JERUSALEM — Neither the British government nor the leaders of Germany and France wish to join Netanyahu’s bid to stay in power. That’s how I see the news that has just reached us in Israel.
It had been announced in Jerusalem that the Prime Minister of Israel would fly to London on Tuesday to meet with some of the heads of delegations to the NATO meeting about to take place there. However, the British authorities have now informed the uninvited visitor that “for logistic reasons” Britain cannot accommodate him at such short notice.
It also appears that neither Chancellor Merkel of Germany nor President Macron of France were prepared to meet him. We’re told that US Secretary of State Pompeo will see Netanyahu later in the week in Portugal.
Though the excuse that Netanyahu’s office gave for his wish to meet with NATO leaders was to discuss Iran, it was obvious to most observers that his real reason was the current government crisis in Israel. It seems that Netanyahu saw here another opportunity to tell the Israeli public that he and only he has the international credentials. Understandably, NATO didn’t want to get involved.
Netanyahu’s supporters try to tell us that he needs to stay in power to keep his promise to ensure that the Jordan Valley becomes part of Israel. His detractors see this another election ploy and tell us that he had plenty of time to annex the Jordan Valley in his years as prime minister.
The detractors also tell us that, in addition to wanting to stay in power for the sake of power, Netanyahu also hopes that more time at the helm will enable him to arrange immunity from being prosecuted. His opponents aren’t prepared to reward him in this way. Hence the stalemate in trying to form Israel’s next government and the growing nightmare of another election.
Whether a third election would resolve the impasse is by no means clear. In the meantime, ordinary citizens are confused and worried, but that doesn’t seem to concern the politicians: though they tell us that they’re there to serve us and our country, to many of us they only seem to want to serve themselves.
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Rabbi Dow Marmur is spiritual leader emeritus of Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto, Canada. Now a permanent resident citizen of Israel, he may be contacted via dow.marmur@sdjewishworld.com