Anat Gov
Photo: Gadi Dagon
Missing the old Bibi
With new Netanyahu we see no tactic, no strategy, and no future
Who could have imagined that we would miss him? Who would have thought that we will remember him fondly on sleepless nights and nostalgically cling to the good old days we enjoyed with him? Who could have believed that a day will come where we aspire, with all our heart and soul, for his return?
Yet here, it’s happening. We miss him. The time has come to say it in a loud and clear voice: Please, come back to us, old Bibi! Come back to us and save us from the new Bibi!
Another Mishap
Sima Kadmon
Diplomatic disaster during Biden visit just another Bibi-era mishap
The old Bibi was strong. He had a bureau chief called Avigdor Lieberman who decisively executed his boss’ decisions. The new Bibi has a boss called Avigdor Lieberman
, who wraps the new Bibi around his middle finger.
The old Bibi sowed fear in the hearts of his ministers; the new Bibi is disregarded even by his own Knesset members. The new Bibi wakes up every morning to discover new initiatives emerging behind his back and he is constantly surprised; he is constantly one step behind everyone else, like a clumsy fireman running from one fire to the next in the aims of keeping the flames down.
The old Bibi was scared of no one, yet the old Bibi is cautious and attempts to please everyone. The old Bibi was clear, and people could speak out against him. The new Bibi embraces Ehud Barak and pampers him with high-quality cigars that buy the Labor party’s silence.
Hoping for a miracle
The old Bibi would make (bad) decisions quickly and decisively. The new Bibi hesitates, ruminates, suffers, zigzags, stutters, mumbles, doubts, and shows indecision – only after the mess has been done and others made the decision for him, he gets scared, capitulates, apologizes, rolls his eyes, winks to the left, winks to the right, and performs a few somersaults. He spends so much energy one feels pity for him.The old Bibi was a gifted orator. The new Bibi only has two words in his lexicon: “Iranian threat.” Two words meant to cover up for the foolish management of the world’s most volatile nation.
We so much hoped that there really is a new Bibi; a responsible Bibi, a Bibi we can trust to lead us to safety. To our horror, we discovered that there is indeed a new Bibi, and he’s zigzagging like a drunken driver while taking us down a slope at such great speed that we can truly feel the wind against our faces.
No tactic, no strategy, and no future. All we have is a simmering, sizzling, and raging present, just like the ground in Haiti a short while before the earth shook.
But maybe it’s not him. Maybe it’s us who have changed. Maybe it’s us who are silent, watching the acts of this government as if it was a sitcom; good material for satire shows, rather than our real lives. Too fatigued and exhausted to try to do something, embarrassed and ashamed in the world, we stay behind closed doors and hope for a miracle.
