The Konformist: The Chamish Files - Bibi Part One

[Robalini at aol.com]

Subj: ARTICLE: Netanyahu-Part One

Date: 97-01-31 13:06:05 EST

From: chamish at 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.

>--------------------------------------------

>Sent by Barry Chamish - Israeli journalist.

>Phone/Fax : (972)-2-9914936

>E-Mail    : chamish at netmedia.net.il

>--------------------------------------------