"The Handmaid's Tale," the dystopian novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood, was first published in 1985. Atwood depicted an America polluted by radiation, which caused an epidemic of infertility. 

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Power is then seized by the commanders, who turn the country into a religious and military dictatorship known as the Republic of Gilead. The few lucky ones who had managed to escape fled to Canada, to freedom and perhaps clean air and zero carbon emissions. 

The women of Gilead were divided into newly created social classes, each of which had a strict dress code. The few females who remained capable of bearing children – a.k.a., the handmaids – were taken to work in the homes of the commanders and impregnated in the presence of their wives. 

The novel received critical acclaim and won a series of awards and in 2022, was included on the "Big Jubilee Read" list of 70 books by Commonwealth authors, selected to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II. 

And although "The Handmaid's Tale" is considered science fiction, Atwood drew inspiration from real life. In an interview with Rolling Stone in 2018, she said that the idea came to her in 1981, four years before the novel was published after Ronald Reagan was elected president and the "religious Right was on the rise."

In the 1970s, the second wave of feminism reached many achievements, Atwood said, and there was backlash. There's always backlash. In the 1980s, people started saying that women should stay at home. And I thought, well, if they stay at home, then how are you going to get them back there? 

Similar fears arose in 2017 when Donald Trump became president of the United States. 

Speaking to Variety, she said, It's shocking. We've already seen events like this. Right by the book. The lies of the propaganda, the replacement of people in key positions in the justice system – because every totalitarian regime controls the justice system. And on top of that, the Nazism. It was Hitler or Goebbels who said that if you tell a lie frequently enough, people will come to believe it. Lie big, lie a lot. We've seen it. And it's not about the Left or Right, even left-wing regimes have acted this way. It's about whether a country is a totalitarian regime or not. 

Although Trump "disappointed" in terms of totalitarianism, Atwood's novel spoke to readers even over thirty years later, and the paranoia on the Left found a new artistic outlet. 

In 2017, "The Handmaid's Tale" was adapted to television by Hulu and was received by some as the correct depiction of the opposing camp. 

The crimson robes worn by the handmaids in the book – and the white bonnet added by Hulu costume designers later – have come to embody globally the threat to women under the patriarchy, and have been used in protests elsewhere. US women opposing Trump's conservative Supreme Court nominees donned the garb, as did Iranian women demonstration in Britain in support of the hijab demonstrations in Iran, and Polish women calling to preserve abortion rights.

Most recently the robes and bonnets dominated protests against the judicial reform in Israel. 

About 1,000 women wore them at a recent rally in Tel Aviv, organized by the Bonot Alternativa, or "building an alternative," women's rights group. 

One of the organizers said of the recent events, "We don't want them to decide when we get to go out or where on the bus we get to sit." She seemed to truly believe that the new government was looking to have a say in every aspect of her life. She sounded scared, as was Atwood in her time. 

It was not the first time the crimson robes were used in protests in Israel. In 2019, supporters of Opposition Leader Yair Lapid's Yesh Atid, including his wife Lihi, donned the garbs to protest the Haredi lawmakers' proposal to allow gender-segregated events in public institutions. 

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The protests continue to be well-branded in 2022, reusing all kinds of symbols, from communism to Black Lives Matter, and even cries of "Shame" inspired by a scene from Game of Thrones. 

Atwood even reported photos of the protest, as she does with every demonstration featuring symbols from "The Handmaid's Tale," including the one in London last week that was held in solidarity with the women of Iran, who are truly oppressed. 

But in Israel, it seems the Left does not entirely understand the ultra-Orthodox community, and if someone is made to believe that its members see women as slaves and birthing machines, then no wonder he or she will come to see the worst in them. 

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Why did the Bennett-Lapid government collapse a year after it was formed? Was it because Yamina MKs dropped out like autumn leaves? Was it because Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu set his poison machine in motion? Because of the irresponsibility of Ghaida Rinawie-Zoabi and Mazen Ghanaim? Wow, what propaganda. As in, propaganda only in the eyes of whose who thought that it was possible to create in laboratory conditions some bizarre, patched-together entity and send it off to compete on the world stage, and expect it to come back with a medal.

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For hundreds of years, early scientists worked to turn cheap metals into gold. They didn't have scientific knowledge or methodical research, but they believed deeply in the materials' characteristics and their ability to change. Sadly, despite all the alchemists' efforts, mercury didn't become gold and Chinese cinnamon didn't guarantee immortality. 

Still, this past year, political alchemists tried to convince us that combining the Right, the Left, Arab nationalism and a few opportunists – each of whom was coming from a different place and had different goals – was a formula for victory. The lab blew up, and they're still trying to convince us that the ruins are the Eiffel Tower with a diamond at the top. That's how alchemists are. The dream of gold is so entrenched that they don't believe the results of the experiments. Are they losers? No way! They managed to oust Netanyahu from the prime minister's seat. Clap for them. But that isn't enough to replace him with a stable government. 

No one can predict the results of the upcoming election, but here's one idea for a study: a government based on hatred of Netanyahu and the people who vote for him, or a government that depends on Ra'am or the Joint Arab List, will never last a full term. And anyone who needed proof of the obvious got it this week. 

The Bennett-Lapid government was based on a few innovation inventions, none of which could exist outside laboratory conditions. A prime minister who had only seven MKs behind him cannot lead a coalition. Politics are based on real political power, not coalition agreements or a three-legged chicken known as an "alternate prime minister." In reality, Yair Lapid can dictate the conditions, because he had three times as many MKs on his side as Bennett. It was weird that anyone thought differently. It's weird that anyone thought that the third time around, the idea would prove itself and we would have a golden age under a prime minister who wouldn't need votes.

Unlike Bennett, Lapid has significant political power, and even he won't be able to succeed for long. Yesh Atid, more than any other party in the current Knesset, is based solely on its leaders. All the Yesh Atid mechanisms were designed to ensure that Lapid stays in power and has the ability to appoint or dismiss people as he sees fit. Lapid did kick out Ofer Shelah, who announced that he intended to run in party primaries, and for now, all is quiet on that front. But a long-term stay in the government will produce others like Shelah. In other words – people who are sick of saying "Yes, Yair. Sorry, Yair." Yesh Atid's experiment rests on positioning itself between the passing fashion of "centrist" parties and a dictatorship. But Lapid is no Ben-Gurion, even though he has the support of extraparliamentary institutions. Lapid is subject to the laws of reality and is far from having the support of a majority of Jewish voters.

