Mainstream Republicans, who love Jews in Israel, but not in America, are enthralled by Netanyahu. To them, he’s a human bulldozer. He’s a man’s man. He’s the opposite of woke. He kicks ass in his neighborhood. He’s Churchill for the 21st century. He’s a man to be admired and emulated.
A relative handful of Israelis feel that way. To most of them, however, Bibi is a slippery temporizer who will say anything to anybody in order to stay in power. He’s the man without a plan to deal with Gaza after the war, or to get the hostages back, because having a plan could cost him his job. He’s the guy who deliberately coddled Hamas prior to October because it helped him argue that he didn’t have a negotiating partner. He was totally unprepared for the war. He has to go.
A group of Israelis makes the argument in today’s NYT that he should lose his invitation to address Congress. Frankly, I still can’t believe that Chuck Schumer agreed to it. If the invitation can’t be rescinded, the left should boycott the speech. Anybody who doesn’t boycott it should walk out ostentatiously when Bibi starts turning the speech into a Trump rally, as he is likely to do. Now that would send a message to the Israeli public that it isn’t a good idea to bite the hand that feeds you.