‘Defense Minister’ Israel Katz: Bulldozer or bull?

Tuesday evening, Bibi fired Yoav Gallant and installed Israel Katz in his place as defense minister. In his speech, he called Katz a bulldozer.

Why do I feel as though we’ve just handed Iran a large, gift-wrapped prize? Because Katz is a toy bulldozer — the remote-controlled kind that stops after 10 minutes for a battery change and breaks altogether after six months.

Katz has been spectacularly incompetent at every position he has held. Remember, if you will, the fiascoes that emerged when he ran the country’s finances.

He has one qualification, and one only. And that is the finger on his remote-control button — Bibi’s. Because he belongs to Bibi, Bibi will not hesitate to keep his finger on the button to see if his toy will run off a cliff. Katz was apparently not the best person for the job, but the one most likely to keep going straight over the edge without looking back.

Quite honestly, I was surprised to wake up in my bed this morning.

It has been suggested that the Iranians would not have preferred the big orange clown to win the White House, but I’m not sure that’s the case. For one thing, Arab-Americans played a role in Trump’s apparent victory, due to Biden’s support for Israel. For another, international loyalties have shifted, and they run through Russia. And that guy is not in the least fun-loving.

Bibi has been busy building a house of cards, pulling some out of the bottom and hastily shoving in some bent ones. Iran can only see this as an opportunity. It has a window — from now through January — to blow.

Unfortunately, that base of that house is the shrinking population of people who serve in the army and the reserves, who work and pay taxes. By rearranging the cabinet so as to keep the war going with no real plan to end it, but at the same time keeping the ones who do serve in perpetual emergency call-up mode and those who haven’t been called up free to sponge, Bibi is drying up that base faster than the first pioneers dried the swamps.

The world is a darker place this morning, and an ill-wind is coming from the east. Do I fear what comes next? Of course I do. In the meantime, I’m still here. Because someday, when the toy bulldozer runs over the cliff and the finger on the remote is lifted, when the house of cards collapses, I’m hoping to be around to help build something better.