A government under Lapid will always need the Arab parties, the new and legitimate partners in the Zionist project. After the government fell, Public Security Minister Omer Barlev said, "The glass ceiling has been broken. I think there's a big chance the next coalition will include an Arab party, and if not, then the one that comes after it." Indeed, what has been broken isn't a glass ceiling, but rather the government. And if the next coalition or the one after it includes an Arab party, it won't last long, either. 

A coalition is always made up of parties between whom there's a certain amount of friction, but are mainly united by something and have a shared goal. The Arab parties' goal is to eradicate the Jewish state. They can join a Zionist coalition only under the well runs dry, or until the next security crisis. And if you're about to say, well, we wanted to turn Israel into a "state of all its citizens" anyway, reality will respond – there aren't enough Jewish parties for whom that's a goal. And if, heaven forbid, there was enough political support for the idea of a binational state, it wouldn't be long before it turned out that the Jews' idea of a binational state is very different from the Arabs'. A coalition of all its citizens will fall apart, even if the alchemists don't give up their dream of turning straw into gold.

Yair Lapid declared this week: "We are the majority. The numbers are in our favor," and announced that the government fell apart in a friendly, truthful, and stately manner. A statistical majority based on friendship and truth doesn't crumble after a year, even if all the media outlets line up to sing the government's praises – and they did. 

We can conduct the same experiment time after time in the hope of securing a result that cannot exist, but time after time the patched-up creation won't turn out to be a champion. Maybe, if the alchemists try a little harder, they can gild it in 9 karat gold before it expires. 

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It's no big secret that during an election campaign, candidates tend to exaggerate their criticism of their opponents and praise themselves a bit more than what is acceptable in cultured society. Cultured society is supposed to turn up its nose at this behavior, lift its teacup, and sniff condescendingly, "Oh, these politicians and their nonsense." 

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This appropriate response has not been particularly popular in the four campaigns of the last two years. Our cultural elite, the ones sitting in every position of influence, made the mistake that every drug dealer is supposed to avoid, and sampled their own wares. Thus, one could find Benny Gantz sitting in studios and being asked how he is able to remain so dignified while billboards reading "It's either Blue and White, or Erdogan" were plastered alongside the highways and protesters wearing colanders on their heads were climbing, half-naked, on a menorah statue in an attempt to recreate the storming of the Bastille on Balfour St. 

Still, there was a clear winner in the "Who is by far the best" competition, and of course, it's Naftali Bennett. He declared himself a candidate for prime minister even when the polls gave him only a handful of seats, and recommended himself with the same single-digit number, and did so shamelessly. Actually, there was a good reason he was so hot for the demanding job, even against all the odds: he simply knows everything. 

Last week, MK Arye Deri spoke in the Knesset plenum and asked Bennett, who indeed managed to squeeze himself into the prime minister's chair due to political distress on the Left and by duping his voters, to "tell people about your dream, back them, that your speech in the UN as prime minister will change the world's policies toward Israel." Sure – just like one mandate for Yamina is worth four for Likud, one UN speech by Bennett is worth 70-odd years of global anti-Israeli, anti-Zionist, and antisemitic sentiment. Easy. 

But there was no need for Deri in order to expose Bennett's delusions of grandeur. He himself did so quite successfully before the election, before becoming prime minister, before reality hit him in the face. Back in the good old days, when he tried to cast himself as Superman. 

In early July 2020, Bennett set up an "alternative" Corona cabinet, and a week later rushed to tweet: "For nothing. Just for nothing the lives of million citizens have been ruined. None of this, unfortunately, happened four months ago, apparently because Benjamin Netanyahu was afraid that Naftali Bennett would contain COVID too soon." In August, he had an astonishingly simple plan: "The workplan that I want to present," he said excitedly, waving hands that weren't tied down by anything, "has two stages. One – to get COVID under control in a few weeks, to defeat COVID. Not say, 'We'll wait for the vaccine,' because there might be a vaccine and there might not. So we won't depend on a vaccine. So the first stage is to get COVID under control, and the second stage is to tackle the chronic problems with hands that aren't bound by anything." I might have added the part about unbound hands, but obviously I got dizzy from the extreme simplification: "First: get COVID under control." Wow – why didn't we think of that? Of course the first thing to do is get COVID under control! 

August also saw the publication of his book, modestly titled "How to Beat COVID," which ends with the words, "COVID? We've got this. No matter what happens – we're ready." 

In October 2020 the trust in Bennett's wonderful capabilities increased to the point that two days before Matan Kahana, the last person on the Yamina list, was about to be sworn in as an MK, reached out to then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a friendly request: "Come on, Netanyahu, let Bennett replace you as prime minister for two months, so he can handle COVID." 

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In December the vaccines arrived. Most of the country's adult population received their two doses and breathed a sigh of relief. In June 2021, the government of change and healing was sworn in. Two months after Bennett replaced Netanyahu, as Kahana (now religious affairs minister, thank God) asked, thousands of people were identified as carriers of the aggressive Delta strain of COVID. Dozens contracted it and died, and in August Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked was in the Channel 13 News studio, asking to "contain" the number of dead and pushing people to get vaccinated, as if she had never heard of the first stage of Bennett's plan to get COVID under control in a few weeks, without depending on vaccines. 

In Bennett's defense, even Superman needs help sometimes, and aside from Bennett himself and a few Yamina members, no one really thinks he's Superman. The government of change is made up of a few unrelated clans, and that's before we count Ra'am. They are united only by their hate for Netanyahu and the people who vote for him, and accepted Bennett as prime minister. They see this sacrifice as big enough without having to actually obey him. His power as prime minister is exactly the power that the mandates he managed to scrape together give him, less MK Amichai Chikli. 

But Bennett isn't a regular person. A regular person has a functioning grasp of reality, even if only to recognize himself when he looks in the mirror. But Bennett, and the rest of Yamina with him, still believe they are a ruling party led by a prime minister of unparalleled ability, and they won't budge from that belief. Their Superman flies, and keeps waving his arms even when he runs into a wall. 

It's hard to believe that Bennett is capable of understanding the discrepancy between his self-image and how he's doing with getting COVID under control. Obviously, he's practicing his speech to the UN, the one that will change the world's attitude toward Israel for the better. 

