” and timetable for stopping
Translated into simple Hebrew: there will be no Israeli attack, unless approved
by the
An Israeli commentator has made the interesting suggestion that the President of
the United States – after the elections – personally travel to Teheran and reach
out to the Iranian people. That is no more improbable than Richard Nixon’s
historic visit to
A YEAR and a half ago, I also dared to suggest that the Arab Spring would be
good for
At the time, it was a common assumption in
The obscurantist demonization of Islam can be dangerously misleading. The
painting of Islam as a murderous, inherently anti-Semitic religion, can lead to
destructive consequences. Fortunately, the dire forecasts are being disproved
daily.
In the homeland of the Arab
And most importantly – the Muslim Brotherhood in
It is, of course, much too early to tell, but I believe that a rejuvenated Arab
world, in which moderate Islamic forces play an important role (as they do in
For this to happen, we must break out of Netanyahu’s imaginary world and return
to the real world, the exciting, changing, challenging world of the 21st
century.
Otherwise we will just add another sad chapter to the late Barbara Tuchman’s
brilliant book, The March of Folly.