With Israel apparently headed for a narrow right-wing government, who’s to blame?
Is it Benjamin Netanyahu’s fault, because he refuses to endorse the two-state solution, or Tzipi Livni’s fault, because by refusing to join Netanyahu she forces him to turn toward the right wing?
Former Israeli defense minister Moshe Arens, writing in Ha’aretz, blames Livni, reminding her that there are bigger things at stake:
In her state of euphoria she seems to have forgotten the very difficult challenges facing the State of Israel in the near future. Her intransigence puts serious constraints on Netanyahu in putting together a coalition. But why should she care?…
When Livni speaks now of bringing down the elected government in a matter of months, she has simply lost sight of the best interests of the country at this critical time.
After all, Arens writes, all Israel has to deal with are an economic tsunami, threats from Hamas and Hezbollah — which Livni is partly responsible for — and the specter of a nuclear Iran.
Our own Leslie Susser puts the onus on Bibi.
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