Will he succeed with that like he succeeded with COVID? Deri isn't sure: "After I heard your speeches from this podium, I've very concerned that even the people who support us will take it back," he said. 

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No one can fault the education I was given. I was born into a cultured family, I read all the right books, I studied basic history, I developed critical thinking skills, I loved quiet, beautiful, Ashkenazi-style songs and I didn't leave out parties in the best clubs in Tel Aviv. Nothing prepared me for the feeling that rose every time an Arab state, an Arab terrorist, or an Arab terrorist organization tried or managed to kill one of my people: like a wild animal, I wanted to kill them right back. 

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"Narrative," they told me. "Occupation." "Oppression." I answered: "Fine. Great subject. Let's talk about all those things after the person who is trying to kill me is killed." They said: "But he has reasons. He has a narrative." And I answered: "I'll be happy to talk about the narrative after they get the knife out of his hand, dismantle the explosives belt, and put away the rocket launchers. I might be politically incorrect, but at this particular moment I don't want to be shot at. So shoot back and then we'll have a discussion over a cup of coffee."

They said: "You're racist and apartheid," and went to the High Court of Justice to petition against the IDF's "neighbor policy" and against the demolition of terrorists' homes, against the revocation of terrorists' citizenship, against the deportation of 500 Hamas terrorists to Lebanon, against cutting off electricity to the Gaza Strip while the Gazans were sending my family and me to the bomb shelter. The High Court did the right thing, because the High Court is more enlightened than I am, and ruled in favor of the petitions. 

It didn't help. I didn't let up. I still don't want to die, either as an individual or as a people. What's more, I've become spoiled, and I don't enjoy running to the shelter in the middle of a shower or the middle of the night. What's worse, I don't feel like an occupier when the Jews of Lod are locked in their homes while the oppressed Arab rioters are throwing Molotov cocktails at them and burning their cars. I want to see half the IDF put down the pogrom, and not necessarily using a water cannon. 

Unfortunately, I haven't developed to the point where I can expand the term "protest" to include storming people's homes, burning synagogues and police stations, shooting police officers and civilians, and attempted lynches on passers-by, all of which are done while waving Palestinian flags, and while Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad are shooting 1,000 rockets at me (fine, I take it personally) a day. The opposite: I've gone so far that even when people tell me "It's the occupation," something deep-seated rises up and answers, "It looks like we need another one." 

The problem got worse every time I encountered texts that accused me personally – or the state of Israel – of being responsible for any and all Arab violence. I was supposed to bow my head before a message from lecturers at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design to their Arab students (the lecturers call them Palestinians), who are on strike for some narrative reason or other: "We, the lecturers at Bezalel, would like to express our deep identification with your struggle for your home and for freedom, in light of the police and settler violence, the fruit of government policy, which have been demonstrated unbearably in the  events of the past few days in Sheikh Jarrah, at Damascus Gate and Al-Aqsa Mosque. We understand the difficulty of studying in institutions of the occupying and oppressive people in general, and even more so at times like these." 

Rather than wondering at the gender-neutral Hebrew of the original, which testified to a highly-developed artistic soul, all I thought was, "Fire their asses." Friends explained that freedom of expression was sacred. True. But meanness, mendacity, and perversion of spirit shouldn't – to my primitive thinking – shouldn't be paid salaries out of my pocket. Bezalel is a public institution funded by the government, so its lecturers should keep their freedom of speech for a private, independent institution of design and moral purity, that will collect money and issue receipts. Their imaginary moral superiority doesn't impress someone who at this specific moment is in the shelter at 2 a.m., and doesn't have the energy for this ridiculous and evil pose by people who feel the enemy's pain. 

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Oops. I said "enemy." Too bad, but I'll go on and propose my plan for defeating the enemy, and I know that there are some who have a hard time with the word "defeat." After all, it hints that someone who is trying to kill you should die a lot more than you. Well, how do we win? I think the IDF, or as we used to call them, "our forces," should do what is necessary so the enemy dies and we live. It's obvious to me that my strategy is mistaken, because the enlightened ones explained that Arab violence toward Jews is an emotional expression of the wretchedness of the oppressed, but I still insist that it's murderous, boundless antisemitic hatred. Maybe I'm confused by, among other things, a film clip of a top Hamas commander from Gaza recommending that the Arabs of Jerusalem invest five shekels in a knife and slaughter Jews, and demonstrated the right way to do it. 

I'm also wrong in that the "victory" that is permissible to secure must be achieved under careful monitoring by military prosecutors, High Court justices, and, of course, we can't forget the NGOs that file petitions to tie the IDF's hands. These petitions are funded mainly by Germany and a few other EU nations, as well as private donors from abroad, who aren't sitting in shelters right now or shut inside their homes, afraid of their Arab neighbors. I, in my primitive and incorrect way, think that mercy for enemy civilians is a nice luxury, so this is my recommendation to the enemy, their civilians, and children: Try not to fire rockets from residential neighborhoods, schools, and hospitals. Actually, don't fire at me from anywhere, and you'll see that you benefit. 

Since my feelings are undeveloped and unaesthetic anyway, I'm exempt from any sense of constant guilt for my very existence, or for having difficulty liking people who hate me. Although my education demanded that I question everything – other than UN condemnations and High Court rulings – at the end of the day, no academic figure eights or Haaretz editorial or speeches by Joint Arab List MKs have managed to make a dent in my narrative. I know where it stands on the Olympus of the moral decision-makers worldwide, and I don't care. The only truth is the people of Israel, the Torah of Israel, the Land of Israel, and a heavy dose of the Israel Defense Forces. 

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In 2019, Israelis again noted a record 9 million trips abroad. Half of those who left the country did so more than once. Israelis are among the world's busiest tourists, so there is little wonder that 2020, with its global pandemic and the crippling limitations the coronavirus has imposed on global travel, has made many Israelis feel like they are going stir-crazy, having been robbed of one of their basic rights.

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As this is the case, there is little wonder that as soon as Israel and the United Arab Emirates agreed to normalize relations and Dubai opened its gates to Israeli tourists, the masses stormed these gates. But why?

