Where Benjamin Netanyahu appears
196 total
tivated ideologues, were Labor supporters. And almost no Israel, of any political stripe, 331 / BARAK / 46 viewed Hafez al-Assad as a natural partner for peace. For years, he’d been a constant, sneering presence on our northern border, deno...
…housands of cheering supporters in Rabin Square after the election, I thought to myself: they think that with Bibi gone, peace is around the corner. I wanted a coalition broad enough to keep Meretz, and Labor ministers as well, from forgett...
…“Remember, ima. I did promise you that if I ran, at least I’d make sure to win.” When we’d finished speaking, Bibi called. He had conceded publicly as soon as the exit poll was out. He had also stunned the Likud crowd by immediately resigni...
…ow our message, our ability to forge alliances, and my own personal and political appeal, measured up against Bibi. The new system of separate elections for party and Prime Minister meant that in order to win a majority, I would need the su...
f since Israel got Netanyahu. What have you done to go after him? Why haven’t you gone on the attack?” He said it was time for me to wake up, and change tack. “Can you run through your stump speech for me,” he asked, motioning me toward the...
the period leading up to Bibi’s agreement to pull out of most of Hebron. But for much of 1998, I was running behind, and questions about my leadership surfaced publicly by the summer. The media commentators spoke of the need for a Labor “li...
… Minister. None of this might have mattered if I’d been able to show I was bringing Labor nearer to defeating Bibi. But the only measure of progress that the media paid attention to was the opinion polls. Briefly, in late 1977, I did pull a...
of the National Religious Party. It had been part of both Labor and Likud governments ever since 1948, though not Rabin’s. The NRP, too, had been drifting steadily rightward. But it still basically subscribed the idea of a strong, democrati...
…topple the government,” he told me. “But only you know whether we’re ready – whether you’re ready – to defeat Bibi in an election.” “I’m ready,” I said. “We are going to win.” Few agreed. In fact, there had been times during my first year-a...
… additional advantage of being able to avoid the scrutiny that would follow a direct approach from me. Before Bibi had gone to Wye, Haim and I had discussed how we might move to force early elections. The peace process, and the country, wer...
undone. Bibi’s coalition was now creaking. The Syrian option was off. David Levy had already jumped ship. Yitzhik, increasingly concerned about Bibi’s delay and drift on Oslo II, seemed to be thinking of leaving as well. Right wing minister...
ding that Bibi and I would jointly discuss all major issues before jointly agreeing to bring them to the full cabinet. But in August, the talks ended, after news of our talks finally leaked. I immediately phoned Ne’eman. I reminded him that...
n May, Bibi sent an assurance of confidentiality through Ne’eman. The first of about a half-dozen meetings came a few days later at the Prime Minister’s residence in Jerusalem. Then, we shifted venue, meeting at a Mossad-owned villa north o...
v, leaving 24 people dead. While not suggesting that Bibi took the human cost of terror lightly, he did use the attacks to drag out further US-mediated talks on the details of implementing the Oslo II redeployments. 300 / BARAK / 15 By Nove...
…ghtwing of Likud and the smaller, even more extreme parties from turning against him. In late September 1996, Bibi and the Likud mayor of Jerusalem, Ehud Olmert, decided to go ahead with the festive opening of an archeological tunnel that p...
…. My first priority was to put in place the practical foundations for a successful election challenge against Bibi. Through Jean Frydman and other business supporters with the means and the desire to help, my brother-in-law, Doron Cohen, as...
… percent split between Ephraim and Shlomo-Ben Ami. * * * Now, we had to put ourselves in a position to defeat Bibi and the Likud. Policy priorities were ultimately what would matter most: strong and credible steps to confront terror and saf...
…or so long. Labor needed to steer a calm, decisive course toward the next election if we were going to defeat Bibi. What followed was one of the most painful spectacles I’ve ever witnessed. When Peres rose to make his case for becoming part...
…se. Shimon accepted that the leadership election would be held on June 3. I agreed that in the unlikely event Bibi decided to invite us into his coalition during the three months after the leadership vote, Peres would select the Labor minis...
h Bibi went on to form his government without us, in alliance with a number of smaller Orthodox parties, the idea of a Labor leadership change seemed off the agenda, at least for now. In early August, I was standing next to Giora Einy – the...
