{"id":18921,"date":"2019-01-12T09:58:35","date_gmt":"2019-01-12T15:58:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/?p=18921"},"modified":"2019-01-12T09:58:35","modified_gmt":"2019-01-12T15:58:35","slug":"trouble-in-the-troubled-middle-east","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/2019\/01\/12\/trouble-in-the-troubled-middle-east\/","title":{"rendered":"Trouble In The Troubled Middle East"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve been distracted from Israel’s Prime Minister\u00a0Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s troubles by our own, but his have been continuing without me. They may impact the United States, at least as a distraction from President Trump’s huge troubles. Ben Caspit reports<\/a> for AL Monitor<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0concerning Netanyahu’s recent nation-wide address, touted as a big announcement:<\/p>\n

One minute after Netanyahu began to talk, it was clear that\u00a0all the\u00a0drama had been unwarranted. He did not announce peace,\u00a0declare war or\u00a0reveal a new existential threat. He\u00a0presented no\u00a0achievement in the battle against Iranian nuclearization. Instead, he faced the camera\u00a0to complain about the way he was treated in the investigations\u00a0and to\u00a0demand the right<\/a>\u00a0to confront the men who turned state\u2019s witness against him. He even suggested that the face-to-face meetings be broadcast live.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe lost touch with reality,\u201d one of Netanyahu\u2019s ministers told Al-Monitor\u00a0on condition of anonymity after the broadcast.\u00a0\u201cHe thinks this is a reality show and that he is the director.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It’s one thing when the opposition claims you’ve lost contact with reality. But one of your own Cabinet ministers? Sounds like a former Secretary we’ve heard from. And with an election coming up very soon …<\/p>\n

Netanyahu suddenly understood that he stands to lose the race he started just two weeks ago, when he brought the election date forward, between [Attorney General] Mandelblit’s\u00a0announcement [of possible indictments on the charge of corruption] and the election. Netanyahu examined surveys that probed the influence of an indictment\u00a0before the elections<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0concluded its\u00a0political\u00a0impact<\/a>\u00a0could be lethal. We\u2019re not talking only about the election results\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Netanyahu knows that even if he wins\u00a0the elections after such an\u00a0announcement, he would have a hard time assembling a coalition. He would need a miracle that would heighten the power of the far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties to give him\u00a0a majority, with partners willing to serve under a prime minister who is struggling to prove his innocence in court. It is unclear whether other potential partners would enter a coalition under such circumstances. Even for Netanyahu, that miracle is likely\u00a0unattainable.\u00a0He also understands that he is fighting not only for his political life, but for his freedom.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What is especially interesting for me, though, is how this is affecting Netanyahu’s political party, the Likud<\/strong><\/em>:<\/p>\n

The\u00a0polls<\/a>\u00a0taken after Netanyahu\u2019s appearance revealed that a significant majority of the general public does not believe his version of events or his claims\u00a0that the proceedings against him are unfair. On the other hand, Netanyahu reaped\u00a0success among Likud voters, his base, and got them to close ranks. A\u00a0large majority of them believes him and swallows his version as absolute truth.\u00a0Still, this limited achievement might not be sufficient for his political survival.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Indicating that, like Trump, Netanyahu has enticed a large number of citizens into placing their leader above truth. A precarious time for Israel, between hostile powers, a potentially corrupt leader, and an opposition that doesn’t appear to sport a plausible replacement for Netanyahu:<\/p>\n

Despite all the above and the unprecedented drama, we must remember an important point: Netanyahu still enjoys a large lead in the polls. Even now, when his situation seems hopeless, it is too early to eulogize the man.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve been distracted from Israel’s Prime Minister\u00a0Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s troubles by our own, but his have been continuing without me. They may impact the United States, at least as a distraction from President Trump’s huge troubles. Ben Caspit reports for AL Monitor\u00a0concerning Netanyahu’s recent nation-wide address, touted as a big announcement: \u2026 Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18921"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18921\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18926,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18921\/revisions\/18926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}