The Friday edition of Hamodia (tied to the Agudat Yisrael party) reported that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will meet President Biden a week after the Jewish New Year.
According to Hamodia, as part of the deal for Saudi recognition of the Jewish State, Netanyahu has agreed to a multi-year Jewish construction freeze in Judea and Samaria along with the formation of another “civilian”
Palestinian security force for the PA.
The paper further claims that this deal will get Knesset approval based on votes from the opposition and that following the vote Netanyahu will facilitate new elections in which he will not run. In exchange for leaving public life all charges would be dropped against Binyamin Netanyahu.
In contrast, the same day, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Palestinians have reduced their demands to minor border changes (apparently
moving the border of Area B so that neighborhoods of Palestinian communities inside Area B which have expanded into Area C will be within Area B) along
with demolishing a number of “illegal” Jewish outposts (something which the IDF does pretty much every week).
One explanation which has been offered for the contrasting “concessions” is that the construction freeze and new Palestinian fighting force is to placate Democrat senators so that they will support American concessions to the Saudis.
A more cynical explanation is that even the most radical members of Binyamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition could stomach the Palestinian demands as
described by the Wall Street Journal, such that Netanyahu would find himself ending his career in 2026 with the public remembering him for his government’s performance rather than the Saudi deal.
Again, according to the very cynical narrative, having a deal which the ruling coalition opposes, which then leads to new elections, would insure Netanyahu’s place in the history books.
– If Netanyahu were to leave public life without elections (which would also mean all charges being dropped against him), the Likud could form a broad stable ruling coalition and the Likudnik who heads it might bring the Likud to a victory in the 2026 elections which surpass Netanyahu’s greatest victory.
– On the other hand, if Netanyahu were to leave the stage immediately after a Saudi deal with snap elections, there is a reasonable possibility that whoever then heads the Likud would not have the time to gain the stature to bring the Likud to victory with the Likud, then in Netanyahu’s absence, garnering less than the 19 seats under Netanyahu in the failed 1999 elections. This would serve as proof that the Likud is nothing without Netanyahu.
I want to make clear that I am not embracing this scenario. Just sharing what cynics are thinking.
Let’s see what happens a week after Jewish New Year.
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IMRA – Independent Media Review and Analysis
Since 1992 providing news and analysis on the Middle East with a focus on
Arab-Israeli relations
{Reposted from the IMRA site}
