Israel Matzav: He's seen Israel's future and it's... Danny Danon?

He's seen Israel's future and it's... Danny Danon?

The Jewish Journal's Rob Eshman says that he was told that if he wants to see Israel's future, he should speak with Likud MK Danny Danon. Danon, says Eshman, represents what Binyamin Netanyahu really thinks.

Danon believes with every fiber of his being that the two-state solution is dead, the one-state solution is a “liberal scare tactic,” and Israel must never give up the territories it captured in the Six-Day War.

This was a founding principle of Likud and its Revisionist ideological forbears: that Israel has a right to the entire biblical land of Israel. It’s a point of view that runs counter to every international peace-making effort in the Middle East since 1967, all dedicated to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

It’s also run up against the widely accepted belief that if Israel maintains control of the territories and the millions of Palestinians who live in them, demographic realities will force Israel to become either a nondemocratic, majority Arab nation, or lose its raison d’être as a Jewish state.

...

So, the obvious question I had for Danon was this: “If you don’t want a two-state solution, what’s your solution?”

“There is no short-term solution,” Danon said. “It’s a long-term vision that I have, that there be a regional agreement with Jordan, and with Gaza and Egypt. ... Gaza would be connected to Egypt, and Palestinian territories connected into Jordan, confederated into Jordan. That is the long-term vision, which requires some compromise from Israel, Jordan, Egypt, and international support.”

I agree with him until he gets to the 'long-term vision' part. I don't see that happening and I don't believe we have to decide today what the long-term vision is. What's most important is that the status quo is good for Israel. And the 'demographic threat' is an overblown bogeyman.

Other politically active Likudniks in Danon’s generation have offered me the same analysis: Israel is economically and militarily strong, the Palestinians are politically divided. The status quo, which is the bogeyman of centrists, is actually Israel’s friend.

I told Danon it seemed Netanyahu believes this as well — otherwise why risk such a confrontation with the United States?

“I agree,” Danon said. “Today I think Netanyahu realizes we have no one who actually represents the Palestinian who’s willing to cut a deal.

“People say, ‘The clock is ticking, you have to do something.’ No, I think the opposite. We should not do anything in a rush.”

If Danon is correct — that Netanyahu believes as he does — it means the prime minister and his government are merely paying lip service to their agreements with the United States over the peace process, and that the building in East Jerusalem that provoked the United States’ ire was a pure expression of Netanyahu’s true desires to expand settlements, though clumsily executed.

Here's the other place where Danon may be wrong. Either Netanyahu is under enormous pressure (which is possible) that we don't see, or he's not sure yet what he believes. Take your pick. Recall that Netanyahu was the one who pushed for people who lean left like Dan Meridor and Uzi Dayan to be put high on the Likud's list. It was only because of Moshe Feiglin and his strong Right wing voters that people like Danon got realistic spots.

Israel Matzav: He's seen Israel's future and it's... Danny Danon?