There are, of course, many good reasons to visit Dubai: excitement from the peace agreement; curiosity about a world-renowned tourist destination that until now was closed to us; the short flight; the warm climate in the middle of winter; and the fact that the UAE is a "green" country – a huge draw in the age of corona.

For us, everything in Dubai is still brand new, and exciting at a time when the rest of the traditional tourist destinations are immersed in corona and require mandatory quarantine upon one's return.

Still, what's the rush? Dubai has already hosted one Haredi wedding, and ultra-Orthodox travel agencies are already negotiating various destination wedding packages. Several business conferences have also taken place there, including dozens of Israeli companies and businesspeople – with reporters in tow.

There are currently four daily flights to Dubai, and mind you – this is one-way tourism, as the Emiratis are not exactly flocking to Israel. This makes Israelis look over-excited and frankly, at this point, "Dubai fever" is getting a little embarrassing.

Dubai's appeal crosses all sectors and political views: Arabs, Jews, secular and religious are all flocking to the UAE capital as if to meet a long-lost relative from the era of the Inquisition. Tourism is wonderful; trade ties and strategic alliances – amazing, but combined with Israelis' famous wanderlust, one has to ask: how provincial can you be? Even more so in the age of corona, when no country remains "green" for long. It flying overseas really the most important thing right now?

One also has to remember that Dubai, for all its economic and strategic advantages, is not exactly the most progressive sheikdom on earth.

It has institutionalized, legal discrimination against women, who are subject by law to the authority of male relatives for the purpose of marriage, work, or travel. Dubai restricts the religious freedom of non-Muslims, and is notorious for its treatment of foreign workers, who make up more than 70% of its population.

This is not a reason not to sign peace agreements or other deals with it – Israelis are difficult enough to rein in and we're not about to hand out behavioral grades to countries with which we wish to live in peace. But there is also no reason to rush direct flights to the world's largest shopping mall.

The peace deal with the UAE is wonderful, but it wouldn't hurt to keep our eyes open and our enthusiasm in check.

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In a special interview with Israel Hayom, Netanyahu speaks about navigating the complex political Israeli reality, the seemingly never-ending election year, the security challenges the country faces, and his legal woes.

Q: Dr. Avishay Ben Haim, [Channel 13 News' analyst on the ultra-Orthodox community], says that you symbolize the struggle between 'First Israel,' the elite, and 'Second Israel,' which you represent. Can you relate to this theory?

"That really spoke to me, especially when I read it in Haaretz. Ravit Hecht wrote, in no uncertain terms, that Blue and White represents the attempt by 'First Israel' to perpetuate its status; that 'Mapai's [the left-wing party that ruled Israel until the 1970s] well-toned daughter' is trying to ensure that people of certain ethnicity won't even dream of being ministers. I cannot accept this separation of 'First Israel' and 'Second Israel'. The social periphery must be abolished, and if my rivals want to take me to task over that – let them."

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"But I think there is another reason. If I pushed a leftist agenda, all would be forgiven and everyone would embrace me regardless," he said, alluding to the various personal and political accusations leveled at him over the years. "But as I represent an agenda that pushes national pride rather than cowering, it juxtaposes fierce opposition with staunch support."

Q: You represent the moderate Right and you are very "First Israel.' You could easily be the Left's prime minister.

"Perhaps I am accused of debunking the mad theory that if we only relinquish land, we'll get peace in return. I adamantly stood against two American administrations that tried to push us back to the 1967 lines. Maybe I'm guilty of preventing that nightmare from coming true. They [Blue and White] haven't gotten over it yet, but they now represent themselves as pseudo-right-wing." 

Q: You have worked with Blue and White leader Benny Gantz, Moshe Ya'alon, Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Lieberman, and Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid in the past. Why didn't they join a national unity government? 

"Ask them. I asked Gantz, but he refused. I think we are within reach of victory. Gantz isn't – he's 11 seats short and he has no way of closing that gap without the support of the Joint Arab List. We are within reach of 61 seats. There's a great resurgence of the Likud," he asserted, referring to the minimal number of mandates necessary to form a coalition.

'War is the last resort'

Q: We have a strange relationship with the Gaza Strip. On the one hand, they fire rockets at us, and on the other hand, we assume responsibility for it, providing it with electricity, for example, regardless of the rocket fire. 

"We are in a hostile environment, surrounded by radical Islam, a radical camp led by Iran. We are a villa in the jungle, which requires action on several fronts," Netanyahu explains.

"We strike Iranian forces in Syria and prevent them from entrenching there; we mount very specific counter-operations against Hezbollah, and we act in various theaters one of which is Gaza. The possibility of eliminating the threat in Gaza exists only through total war. 

"Since they [the Palestinians] made the terrible mistake of handing Gaza over to radical Islam [in the 2006 Palestinian elections] we have launched three military campaigns there, two of which I led, and we inflicted severe damage. 

"If we really want to replace the [Hamas] regime we have to seize control of Gaza. We may not have a choice. The surgical strikes and targeted killings we pursued recently and those we may pursue in the future may prove ineffective, so we might have no other choice but to conquer Gaza. But I see war as the last resort so I want to exhaust all other options first."

The prime minister is no stranger to bereavement, having lost friends as well as his older brother, Lt. Col. Yoni Netanyahu, in battle. 

Yoni Netanyahu was killed during Operation Entebbe – the heroic 1976 IDF rescue mission of Israeli passengers held hostage by Palestinian terrorists at Entebbe Airport in Uganda.

"When I was 18, I held my friend and comrade, David Ben Hemo from Beersheba, who was killed by a mortar shell. I've seen the pain my family suffered when my brother Yoni was killed. I'm in no hurry to wage wars. In any case, this [a Gaza operation] will be a different campaign, with big surprises that were not available when [Blue and White MK and former IDF chief Gabby] Ashkenazi, Ya'alon, and Gantz served as chiefs of staff. There are other plans in the works, but I can't elaborate on that," he said.

Q: What's your pragmatic outlook for the Gaza Strip? What is the best we can hope for?

"Just deterrence and the understanding that certain things must be prevented. But if we deny them electricity, the level of pollution in their sewage system will increase – and epidemics know no borders, as we now see with the coronavirus. 

"Creating a situation where Palestinian sewage reaches Ashkelon because they have no electricity would be a serious mistake. Therefore, we find the combination. If we can bring peace through a combination of basic deterrence and humanitarian measures – great, but if we can't, we'll have to take action. 

