There were partings of the ways in two arenas today. After a series of unflattering results, and after he fell out with several players, Beitar Jerusalem manager Uri Malmilian decided to quit. When he realized that his club was in dire straits, he announced his resignation, and left. Alone. He did not break up the team, he did not take prisoners with him, he did not agitate, and he did not break away. He also did not deny responsibility. Malmilian is a symbol of Beitar, and he left as a symbol.
If Beitar Jerusalem belongs to the Premier League, the Labor Party demonstrated once again today that its playing field is the jobs league. Like Malmilian, Labor Party chairman Ehud Barak led his party to disaster, failures, and internal disputes. But unlike the Beitar manager, even when he understood that something wasn't working, he didn't bow out. He preferred to splinter, divide, destroy, and deny responsibility. They say of Barak that he isn't a leader, that he isn't everyone's chum. It can now be added that he will also never be a symbol. On the contrary. He will be remembered as a gravedigger, as the person who broke up the historic party and buried it.
This political move bears echoes of the past. Moshe Dayan sacrificed a political career for the sake of peace. He left the Rafi party and joined Menachem Begin's Likud in order to promote the peace agreement with Egypt. Political desertion for the sake of diplomatic action. In Barak's case, it's a matter of a political move for the sake of political survival. Political speculation that values only office.
People close to Netanyahu explained today that the move was concocted in order to promote the peace process. But Netanyahu doesn't need a split in the Labor Party for that. Had he wanted to do it, it would have happened by now. Those who talk don't do, as they say. If Netanyahu were really interested in acting like Begin, he would set out on that road with Tzipi Livni, who would bring with her a much more stable parliamentary dowry. We have known for a long time that Netanyahu is no Begin, and Barak will never be suspected of similarity to Dayan.
At best, Netanyahu has bought time. He gains a stable government until the elections, a center-right government. Barak gains a job. The bottom line is that both have gained a little longer in office. It will be interesting to see how, in another six months, when there has still been no change on the diplomatic front, Barak will explain why he continues to sit in Netanyahu's government.
In this story, everyone has got what he deserves. The Labor Party and the Herzog camp who held onto office and didn't have the wit to leave the government have run the party into the buffers, leaving it incapable of influencing the peace process. Barak has the Labor Party's demise to his name. And Bibi? He got Barak.
It is too early to say whether this ploy by the wacky pair Barak and Bibi will be an asset or a liability, but Netanyahu remains Netanyahu. He fills the bucket to the brim, and then kicks it over. If he doesn't leverage it for peace negotiations, the move is utterly valueless.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 17, 2011
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