Gaza.

Netanyahu - How I stopped the Oslo Peace Process

Last week Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz published an Op Ed about a video shown on Israeli TV programme “This Week with Miki Rosenthal”.  

The secretly filmed video, above, shows Netanyahu reveal in excruciating detail how he managed to single-handedly halt the ratification of the Oslo Accords until he extracted the concessions he wanted.

The Op Ed author rightfully opines:

What is there to discuss with a huckster whose sole purpose is “to give 2 percent in order to prevent 100 percent,” as his father told him, quoting his grandfather…

Israel has had many rightist leaders since Menachem Begin promised “many Elon Morehs,” but there has never been one like Netanyahu, who wants to do it by deceit, to mock America, trick the Palestinians and lead us all astray. The man in the video betrays himself in his own words as a con artist, and now he is again prime minister of Israel. Don’t try to claim that he has changed since then. Such a crooked way of thinking does not change over the years.

Forget the Bar-Ilan University speech, forget the virtual achievements in his last visit to the United States; this is the real Netanyahu. No more claims that the Palestinians are to blame for the failure of the Oslo Accords. Netanyahu exposed the naked truth to his hosts at Ofra: he destroyed the Oslo accords with his own hands and deeds, and he’s even proud of it. After years in which we were told that the Palestinians are to blame, the truth has emerged from the horse’s mouth.

This video appears to have caused literally no controversy despite revealing the underhanded duplicitousness of Netanyahu. It is literally the equivalent of Tony Blair admitting to a member of his constituency that he knew there were no weapons of mass destruction all along.

A video of this nature would be a nuclear warhead if it were dropped onto the career of any normal politician in a typical Western Democracy.

But Netanyahu is not a normal politician.

And he does not run a typical Western Democracy.

And so the silence from the international community is deafening.

Perhaps this video reflects something of the nature of all the politicians who appear desperately and incessantly to work towards peace in the Middle East.

Politicians of Israel. Of Gaza. Of West Bank. Of the US. of Britain, et al. All promising different things to different people as long as it furthers their own agenda. They all cast an illusion of progression towards that Holy Grail of ‘Peace’ whilst ensuring that there are get-out clauses hidden behind smoke-and-mirror trickery presented in impenetrable politician-speak.

And are we really surprised?

All the while as the so-called peace talks progress - though nobody can ever be quite sure in what direction they are progressing or at what speed or who is driving or who has the ‘roadmap’ - Israel continues to brutally oppress Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. Not merely allowing more illegal settlers onto Palestinian land but actually supporting them by confiscating the land and property of a people who have lived in Palestine for generations and who have a rightful claim to their own property and land.

This video will not damage the career or international standing of Netanyahu. In fact, we wouldn’t be surprised if clutches of other Israeli politicians were rushing to the houses of their supporters in order to tell similar stories of deceit.

Hey. If it worked for Bibi. It can work for anyone, right?