Soccer Dad

Around the web 9/8/05

Ahead of the curve
A number of Israel bloggers were concerned that Netanyahu's challenge to Sharon would force Sharon from leadership and consign Likud to the dustbin of history. Last week I wrote:

PM Sharon - like him or not - is a master politician. I don't mean that cynically. In 1982 he had to resign in disgrace. Less than 20 years later he was leading his country. Aside from Nixon that has to be one of the great political comebacks of all time. There's no luck involved. Sharon is a top notch politician who can never be underestimated. A poll with no consequences may say something about how people really feel, but politicians have no interest in ceding power. If the Likud party members feel that Sharon is a better bet to keep them in power, they'll support Sharon when it counts. I think he's good enough to be able to stave off Netanyahu's challenge.

Yesterday, Sha! wrote:

Bibi has a reputation for being a political magician. And while he is definitely a master of using the media, his political skills are nothing compared to the Prime Minister's. Instead of confronting Netanyahu directly, Sharon quitely started making noise about splitting the Likud and starting his own party. And polls showed that he would get a lot more votes than a Netanyahu-led Likud.So, the LCC members got to thinking. And it seems a lot of them have decided it would be better not to go to early elections and risk losing the influence and job distribution that comes with being in power.

Now it looks like Sharon's chances of beating Netanyahu in the Likud have improved to at least 50-50. If he manages to kill the idea to move up the leadership vote, his chances become much, much better.

I also wrote of the dangers of Sharon striking out on his own. (My brother pointed out that Ben Gurion, to put it mildly, didn't have much success when he started his own faction.):

It seems every election there's excitement about a third way part. In 1996 it was Avigdor Kahalani. In 1999 it was the perfect storm of Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, Yitzchak Mordechai and a cast of thousands. Neither of these parties fared as well as initial speculation expected them too. If Sharon breaks off from Likud, I'm sure he'll be disappointed. Though Sharon has campaign experience that the others didn't, he's not a great campaigner. He needs Likud as much as the party needs him.

David Horovitz of the Jerusalem Post similarly writes:

The prime minister knows better than most the dangers of striking out alone, even from a position of tremendous popularity. His bid to establish the Shlomtzion party as a heavyweight political force in 1976 ended in a failure even more pathetic than that of the Mordechai-Shahak-Meridor-Milo centrist bid six years ago, and he was reduced to begging Menachem Begin to let him back into the Likud when Begin took power in 1977.

One mystery one not
Cause of Arafat's last illness unclear:

Medical reports detailing Yasser Arafat's death do not give conclusive results as to what caused his death.

The French hospital where Arafat spent his last days published a report concluding that the immediate cause of death was a massive brain hemorrhage, but the combination of symptoms leading to the death could have indicated an infection, poisoning, or even AIDS.

Arafat's cousin shot dead

GUNMEN burst into the home of former Palestinian security chief Moussa Arafat, cousin of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, and shot him dead in the Gaza Strip yesterday.

There were a couple of interesting headlines about Moussa Arafat's killings:

Killers shoot big gun

and

Moussa's assassination strengthens moderates

I don't know. If you consider an organization that deploys "dozens of gunmen" a "moderate" organization, maybe.

Unleavened opinions
Biur Chametz has been back blogging more frequently. (I guess his baby's sleeping better now :-) First he blogs about Must read: The Gaza settlements were not illegal. He cites an article by Max Singer (who, in addition to the credential mentioned, is Editor Saul Singer's father) that gives the legal history of Gaza. (Why didn't he write this two years ago?) If nothing else it demonstrates the degree to which the Palestinian narrative is unquestioningly accepted as fact.
Next he takes on Hillel Halking in the brilliantly titled "Hillel, stop Halkin us a chinik!" in which he challenges a number of Halkin's assumption about what must be done.

No respect
Israel Perspectives wonders what it takes for Israel to be loved in the world.

Can't buy me love
'PA gets $50m. in aid, then incites against US'
UPDATE: Whoops, I probably owe Crossing the Rubicon2 (unconcious) credit for the title here.

Rock the Casbah
West Bank Story: The Musical

Wrapping up
Jewish Current Issues ties up a final loose end or two in the matter of whether Sec of State Rice was misquoted by the NY Times.

Technorati tags:Israel.

Posted by SoccerDad at September 8, 2005 5:49 AM