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The Konformist: The Chamish Files - Bibi Part One
Subj: ARTICLE: Netanyahu-Part One
Date: 97-01-31 13:06:05 EST
From: [email protected] (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 : [email protected]
>--------------------------------------------