"I have no intention of letting the situation in southern Israel stand. We may have almost no injuries, but they are paying a steep emotional price, especially the youth and children who live in anxiety because of the Color Red [rocket alert]. My heart goes out to them. But before taking a step like declaring war, I have to try to exhaust all other measures."

Q: And the best-case scenario for the Strip?

"A long-term ceasefire with the ability to neutralize Hamas' capacity to accumulate weapons while ensuring reasonable treatment of the population. We're talking about 2 million people who are being held hostage by Hamas."

Q: Will they be part of a future Palestinian entity?

"According to the "deal of the century," for them to be part of a future Palestinian entity, by any name, Abu Mazen [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas] will first have to disarm Hamas and demilitarize Gaza. We certainly won't oppose that.

"The Central Bureau of Statistics recently issued its report and the most peaceful decade [for Israel], the one with the fewest casualties has been the decade during which I have been the prime minister. That's not a coincidence – that's the result of careful policy, which is both responsible and resolute. You exercise force, but avoid futile wars." 

Man of the people 

Q: There are many petitions - by businesspeople, academics, IDF officers - urging the public not to vote for you. 

"So what? There are plenty of people who support me, but they don't have such access to the media, which is grossly biased. I have no feelings of inferiority in this regard. I don't bother with this type of micropsychology. Just let it go." 

Netanyahu, it must be said, has no feelings of inferiority whatsoever. He is confident in his abilities, proud of his achievements, and when he talks about state affairs, he sometimes seems to read carefully crafted messages from an amorphous teleprompter in his head.

He is neither humble nor modest and shadowing him to events, you soon realize that he really is as eloquent as he sounds on TV. It was as we were arriving at a rally in the northern town of Migdal Haemek, when I developed a theory, which I have a hunch has something to it: Netanyahu distinguishes between media people and ordinary people. And I don't think he likes the former too much. 

There were about 200 people in the rally. Foreign Minister Israel Katz and Culture and Sports Minister Miri Regev were seated in the first row. Netanyahu engaged with those on stage, smiled, jabbed Ashkenazi and Gantz, talked about V15-turned Darkenu, and explained the Fifth Dimension affair, which centers around a failed company Gantz headed prior to entering politics, to the audience. 

The atmosphere was familial and natural. It seems that, unlike with the media, Netanyahu has no issues in his interactions with the public. They love him with the familiarity of a long marriage.

When the prime minister finished talking and engaging with members of the audience, the motorcade quickly geared up to head to the next destination. Netanyahu alternated giving interviews with professional conversations, and it is clear he would have preferred it had the rally been bigger. But between the tensions with Gaza and coronavirus alerts disruption the schedule, "and given the short notice in pulling everything together – it was quite the turnout," he noted. 

Q: Do you like these events?

"Yes."

Q: Have you always loved them?

"No. I didn't speak in front of an audience until I was 23."

Q: Under what circumstances?

"When I was an Israeli student at MIT, I returned to Israel for the [1973] Yom Kippur War. When I went back to my studies after the war, I saw on the steps booths manned by Arab students demonstrating against Israel, and a small booth manned by Israeli students next to them. So I approached them. There was a guy there, [later-Likud MK] Uzi Landau – he hasn't changed much since then, by the way – and they recruited me.

"I was sent to Hull, Massachusetts, whose Jewish residents had all left, excluding about 10 of them, and they would meet in a little synagogue every Saturday," Netanyahu recalled. 

"I prepared, I had neat pages. I got there and I found 10 Jews – the youngest of them was 82 – sitting and having breakfast on Saturday, and I see them talking: 'Sam, pass me the potatoes,' 'pass me the eggs.' And I was trying to get their attention and I couldn't. Then I cleared my throat and one of them said, 'Oh, this is the guy they sent from Boston. Let the kid speak.'

"That was the hardest experience I ever had addressing an audience. Not in the Knesset, not in the UN – nowhere was it as difficult to get the attention of these 10 elderly Jews than in Hull. Since then, as they say, I've gained some experience. And I like it. I like having contact with the public – the warmth, the wisdom, the wit. They always get right to the heart of the matter."

'Justice will prevail'

Netanyahu is the first incumbent Israeli prime minister to be indicted. He faces corruption charges in three separate cases and his trial is set to begin on March 17.

Touching on his legal troubles, the prime minister asserted his innocence and said he is not wary of the legal proceedings ahead.

Q: You say things in these meetings that you don't say in interviews, such as on the police investigations. 

"Obviously. I was in Beersheba and I said, enough. It's time to tell the truth. The hypocrisy and injustice are outrageous. It's almost unimaginable. Five senior officials in Blue and White are embroiled in cases – serious cases – that have never been investigated. 

"The question, of course, is why this is happening. There was overeagerness [by the police] to reveal the allegation against me during an election campaign, because 'the public has to know.' Then, on the historic day that I stand next to President Trump at the White House, to file an indictment an hour later."

Q: Were you angry about the timing?

"No, no, I wasn't angry. Naturally, this isn't something I welcomed, but this will all blow over as if it never happened." 

Q: Are you concerned about standing trial?

"I'm not concerned about anything. Truth and justice are on my side and the truth will come out," he asserted. "I'm not concerned about a trial because it will be at least a year or two until it actually begins. My abilities – what I can do in one hour others can't do in a year or at all. My pace is quite different than that of MK Gantz."

A short review of Israel's political history shows that every prime minister since 1996 has come under investigation. 

But asked if, given the chance to go back and change things he would pursue a different course of action, perhaps pass the so-called French law – legislation that would bar the police from investigating corruption suspicions against an incumbent prime minister – Netanyahu says he prefers focusing on the future, not the past.

"I don't live in what Americans call 'could have, would have, should have.' I don't live in the past excluding than in one sense: I learn the lessons of Israel's past and history. But I don't constantly rewind in life. I look ahead."

Q: Do you miss normalcy?

"I had the best year of my life with my wife and my son when I lost the election for the first time [in 1999]. It was wonderful. We traveled around the world, it was just wonderful. But I'm not doing this job for the pleasures of power; not for the 18-hour days and, of course, not because of the terrible treatment my wife and family endure. I do it with a deep sense of vocation mission and faith."

Q: Have you always had a sense of vocation?

"Yes. We grew up with it at home, my brothers and I, we got it from my father and mother." 

