Subj: ARTICLE: Netanyahu-Part One Date: 97-01-31 13:06:05 EST From: chamish@netmedia.net.il (Chamish Barry)
WHO IS BINYAMIN NETANYAHU? (Part One Of Two)
By; Barry Chamish*
Two Fridays after Israel's new Prime Minister was elected, the
newspapers were filled with bios of the new leader. The most indepth
research was undertaken by Orly Azula-Katz, Anat Meidan and Rami Tal of
Yediot Ahronot who produced a balanced portrait and Biranit Goren of
Kol Ha'ir whose story was a snow job.
Nonetheless, both reports agreed in most details, if not
interpretations. These two reports, combined with other public
knowledge create a most disturbing and mysterious caricature of
Israel's leader for students of secret diplomacy.
The Conventional Story
The prevailing myth about Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is that he
grew up in a highly politicized, right wing household. Responsibility
for the presumption lies with his father Bar Tzion, a dedicated
revisionist who was a pallbearer at the funeral of Zeev Jabotinsky.
The facts are different. Netanyahu recalls," My father did not want me
to enter politics. We were very non-political." The founding families
of Zionism's revisionist wing which produced two generations of leaders
like Menachem and Benny Begin and Yaacov and Dan Meridor, barely knew
of the Netanyahus.
What Binyamin inherited from his father was an obsession with learning.
His grades in junior high were all above average but he excelled in
only one subject: music.
When Binyamin moved to America at age fourteen after his father
accepted a teaching post in Philadelphia, his hero became JFK.
Netanyahu felt very alienated being away from Israel and took waitering
jobs to earn the money to spend his summers back home. There his
greatest pleasure was working on left-wing kibbutzim with his pals from
Jerusalem. They recall that he would always try to outwork them, even
when he had an injured knee.
Returning to high school in Philadelphia, Netanyahu shared close
friendship with only those students as imbued with love for Israel as
he was. He was a straight A student who graduated fourth in his class
at Cheltenham High School, one of the most academically competitive
schools in America. But he didn't attend his graduation ceremony. War
broke out on June 5, 1967, and Netanyahu flew to Israel to volunteer
for the army.
A high school buddy, Ari Bintener recalls,"No one was surprised. It was
obvious his place was in Israel. I was pleased that he found a way to
help his country."
Bob Trimble, Netanyahu's soccer coach remembers,"Bibi was the best
player on the team, except for his brother Yoni who could have played
professionally if he had wanted to. The only problem with Ben was that
his political views were so far to the left of the other players."
As a soldier, Binyamin rose to the rank of captain in the most secret
combat unit of all, the fighting arm of military intelligence. He took
part in a good number of legendary operations and was wounded while
fighting highjackers holding a Sabena passenger plane. On the Suez, he
almost drowned trying to swim with his heavy automatic rifle under
Egyptian fire. He became known as "the lousy swimmer from Jerusalem."
Soldiers recall him as a cool but "square" officer who lost his temper
only once. That was when he found his men had been taking "souvenirs"
from operations in Lebanon. He put a quick end to what he viewed as
looting.
After five years of soldiering Netanyahu returned to America to study
architecture at either Harvard or MIT. He chose the latter because it
permitted him to begin an MA course load, as his academic advisor Prof
Leon Garviser remembers. "I told him that no one could handle the load
but he insisted that he had to make up for time lost while serving his
country. I agreed to add one extra course in the first semester and
when he passed all his courses I added another one. In the end he
finished his MA in two and a half years. Don't ask me how. No one did
it before him or since."
Once again, Netanyahu interrupted his studies only once. In October of
1973, war broke out in Israel and he flew back to fight in the Sinai.
When he returned, he became a student activist on behalf of Israel, a
fact that was noted by the Israeli consul of Boston, Collette Avital.
In one of the many ironies in his life, it was Avital, the dovish
consul of New York during the Rabin/Peres administration who arranged
Netanyahu's first television appearance, a debate with PLO activist
Prof Edward Said.
The loss of his brother Yoni during the Entebbe raid put a stop to
Binyamin's plans to become an architect. Instead he settled for an MA
in business administration and took a post at the Boston Consulting
Group. His boss was Ira Magaziner, the man who later was the
intellectual force behind the Clinton administration's failed health
reform package.
As Moshe Arens notes, "Bibi is only the second prime minister who ever
had a real job outside the army or politics. Shamir was the first. He
once worked as an accountant in a glue factory."
While working at Boston Consulting, Binyamin received his first
diplomatic assignment: he was sent to Sweden to advise the government
on efficient administration of public companies.
Already earning $100,000 and with a splendid career before him,
Netanyahu decided to give it all up and return to Israel to act as the
marketing manager of a furniture concern. As his colleague Barbara
Maclogan notes,"Anyone who claims Bibi planned to live in America
doesn't know what he's talking about. He gave up the opportunity of his
life in Boston to earn a quarter of his salary in Israel."
In 1979, Netanyahu organized an anti-terrorism conference in Jerusalem,
dedicated to his fallen brother. Somehow, he managed to attract the
likes of George Bush, George Shultz, and Richard Perle (President's
Reagan's chief arms negotiator) to the meeting and was thrust briefly
onto the world stage. But when the conference ended, it was back to
work at the furniture factory.
That all changed in 1982, when Israel's Washington Ambassador Moshe
Arens invited Netanyahu to be his deputy. This unprecedented career
rise has been a subject of much speculation. Many people have noted
that Bar Tzion Netanyahu was one of the few guests invited to Arens'
wedding and he was repaying an old friend. But Arens has a different
explanation. "People got a good laugh when they heard I phoned a
furniture factory to find a deputy. What sold me on Bibi was his
organization of the anti-terror conference and the strong impression he
made on American leaders who participated."
In 1984, after two visibly successful years as Arens' deputy, Bibi was
named Israel's ambassador to the UN. In another of those ironies that
follow him, he was appointed to the post by Shimon Peres against the
objections of Yitzhak Shamir. Once again, it was a leader of the Labour
Party who promoted his early career.
This was the true turning point in his quest to become prime minister.
Netanyahu's good looks, fluent English and controversial opinions made
him a media star. He became a frequent presence on Ted Koppel's
Nightline and Larry King Live. As King observes,"Whenever he appeared,
the phones wouldn't stop ringing. He especially made an impression on
women viewers. As a guest I'd rate him 8. If he had a sense of humor to
go with everything else, he'd have been a 10."
During this period, Netanyahu wrote his book, Terror-How The West Can
Win. The book made a tremendous impression on the Reagan
administration. In fact, whenever George Bush visited New York, and
that was often, he would call on Netanyahu.
By 1988, Netanyahu had made powerful allies in the American media. He
received strong support from Charles Krauthammer of the Washington
Post, Abe Rosenthal of the New York Times, and Ellie Weymouth, daughter
of Katherine Graham, the publisher of Newsweek. When he returned to
Israel, he was too powerful a figure to be ignored and was appointed,
first Deputy Foreign Minister and later the Prime Minister's spokesman.
In this capacity, CNN made Netanyahu an international media star during
the Persian Gulf War.
Netanyahu was ready to challenge the Old Guard of the Likud. The
combination of youth, determination and powerful allies abroad led to a
resounding victory in the Likud primaries of 1993 and in the general
elections of 1996.
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Sent by Barry Chamish - Israeli journalist.
Phone/Fax : (972)-2-9914936
E-Mail : chamish@netmedia.net.il
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