I’ve never been a fan of Bibi Netanyahu or of Likud, but I believe that former Speaker Nancy Pelosi should speak more respectfully of the elected national leader of an American ally (even if his party is Likud, rather than the Labor Party, which has always been favored by the Democrats). Israel is, after all, officially a “major non-NATO ally” of the United States (MNNA).
In a recent public conversation with David Alexrod, Pelosi made this remark:
“I’ve said this to Netanyahu over the years: ‘I don’t know whether you don’t know how to make peace, you don’t want to make peace, or you’re afraid of peace.’… I think he’s interested in one thing: his own survival. And that’s it.”
It could be said of all politicians – Democrats and Republicans, Labor and Likud, American and Israeli – that they are interested in their own political survival. But that doesn’t mean they are ONLY interested in their personal political survival.
I assume that Pelosi cares deeply about the future of the United States as well as the future of the Democratic Party and her own political career and legacy. And I assume that Netanyahu cares deeply about the future of Israel as well as the future of the Likud Party and his own political career and legacy.
It is all-too-often a feature of extreme partisanship that politicians (and their supporters) imagine that they have the best interests of their country at heart, but that their political opponents are only interested in their own personal career.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/pelosi-netanyahu-only-cares-about-his-own-survival
One other point: Even taking the Oslo Accords into account, has any Israeli government – led by a prime minister of any political party – yet succeeded in making a lasting peace with the Palestinians, whether the Palestinians were led by Fatah, by the PLO, by the Palestinian National Authority, or by Hamas, whether the Palestinians’ leader was named Yasir Arafat or Mahmoud Abbas or Ismail Haniyeh or Yahya Sinwar? No! No Labor government, no Likud government, no coalition government has yet succeeded in reaching a permanent peace agreement with the Palestinians. I truly hope that it’s possible and that it will occur (preferably in my lifetime). But I question whether success or failure in reaching a peace agreement between Israelis and Palestinians depends primarily on the personality of the leaders from the two sides.