Q: Do you really think that if somebody else serves as prime minister, something would go wrong? Because if it's just you – it's a scary thought. 

"There are good and talented people, but first we have to set the stage for action and the ability to act. I have a great ability to influence American public opinion. For example, with respect to applying sovereignty. "

Q: Is that something that can also happen with an American president like Bernie Sanders?

"Probably not, no. But this is the opportunity that exists at this time. I don't know who the Democratic candidate will be, but this is an opportunity that exists today; it exists in the coming year. This is why I want to seize this opportunity, which in many ways I brought about. Naturally, we had nothing to do with President Trump being elected, we didn't interfere in the [US] elections in any way, and I would have been equally active vis-à-vis [then-Democratic presidential candidate] Hillary Clinton. 

"But President Trump is an old friend of mine, dating back to when I was the Israeli ambassador to the UN," Netanyahu noted. 

Q: How did you meet? 

"When we met, he was a very well-known and successful businessman in Manhattan, and since then we met several times. During my first term [as PM] I traveled to the US and visited Wall Street to present my economic plan. All of America's key economic leaders were there, and Donald Trump was in the crowd." 

Q: Are there moments in your day when you can just do nothing? There's a book in the car – it looks serious, and in English.

"You're talking about the book about Gen. [Joseph Warren] Stilwell. He was an American diplomat who paved the way to US-China relations. I read a lot about China. I think it's going to be a major factor in our lives," Netanyahu said with a smile, adding, "As you can see, it already is."

Q: Are there things you enjoy doing outside the mission of your office? 

"Of course. First and foremost, I love reading, regardless of the mission at hand. I read a lot. History books and books about economics." 

Q: Under Trump's Middle East peace plan, what is required to apply Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria? 

"Completing the mapping process – and me being elected," he said.

Q: Is the US on board with that? After the ceremony at the White House, they seemed less warm to the idea. 

"We're in agreement on this, of course. They want to complete the entire mapping process and apply sovereignty at once, and then they will immediately recognize our sovereignty. The mapping process is expected to take a month or two of considerable effort. Another thing is a mutual defense pact."

Q: What are the practical implications of such a defense treaty?

"It does not restrict our operational freedom," the prime minister stressed, "but in the event of an existential threat to the State of Israel – the US will stand by its side. This doesn't mean we'll be sending our troops to Afghanistan."

Q: Is Israel facing an existential threat?

"Let's just say that if Iran were to obtain nuclear weapons, it would be a clear and present existential threat. That's why I spare no effort – sometimes standing up to the whole world alone – to prevent Iran from having nuclear weapons. 

"This is not empty rhetoric, it's backed up by the actions we have taken, be it in the diplomatic arena with regards to sanctions, or with special operations, such as the Mossad's operation to extract the secret nuclear archive from the heart of Tehran. I took those documents to President Trump and after learning them, he said, "That's it. We're out. We're pulling out of the [nuclear] deal."

Creating a defense pact with the United States, Netanyahu explained, "Will anchor the special relationship between Israel and the United States. Every country needs alliances. Superpowers need alliances, let alone a country like Israel. Nevertheless, I have also developed the concept by which we must be able to defend ourselves. I pursue alliances with many countries, but we have to keep in mind that at the end of the day, no one will defend the Jews if they do not defend themselves."

Arguing over TV shows

Q: Who do you turn to for advice? Whose opinion do you value?

"There are a few people. They value their privacy."

Q: They are not from the political arena?

"No."

Q: Is there a political rival that you, dare I say, like?  

"Over the past few years, I've come to like Haim Ramon very much," Netanyahu said. 

Ramon was a longtime parliamentarian with the Labor and later Kadima parties and a close adviser of late Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. He exited politics in 2006 after he was convicted of indecent assault. The court did not find moral turpitude in his actions and he returned to then-PM Ehud Olmert's government in In mid-2009, Ramon announced his retirement from politics in favor of the private sector.

Ramon, the prime minister said, "Is independent and he speaks his mind, although I don't agree with everything he says. When I was the only one in Likud to vote for the direct election [of the prime minister] – I went against my party – he sent me a note saying, 'Bibi, you're the only man in the Knesset.' Today, in the age of political correctness, I think he probably would have phrased that differently."

Q: Is there anyone you argue with but whose opinion you value?

"Of course."

Q: They, too, value their privacy?

"Of course. I also have advisers at home who I don't call consultants. They are my family, the people I hold most dear. Sara is a wonderful woman and she has been horribly wronged."

Q: Do you have family habits? Something you watch together on TV?

"We argue about that. Late at night – midnight, 1 a.m. – we argue about what to watch as we fall asleep. My wife Sara loves an Australian show, MKR."

Q: My Kitchen Rules? 

"Yes, yes. I love Nat Geo Wild [one of the National Geographic channels carried in Israel]. She's not a fan of animal shows and I'm not into MKR. So these are compromises you make in marital life and we usually agree on a third option. It used to be the History Channel before everything [on] was about antiquing."

Q: Does anything make you laugh?

"Sure, many things." 

The post 'The decade during which I have been PM has been the most peaceful' appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

In a special interview with Israel Hayom, Netanyahu speaks about navigating the complex political Israeli reality, the seemingly never-ending election year, the security challenges the country faces, and his legal woes.

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Q: Dr. Avishay Ben Haim, [Channel 13 News' analyst on the ultra-Orthodox community], says that you symbolize the struggle between 'First Israel,' the elite, and 'Second Israel,' which you represent. Can you relate to this theory?

"That really spoke to me, especially when I read it in Haaretz. Ravit Hecht wrote, in no uncertain terms, that Blue and White represents the attempt by 'First Israel' to perpetuate its status, that 'Mapai's [the left-wing party that ruled Israel until the 1970s] well-toned daughter' is trying to ensure that that people of certain ethnicity won't even dream of being ministers. I cannot accept this separation of 'First Israel' and 'Second Israel'. The social periphery must be abolished, and if my rivals want to take me to task over that – let them.

"But I think there is another reason. If I pushed a leftist agenda, all would be forgiven and everyone would embrace me regardless," he said, alluding to the various personal and political accusations leveled at him over the years. "But as I represent an agenda that pushes national pride rather than cowering, it creates the juxtaposition of fierce opposition as well as staunch support."

