Soccer Dad

Resignation reconsidered

When Binyamin Netanyahu resigned from the government, it was widely attributed to his opposition to the Gaza withdrawal. At the time I noted an article by Yossi Verter in Ha'aretz (no longer available online) that said:

"After the disengagement," he declared, "we will turn our attention to dealing with the social issue. I travel around the country," Olmert revealed to his interviewers, "and I meet mayors who don't talk to me at all about the disengagement, but only about the distress in their cities, about the gaps, the poverty and the hunger."

In a certain villa in Caesarea, where Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sarah reside on the weekends, the red warning lights suddenly went on. When Olmert declares so publicly and determinedly that the Sharon government's next agenda will be "social," only someone who is chronically naive will not wonder about the political implications. The finance minister is not naive. He is even suspicious at times and most certainly asked himself on Friday night whether once again Olmert is the bird who is the portent of spring, as he was in the disengagement scheme [Olmert, it must be recalled, set out the principles of the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and isolated settlements in the West Bank before Sharon did - Y.V.], and whether this pair, Sharon et Olmert, are preparing a social intifada for him in advance of the discussions of the 2006 budget.

Early signs that back up this assessment/suspicion at the Finance Minister's bureau have already appeared during the past weeks: After all, it was Sharon himself who confided to television personality Eli Yatzpan that the treasury's policy is merciless and heartless. A source close to Sharon was asked about a week ago what the prime minister will be busy with after the pullout, and the reply was swift: "personal security, social welfare and the bringing of hearts closer together."

Given that Ariel Sharon is a political genius, I'm wondering if that reading of events now should get more play. (When I say political genius, I don't mean that I agree with everything he does, just that I marvel at how he accomplishes what he does.)

Shimon Peres was knocked off by Amir Peretz as leader of the Labor Party apparently because he was associated with the Likud economic policies. Was forcing Netanyahu out a way of pre-emptively trying to help Shimon Peres? (It turns out that it didn't work, but maybe that was what motivated Sharon to pull the rug out from under Netanyahu.)

Netanyahu, by the way, didn't mind getting (belated) credit for having taken a stand on disengagement, but the economic explanation has the advantage of explaining his timing.

The Israeli papers are reporting that Sharon is bent on leaving Likud. Maybe he's not the political genius I thought he was. His leaving won't hurt Likud as much as it will hurt him.

Technorati Tags: Israel, Ariel Sharon, Likud.

Crossposted on Israpundit and Soccer Dad.