Netanyahu the Great Pretender

In a cowardly act, coalition members tried to flee the Knesset plenary to avoid supporting a proposal put forward by opposition leader Yair Lapid to adopt Trump’s 20-point plan to end the war in Gaza – a plan that was approved and partially implemented by the Israeli government, of which those same fleeing coalition members are a part.

Lapid held up a mirror, and the government refused to look into it, preferring to leave opposition members alone in their support of the proposal that the government ostensibly approved and claims to be implementing.

Israeli citizens are already familiar with Netanyahu’s duplicity, but it is important for Washington to understand that this fleeing of MKs is not just the result of power struggles between the coalition and the opposition. The truth is that the far-right government led by Netanyahu wants to play a double game, pretending to be committed to a plan that includes a pathway to a Palestinian state to please President Trump, while simultaneously sabotaging progress toward achieving that goal. Netanyahu is sending contradictory messages because, in his eyes, there is no reason why the duplicity that has worked for him until now will continue to prove effective.

In 1996, Netanyahu used the slogan “Netanyahu, making safe peace” as his campaign slogan, and his campaign logo featured a white dove symbolizing peace. While Netanyahu presented himself as a proponent of peace and played a role in the signing of the Hebron Agreement in 1997, he concurrently sabotaged the Oslo Accords and undermined genuine attempts to achieve peace.

From then until now, this has always been Netanyahu’s way: to instill hope in order to stall for time with US administrations and then work to shatter it.

Upon his return to the Prime Minister’s Office in 2009, Netanyahu proclaimed in a speech at Bar Ilan University, “We will be prepared in a future peace agreement to reach a solution of a demilitarized Palestinian state alongside the Jewish state.” Netanyahu said this, hoping that President Obama would not detect the empty words, which reality proved were far from his true intentions.

The stalling continued with the dispatch of his confidant, Yitzhak Molcho, for numerous rounds of fruitless talks, while Netanyahu bought himself more and more time with the      Obama Administration, which failed to understand that it was facing in the Israeli prime minister the greatest of pretenders.

This is why Lapid’s decision to present the Trump plan for Knesset approval was crucial. Because this is not just a parliamentary arm-wrestling competition between the opposition and the coalition, but rather a warning sign to Trump and his senior administration officials – Netanyahu is trying to pull the wool over your eyes, just like he did with your predecessors – you have been warned!

We are dealing with the master of appearances, Benjamin Netanyahu, whose true intentions have already been revealed. Now, the US government must ensure that Netanyahu cannot deceive it again and must pressure him to fulfill his commitments.