“It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”
The above are the opening lines to A Tale of Two Cities, a historical novel by Charles Dickens, published in 1859.
For those of a certain age, educated in the UK, the novel, as other works of Dickens, were compulsory reading.
Dickens was a vigorous social campaigner and commentator of his times, as can be witnessed in most of his novels. That said, no doubt many of the millennia snowflakes that scream and shout about racial equality, have not read Dickens. That would be well served to do so and in turn learn something valuable about Victorian Great Britain and how those Victorian values, thoughts, and deeds helped shape today’s UK, which they appear to despise.
The opening line to the novel, “best of time, worst of times” has been rattling around in my head the past few days. The line, and the paragraph that follows, for me, sums up Israel of today, the eve of Rosh HaShana.
Our prime minister has signed a ‘normalization’ agreement with the UAE and Bahrain; two Arab countries that to the best of my knowledge were never at war with Israel. At the very moment of signature, Hamas in Gaza fires rockets into southern Israel, as if to prove a point! And, with all this, the country is still at war with COVID19 and just hours before a three-week lock-down. Unquestionably, the “best of time, worst of times”.
In a recent rant, I asked, sardonically, how The Three Stooges slept at night, knowing that they are complicit by association with the deaths of over 1,000 Israelis from COVID19.
The silence was of course deafening.
I did, however, make one error. In addition to posing the question to messers Litzman, Gafni, and Deri, I should have also posed the question to our ‘organ-grinder-in-chief’. His response, no doubt would have been that he is working non-stop, 24/7, for the people of Israel. To me, that is a bit of a ‘porkie’.
As an extension to this thought, the title ‘crime minister’ is somewhat fitting. I am not referring to Cases 1000, 2000, and 4000. That is for the courts to weight-up and decide. Rather, I am referring to the case against Benjamin Netanyahu that the people of Israel, the voters have to decide.
Although I recently highlighted an opinion piece penned by Raanan Shaked, in Ynet, I don’t completely agree with the writer’s sentiments. That said, he is 100% correct on one point, which is summed up in three paragraphs Shaked wrote: “You had but one job. It was not to work for Donald Trump's re-election, or to contribute to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's rehabilitated public relations. It was working for us.”
“Your job was to manage the coronavirus pandemic and save our lives and livelihood from its effects as other leaders around the world have done for their people. “
“Your job was to remain alert, on duty, vigilant and think of nothing else but how you would get us out of this crisis. “
It is no secret that Netanyahu has an ego far exceeding that of even Donald J. Trump. And Trump can’t hold a candle to Netanyahu in the fields of defense knowledge and understanding, world-view clarity, intelligence, and spin.
Benjamin Netanyahu is concerned with one thing only, Benjamin Netanyahu. Everything else, the people of Israel, are mere flotsam and jetsam, debris, if you will, that are distracting Netanyahu from fore-filling his dynasty, and cementing his legacy. That includes winning the much-coveted Noble Peace Prize.
For those who did not see or read President Rivlin’s address last night, apologizing for the government's failure to rein in the virus, here is the gist of what he said:
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-september-16-2020/
And, just in case it’s slipped anyone's memory, Benjamin Netanyahu is the prime minister, he is head of the government and, to borrow a phrase from US President Harry Truman, “the buck stops with him”.
Benjamin Netanyahu seems to have forgotten, or truth be told, he has far more important ‘fish to fry’.
The question, somewhat rhetorical, is, what will be named after Benjamin Netanyahu? David Ben Gurion has an airport, Rabin has Route 6, Ariel Sharon has a park, Peres has a center of learning, what, in the fullness of time, will be named after Benjamin Netanyahu?
One possible suggestion could be an annual prize, in Benjamin Netanyahu’s name, to the most crooked, underhanded, deceitful MK.
Food for thought?