Time Gets it Wrong on Bibi

Time magazine’s characterization of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu as among the top 100 most influential people is a bit premature, as Israel’s leader has done nothing more than maintain the status quo on a slew of his own signature issues. While Netanyahu most certainly has the potential to be extremely influential, the peace process, Iranian nuclear program and Israeli relationship with Hamas remain unchanged from the circumstances in previous administrations. Instead of  demonstrating progress and actually influencing these issues, inactivity continues to permeate Israeli politics, with Netanyahu embodying that stagnation, for better or for worse.

The nearly unchanged Israeli-Palestinian peace process exemplifies this status, where Netanyahu has been unable to influence either his coalition or the Palestinian leadership to make substantive concessions that would reignite talks. Several U.S. administrations have attempted to resolve this decades long conflict, with both Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush nearly either reaching a deal or making substantive breakthroughs in the negotiations’ impasse. The Clinton-brokered Camp David talks nearly reached a deal, with Bush releasing his Road Map for peace that outlined the core tenets upon which negotiations are based.

However, under the Obama administration and the leadership of Netanyahu, Israeli and Palestinian officials are not engaged in any form of dialogue, with both sides setting preconditions on why they refuse to even begin negotiations. The Palestinians are seeking an immediate and unconditional end to settlement construction, while the Israeli government mandates Palestinian affirmation that Israel has a right to exist as a Jewish state.

Netanyahu has briefly and partially frozen settlement construction, but those halts did not encompass areas of Jerusalem and expired once negotiations had not commenced. A fuller and longer freeze is unlikely, as his coalition could crumble if right wing parties object to a more substantive construction suspension. Netanyahu has been unable to broach this impasse, which could drastically improve the chances of a peace process commencing.

Granted, the stalled peace process is by no means only Netanyahu’s fault, as the Palestinians refuse to make their own concessions as well. However, Netanyahu has clearly proven to be non-influential with the peace process commencing, which represents one of the most important issues facing Israel and remains mired in the decades-long status quo.

Similarly, Netanyhu has been unable to thwart Iran from continuing its nuclear weapons program. Since his inauguration, Netanyahu has repeatedly stated that stopping Iranian nuclear program is his top priority, and that a future Iranian nuclear weapon represents the greatest threat to Israel.

Iranian uranium centrifuges continue to be built, as some Israeli experts warn that an Iranian nuclear weapon could be developed as soon as next year. The Iranian program was briefly thwarted through various alleged covert operations, such as the Stuxnet computer virus that sabotaged Iranian facilities and the deaths of some nuclear scientists. These acts of sabotage — whether orchestrated by Israel or not — have not instilled a major hurdle to Iran potential obtaining nuclear capabilities in the near future.

Similarly, while some sanctions against Iran have been implemented, these financial measures have not spurred a successful revolution in Iran or led the Iranian government to abandon its nuclear program.

For Netanyahu’s self-described top priority, his policies have been decidedly ineffective in creating substantive change on the Iranian nuclear program.

Lastly, the near constant bombardment of rockets continues from the Gaza Strip and abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit remains in Hamas captivity.

Since Israel’s pull out from the Gaza Strip, Hamas has launched thousands of rockets into southern Israel, injuring dozens of civilians, including a child recently. Netanyahu has hinted at possible retaliation akin to the 2008-2009 invasion of the Gaza Strip, but thus far the Israeli military has only conducted targeted attacks on terror infrastructure and there has been no ceasefire from the terror group.

In that same vein, Shalit has been in captivity for years, with no signs that Israel will successfully negotiate his release. The Netanyahu administration has taken a rather hard line that exchanging one soldier for 1,000 terrorists — as requested by Hamas — does not represent Israel’s interests. Netanyahu has been unable to negotiate better terms for Shalit’s release, resulting in no change to Shalit’s status even though Netanyahu has replaced negotiators and sought foreign assistance.

Many of the problems facing Netanyahu are not his creation, but merely holdovers from previous administrations. While blame for failures in negotiating these issues should not be placed solely on Netanyahu, his efforts have fallen flat and he has been only able to make modest — at best — gains in some of his own top priorities.

While Netanyahu is most certainly in a position to drastically influence Israel’s future with the Palestinians, terrorists and outside threats, his policies have done nothing more than maintain the status quo. For him to be truly influential, as declared by Time magazine, Netanyahu must take bold actions that turns stagnation into progress. Until he does that, Netanyahu’s influence will remain minimal, yet the dangers facing Israel go on unfettered.