Q: You represent the moderate Right and you are very "First Israel.' You could easily be the Left's prime minister.

"Perhaps I am accused of debunking the senseless theory that if we relinquish land, we'll get peace in return. I adamantly stood against two American administrations that tried to push us back to the 1967 lines. Maybe I'm guilty of preventing that nightmare from coming true. They [Blue and White] haven't gotten over it yet, but they now represent themselves as pseudo-right-wing."

Q: You have worked with Blue and White leader Benny Gantz, Moshe Ya'alon, Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Lieberman, and Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid in the past. Why didn't they join a national unity government?

"Ask them. I asked Gantz, but he refused. I think we are within reach of victory. Gantz isn't – he's missing 11 seats and he has no way of closing that gap without the support of the Joint Arab List. We are within reach of 61 seats. There's a great resurgence of the Likud," he asserted, referring to the minimal number of mandates necessary to form a coalition.

Netanyahu is the first incumbent Israeli prime minister to be indicted. He faces corruption charges in three separate cases and his trial is set to begin on March 17.

Touching on his legal troubles, the prime minister asserted his innocence and said he is not wary of the legal proceedings ahead.

"Truth and justice are on my side and the truth will come out," he said. "I'm not concerned about a trial because it will be at least a year or two until it actually begins.  My abilities – what I get done in one hour others can't do in a year or at all. My pace is quite different than that of MK Gantz."

The full interview with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will appear in Israel Hayom on Friday

The post PM: If I pushed a leftist agenda, everyone would support me appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Still, the idea has been put forward, like other ideas before it. For example: "Gaza will be Singapore of the Middle East," as then-Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said in 2018. And when people say things - others respond. The idea of liberating Taibeh and Umm al-Fahm from the yoke of the "Zionist occupation" outraged the Arab MKs.

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MK Ahmed Tibi labeled it "delusional and dangerous," saying that Arab Israelis "will not stand for it" and that they will "fight to preserve our nationalism. Our citizenship will be equal and not threatened by a bunch of delusional racists."

The Triangle, a cluster of Israeli Arab towns and villages adjacent to the Green Line, "Is home to hundreds of thousands of Arab citizens," MK Yousef Jabareen said. "The annexation plan includes a section that lays the ground for transfer and denial of their citizenship. Every citizen, Arab or Jewish, who values of democracy and equality, must stand and fight with us."

MK Aida Touma-Suleiman stated that "the transfer plan is a real threat. Like with the settlements and the annexation, [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu is making the Israeli public think war crimes are a normal thing. The idea of denial of citizenship was abominable when only Lieberman proposed it. Now, with the American plan, it will become an Israeli bon-ton."

The Arab MKs' response was surprising. Why wouldn't they want independence from Israel? Tibi was an MK at the same time as he was an adviser to PLO leader Yasser Arafat. Zoabi boarded the Marmara flotilla trying to breach the maritime blockade of Gaza; Balad founder Azmi Bishara spied for Hezbollah; MK Basel Ghattas smuggled cell phones to jailed terrorists, and would-be Joint Arab List politician Heba Yazbak sings the praises of The children Samir Kuntar and Dalal Mugrabi.

None of the Joint List's MKs accepts the existence of a Jewish nation-state. They see us as racists, violent, practicing apartheid. Who wants citizenship in such a country?

Given that living in the Zionist state is a fact of 71 years, one would expect both sides to come to terms with it. In my opinion, Israeli Jews have and there is no bon-ton for land swaps and the relocation of populations. We are together in the Israeli story and no one is going anywhere.

But Arab Israelis sometimes evoke a sense of confusion. What exactly do they want?

A 2019 survey by the Israeli Democracy Institute yields confusing results: 77% of Arab Israelis deny Israel's existence as a Jewish state. On the other hand, 70% of them believe that there is no conflict between Palestinian identity and allegiance to the State of Israel. Some 63% oppose national service, but almost all of them enjoy working with Jews and would like to live next door. Moreover, 65% of them are proud to be Israeli – the highest figure since 2003, and on the heels of the controversial nation-state law, no less.

The dichotomy is also found at the personal level. Salim Joubran served on the Supreme Court, but in a retirement interview in 2018, he admitted that he can't bring himself to sing Israel's national anthem. Why? The answer is unclear.

On the one hand, "if the state expects all its citizens, including the Arabs, to respect its national anthem, it should respect them and their rights." Okay - so his move sought to protest Arab discrimination? Not necessarily. He also had a problem with the words " "The Jewish soul yearns," meaning that the anthem was another a symbol of the Jewish nation-state. That is no longer a matter of civil rights.

"If one day the words of the national anthem are changed, I think I will have no problem singing it," Joubran said. "I certainly think that words should be added to suit the Arab citizen in Israel as well."

Arab lawmakers often complain about violence in the sector, but in the same breath, they protest having police stations in Arab localities. This objection, by the way, extends from parliamentary opposition to the actual burning of police stations, like in Kafr Qassem in 2017. Arabs play in the Israeli national soccer team, but the team captain, midfielder Bibras Natkho, also refuses to sing the national anthem.

So again, one must ask: What do they want?

Common wisdom believes that the answer is equal rights. This is a convenient answer, but it is inaccurate because at the political level, the equal right Arab MKs strive for is the right to a national definition within the State of Israel.

This, in turn, makes for an awkward situation: The reason we are even having this discussion is that a war was fought and Israel won.

At times, it seems that Arab Israelis, much like their Palestinian brothers outside our borders, suffer from an ongoing adolescent crisis: They want to rebel against the parents, but avoid being thrown out of the house; be included in the decision-making process without assuming any of the responsibility; skip all major events and then get ticked off when they're not invited; fight for a Palestinian state, but buck against the possibility of swapping their Israeli citizenship for a Palestinian one without leaving home.

This does not come across as a desire for integration or equality, but rather as a 17-year-old's temper tantrum.

Israel managed to graduate adolescence but, embarrassed by its victory, it still maintains familial relations even with the Hamas terrorist group in the Gaza Strip. They fire rockets at us as we, like nice uncles, continue to provide them electricity.

We forgive the Arab MKs their mischievous acts, such as praising terrorists or calling to abolish Zionist hegemony, and allow them their place in parliament with patronizing compassion from the High Court of Justice, whose tolerance is akin to saying, "You are too young and too restless for Basic Law: The Knesset to apply to you."

