The end is here for Netanyahu.
Whether he is guilty of the crimes he is accused or not, the media appears to have pulled together to finaly take down the man who they despise more than anything else.
It is true, that much of what we see and hear about the three cases that have touched Netanyahu’s inner circle seem to be part of the pervading cacaphony of noise pervasive in Israel’s left run media that repeats the mantra,”Bibi is guilty.”
We saw this last week when Ari Harow, the former Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff turned states witness, supposedly against Netanyahu.
Yet a statement by Harow on Channel 2 should remind us that something is not right here in what has become a witch hunt.
“The definition of state’s witness is not someone from inside who turns traitor against his boss,” he said. “Case 2000 is not a case that I opened. It is something that fell on me against my will while I was there. My ability to speak or not speak with the police is irrelevant.”
“They are accusing me of crimes that are unconnected to the prime minister and in my opinion I have not committed them,” he said, according to the TV report. “The choice is not whether me or [Netanyahu] will go to jail. Rather it is whether I will go to jail for no reason or not.”
Case 2000 involves the trading of cutting back Israel HaYom circulation which is run by Netanyahu backer Sheldon Adelson for favorable coverage in Yediot Ahronot, a paper that often vilifies Netanyahu.
The two other cases are Case 1000 and Case 3000. Case 1000 involves the Prime Minister accepting a box of fancy cigars from a friend and Case 3000 is connected to the German Submarine deal. The latter of the two was supposed to be Netanyahu’s undoing. In fact the former Defense Minister Bogie Yaalon claims he has evidence of Netanyahu’s culpability, but a simple question needs to be asked. Why didn’t Yaalon who was bitter at Netanyahu run straight to the police? Now that Case 3000 has stalled against the Prime Minister, it has dropped from the media.
So what is going on? The Harow situation is the key. The police decided that Harow was guilty of using his position to promote his business, so they threatened him with jail time. But Harow said the following in connection to the accusations:
“The accusations against me are baseless. I didn’t do anything with my company without legal advice,” he told them. “In other circumstances, I would have gone to fight, but with the current situation and in light of the resources invested, that would be pointless.”
“I will apparently receive several months of community service,” he said. “If the evidence against me was so strong I would go to jail for five years and the prosecution would never have agreed to be so lenient.”
Whether or not Harow has any damning evidence on Netanyahu remains to be seen, but the Harow case is an example or sordid tactics used to pressure Netanyahu’s clsosest friends to “spill the beans.” This is why Netanyahu may not make it through this. The system is arrayed against him. The system is the system built by the socialist Mapai who ran Israel overtly until 1977 when Menachem Begin became Prime Minister. By then the founders’ children were in Labor and victory after victory of the right has shown them the only way to hold on to their “parents’ inheritance” is to fight from the shadows.
No one stops to ask why Ehud Barak who is funded by foregin governments and leftwing think tanks isn’t taken to task on his actions as Defense Minister being influenced by foreign nationals. Or Herzog’s clear collusion with Obama against a sitting Prime Minister.
Yet, Israel’s Deep State, which has kept control of the media and elements of the judicial branch as well as parts of the police department has decided to make war against Bibi and his goverment. It is this war that is beginning to paralyze the government right when it needs a free hand to deal with a chaotic geopolitical environment.
Netanyahu may not be taken down legally, but if recent polls are correct, the right and his base are beginning to look elsewhere for a new leader. Netanyahu’s base is key for his continued rule. Without it he cannot hold on. The coming months will be key. The Deep State in Israel is banking on the right fracturing over Netanyahu so it can take him and the right down in the next election. Netanyahu needs to shore up his base and move to the right so they will stand with him against a shadowy plot to remove him and his government from leadership.
