Hamas War

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Impressive!

Binyamin Bibi Netanyahu's appearance at the International Jewish Blogger Convention was very impressive. On TV you hear him in short soundbites. Yesterday Bibi, with us English-speaking jbloggers, was "unplugged."

Bibi Netanyahu


Now, I didn't say I was voting for him. I just said that he is impressive, has potential, knowledge etc. He seemed to be having a good time with us. Being that he's known as a "well-prepared performer," it's hard to really know how honest and spontaneous he was. If you're a regular reader of this blog, you know that I consider acting talent a necessity for politicians.

Bibi claimed that he writes his blog, and that's why it's rarely updated:

Bibi Binyamin Netanyahu

"You need two things to maintain a blog, time or a ghost-writer, and I don't use a ghost-writer." Bibi, the blogger
Yes, he's always campaigning, so whatever he said to us had that behind it.

Bibi managed to explain some complicated technology in relatively simple terms, the way someone who actually understands it could say, unless it was totally memorized.

Bibi explained the pros and cons of various political systems and how and why they would be suitable or not suitable to Israel.

Bibi gave a history lecture which should be memorized by everyone involved in Israel's Foreign Relations Department and every history teacher in the country. It should be mandatory studies in all schools.

I've always thought that Netanyahu actually feels most comfortable with anglos, since his education is American, not Israeli.

Politically, my complaint about him is that he thinks he has to be a centrist to be elected. He's wrong. People feel the phoniness, the falsity. He intellectually knows that Right is right. If he would just go for it as an unabashed Right wing, civil libertarian, as a Jew in our Land, he would be elected by a landslide and he would be the leader we need.

Yes, that would make him a true leader, not a follower of the "middle," that empty hole in the bagel.

Bibi Netanyahu

11 comments:

Hadassa DeYoung said...

Shalom!
Bibi is a pragmatist, which makes him very dangerous as a politician, especially when he claims to be right-wing. In the absence of any opposition, he would be a staunch supporter of Greater Israel. The problem is, of course, that there is much opposition. Bibi is also an excellent speaker, which means that he should be Israel's spokesman. On many occasions he has not be afraid to show a great deal of Jewish pride when speaking to foreign countries in the capacity of ambassador, unlike when he is PM.
Hadassa

Lion of Zion said...

intersting. a lot of the other bloggers simply thought he was boring and spoke too long

Hadassa DeYoung said...

Shalom!
Lion of Zion, I wasn't referring to this particular convention, which I didn't attend. In general Bibi's oratory skills have been a refreshing change from the embarrassing English spoken by most Israeli politicians and public figures.
Hadassa

Ehav Ever said...

Great post Batya. I have some video of Bibi's talk at my blog.

Batya said...

Hadassa, funny, I see him as a rightwing who is playing himself as center, which I agree makes him dangerous for us.
He is the best hasbara person in the Jewish world and should be writing the curriculum.

lion, I think the other bloggers just didn't like the idea that a politician spoke. I thought the foreign ministry person was a total bore. She sure didn't know how to "plan a lesson." She thought we were hers for 45 minutes. It could have been done in 10. We're not her trainees.

ehav, your post is good.

goyisherebbe said...

I believe Bibi does know what he is talking about regarding a lot of things, especially economics and technology, which he picked up at MIT, and politics and foreign policy, which he picked up on the job. Unfortunately he has very little spiritual dimension. The Jews and non-Jews of the world look to Israel for centering and voice in just that aspect, and it is lacking. That is very sad because there is tremendous spirituality to be had here. The problem is that it does not translate into Jewish leadership in the state of Israel. I believe that the answer is for Klal Yisrael, the Jewish people as a whole, to get together, and then there will be a place for the talents of a Netanyahu, a Feiglin, a Benny Elon, an Effi Eitam, even those people on the left who still believe in social justice and the return of Jews to Eretz Yisrael. Rav Kook discusses this in Orot.

Batya said...

goyish, good points
I don't have time to look for the post, but I wrote something after Moshe Shamir died, how he took Bibi's father to task for not including any religious zionists in his book about Zionist leaders.

Bibi doesn't seem all that comfortable with religion.

Hadassa DeYoung said...

Shalom!
Batya, Bibi would like us to believe that he's a right-winger forced by situations to make certain decisions that he would rather not make, but if he's so willing to compromise his ideals, can he really be a right-winger? He's not the only one like this either. There are plenty of "right-wingers" out there with kippot (or scarves) on their heads who have compromised right-wing ideals no less than Bibi. It's even worse for them. They claim to have the fear of G-d guiding them.
Labels can be tricky. To me Bibi is a pragmatist (which jibes with not being comfortable with religion) with right-wing sympathies. Your description may be more accurate. Only time will tell.
Hadassa

Batya said...

So it's like those people who call themselves "vegetarians" but the eat fish. Are they vegetarians or not? During my 25 years as vegetarians, they made it very difficult for me, personally.

Hadassa DeYoung said...

Shalom!
Every true vegetarian that I have known has been offended when asked if he/she eats fish.
Hadassa

Batya said...

"True" is the magic word, especially when its opposite is "false."