The patient parent approach is endearing, but it has been 71 years since the War of Independence and adolescence must end at some point.

The first step in the process is to dismiss all Joint List MKs who deny Israel's existence as a Jewish state, or support terrorism, demanded by law. Or as the family might say – if you want to eat mom's food - don't swear at her.

The post The Arab sector's identity crisis appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

And to this, I shall answer: not a commentator, but a girl who reads books and watches movies, one who can tell the difference between them and reality, acknowledges the mythological power of a good story along with its ability to blur the vision of reality.

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The reality, with regards to counties, let alone Israel, will never deliver the perfect result. In order to have the perfect result, we invented Hollywood, which creates 90 –minute stays in a world where good defeats evil and everyone lives happily ever after. A quick review of the 100 Most Successful Movies of All Times shows that only one ends with the tragic death of the handsome hero. Spoiler alert: It's Titanic. And compared to a true disaster, the movie is very easy on the eyes and hearts.

At the end of Titanic we are required to shed a tear over the unfortunate fate of Leonardo DiCaprio's "Jack Dawson". The real world has shed tears over the ship's 1,514 fatalities. But people who want to make money in Hollywood focus on Luke Skywalker's and Superman's victories. The fantasy pays off when it's well-scripted, the actors are attractive and when Spiderman hops from one rooftop to another. It might be fatal when it's inhaled into the lungs and tries to be implemented in political life.

Ideologies are similarly affected by fantasies and utopias. In the right-winged fantasy movie, the State of Israel stretches from the sea to the Jordan area, the Palestinians willingly immigrate to Jordan, which is already a country with a Palestinian majority, and those who are left in Israel – will reconcile without conflict with it being a Jewish state.

But this movie has never been tried out in reality. Everyone knows that it is indeed a fantasy, and for those who don't – there is a special department in the Shin Bet security agency that will put them in administrative detention if caught with spray paint in their trunk.

The Left's script of a Palestinian state living in peace alongside Israel within safe and just borders, settlement eviction, and a trustworthy promise from the Palestinians not to engage in terrorism, has been repeatedly tried and by that it has broken a well-known Hollywood rule: Don't try to hop from one rooftop to another during a chase, because unlike Keanu Reeves in The Matrix – you will be scraped off the pavement with a spatula.

The 1993 Oslo Accords and the 2005 disengagement from the Gaza Strip were not experiments pursued out of malice. On the contrary, they were driven by good intentions, faith in their success, and the will to do better by Israel and the Palestinians.

But they also followed a script in which both sides are equally right and wrong, and mainly strive towards the same goal: Peaceful coexistence; a script in which the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is based on a geographical conflict and not on deeply-rooted religious indictment; and mainly a script that assumes that a problem whose foundations are based on partial understanding and on a "lands for peace" dream can really have a classic Hollywood ending, with both parties walking hand in hand into the sunset.

The benefit of the Oslo experiment is in its failure. The way to achievements in science is through experiments that either affirm or refute theories. The Oslo failure, followed by the disengagement, was supposed to enable its supporters to draw practical conclusions regarding its efficiency and to look for a new route that is not based on the Palestinians' goodwill and concurrence, on the support of the European Union and the sounds of a Shofar coming from the sky accompanied by a shower of purple bunnies.

Hard work pays off

This alternative route is meant to either create conditions where hate slowly dissipates, or to strengthen Israel so that it could create alliances that will enable greater support and freedom of action.

All that does not seem particularly glamorous or, in Hollywood's terms, it makes for a very long, boring, foreign film. This is also surprisingly similar to Netanyahu's term as prime minister, meaning mostly devoid of any big moves, but full of meticulous work, without much fanfare or drama but with careful anticipation for a window of opportunity.

The latter arrived in the form of US President Donald Trump who, like Netanyahu, was blessed not only with basic, healthy morals but also with a completely sober world view.

The singularity of Trump's plan is its full disregard to yesterday's fantasies, and a firm acknowledgment of the current situation on the ground, that was mainly established as a result of wars where, thank God, Israel won and the Palestinians and the rest of our enemies lost.

Why does the Left insist on latching onto the script "they are killing us only because they are poor and want to be rid of the occupation," despite the fact that the Arab world has never acknowledged Israel's existence within any border; despite the fact that the Palestinians rejected all offers of an agreement; despite the fact that the disengagement has not resulted in peace and quiet on the Gaza border, and despite the fact that there is no link between the Palestinians' dire economic state and their desire to eliminate Jews?

The human refusal to admit to a mistake is one of the reasons why. But so is the magnitude of the dream. The bigger the utopia – the tighter the sleeper's hold on their dream. We are not alone in holding on to pipedreams: The United States is a capitalist empire and a free market is one of its cornerstones but these days, one of the leading candidates for the Democratic Party's nomination in the 2020 presidential race is Bernie sanders – a hardline socialist.

Sanders claims that he is a social democrat, but the dream he sells is the communist one – a utopia of social engineering, equality and nullifying both personal and national identity. Utopias may have miserably failed to live up to reality, but still have an enthusiastic following.

And then there is Netanyahu, and he is also a part of the story.

I find it hard to believe that an ordinary person who truly understands politics of history is actually out there. In fact, I find it hard to believe that even politicians or historians do. But I do believe in the power of stories. The Left's dream of Oslo's success was cut short not by losing the elections, but by the 1995 assassination of Yitzhak Rabin. This horrific incident left an entire political camp believing that had it not been for the assassination – there would be peace with the Palestinians.

But instead of elections we got an assassination, and instead of Shimon Peres as PM we got Netanyahu, Rabin's political rival. The 1996 elections became a narrative of different, almost biblical magnitude. Left-wing dreamers were rattled out of their dream of peace by three gunshots, and ever since then, they have been convinced that it is not reality that had dictated their failure but rather the villain who heads Likud, and who is preventing them from realizing their utopia.

And since the collective soul has an archetype memory, which is deep and solid and stubborn, the Left sees Netanyahu as having assassinated their dream and they seek to do the same to him from a legal and political standpoint, hench their support for the attorney general's decision to indict Netanyahu precisely at this time, which is also one of our greatest moments.

Ideologies are also affected by fantasies. In the right-wing fantasy movie, the Palestinians come to terms with Israel being a Jewish state.

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