By Rabbi Dow Marmur
JERUSALEM–The Ivory Coast is said currently to have two presidents and be in chaos. Israel has two, or perhaps even three, prime ministers and it’s in anything but chaos. If you don’t probe too deeply, things seem to be going rather well here, especially economically.
The official prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, is diplomatic (which for some means that he’s trained to lie for his country). He makes all the right noises when speaking of peace with the Palestinians hoping thus to appease the international community (which sometimes is a euphemism for the United States) as it blames Israel (so what’s new?) for allowing the continued growth of Jewish settlements.
But whereas Netanyahu speaks for export, foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman, who often conducts himself as if he were the prime minister, speaks for home consumption. Addressing the annual meeting of Israeli representatives around the world on Sunday, he declared that peace with the Palestinians is pie in the sky because even if the Arabs got Tel Aviv, they’d want more.
That’s, indeed, how one must interpret statements by Hamas leaders in Gaza and their many supporters elsewhere. Even when they say that they’re prepared to cease their constant and growing rocket attacks on Israel and curb the attempts (so far, mercifully unsuccessful) to cross into Israeli territory, at best they only speak of armistice and will always reiterate their objective to take all of Israel and send the Jews packing.
Lieberman seems to assess the toxic relationship with Turkey in that context. Whereas seasoned Israeli diplomats say that Turkey can again become an ally (though after the warmed up relations with its foe Greece, it’s difficult to see how this can happen), Lieberman calls the Turkish demand for an Israeli apology for attacking the Turkish ship as part of the flotilla that sought to enter Gaza illegally – a chutzpa.
Even Netanyahu realizes that Lieberman tries to usurp him, especially as the latter often says that government policies are unrealistic. That’s why Netanyahu’s office issued a statement that Lieberman is expressing personal views, not the government’s.
Israel may also have a third prime minister: defense minister Ehud Barak. As the US administration refuses to deal with Lieberman, Netanyahu often sends Barak to talk to the Americans as a kind of alternative foreign minister. Lieberman is, of course, aware of his rival and there’s no love lost between them.
This, in turn, may confirm Barak’s line that the presence of his Labour Party in the coalition is essential, because without it, the government would be totally in the hands of extremists and seriously jeopardize the future of Israel. Critics within his own party, however, seem to imply that Barak is in the government for himself, perhaps even pretending to be the real prime minister.
One of the Labour members whom Barak persuaded to serve with him, Binyamin Ben Eliezer, told the media Sunday that he’s not surprised, perhaps even not perturbed, that several South American countries have already recognized the Palestinian state. He even added that he wouldn’t be surprise if the US did it, too.
This suggests that there’re no less than four foreign ministers in Israel: Lieberman has the title, Netanyahu speaks to the world, Barak sets the agenda and Ben Eliezer dabbles in it. How on earth is this country run and how can it function as well as it does?
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Rabbi Marmur is spiritual leader emeritus of Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto. He now divides his time between Canada and Israel