Benjamin Netanyahu

By Teymoor Nabili in Middle East on October 18th, 2011
AP photo

"A leader stands alone"

Benjamin Netanyahu was presenting himself as a solitary, heroic figure.

"I considered, and I decided."

Speaking on the release of Gilad Shalit, the Israeli prime minister implied the prisoner swap deal had been entirely of his own making, and that his tough stance had prevailed.

"Talks took place in Cairo ... we stood our ground. When the majority of our demands were accepted, I had to make a decision."

It made for a great narrative, and an effective presentation, but was it true? Did Hamas finally give in to Netanyahu's demands?

Gershon Baskin provided some interesting perspective when he spoke to us on Tuesday.

By Clayton Swisher in Middle East on January 30th, 2010
Photo from AFP

Israeli Mossad is already a strong suspect in the recent killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in the United Arab Emirates. The charter member of the al-Qassam Brigades was electrocuted and strangled in his Dubai hotel room, and God knows what happened to him in between. 

Al-Mabhouh's murder evokes a certain sense of deja vu.  Anyone who has read the brilliant work "Kill Khalid:  The Failed Mossad Assassination of Khalid Mishal and the Rise of Hamas" would know exactly what I'm talking about. 

It chronicles how a Mossad hit team posing as Canadian tourists set out on the streets of Amman, Jordan in 1997 to eliminate the Hamas political leader. 

By John Terrett in Americas on November 10th, 2009
Photo by AFP

Binyamin Netanyahu addressed a major American Jewish conference at a big hotel in Washington, DC on Monday and argued there's still life in the moribund peace process.

"My goal is to achieve a permanent peace treaty between Israel and the Palestinians and soon ... it's high time that we stopped negotiating about the negotiations - lets get on with it. Lets move."

At one point, his speech was interrupted by a lone protester. "I have to say I got a better reception at the United Nations," he joked.

Among the rest of his audience, however, there was a far warmer welcome for the Israeli leader.

"I can't say whether they've done enough - enough is a hard word to say - but the attitudes - and I've been there many times - is that peace is what they want," one audience member said.

By Alan Fisher in Europe on August 25th, 2009

There was no way of avoiding it. The media had been invited - and even though Israel and the Middle East was meant to be the talking point, Lockerbie was all the UK press really wanted an answer to.

Gordon Brown strode into a room, somewhere on the first floor of Downing Street, the smile fixed on his face as he led Benjamin Netanyahu to the podiums before us. This wasn't a news conference we were told - this was "brief remarks" on the visit by the Israeli Prime Minister. This was the spin doctors doing their best to limit exposure the kryptonite of the "what did you think about..." question.

Brief, polite remarks came first. Then the question everyone wanted answered. "What did you think of the decision to free the Lockerbie bomber? What role did the British Government play in the decision?". Read them again. Pretty straight forward aren't they?

By Alan Fisher in Europe on August 25th, 2009

Benjamin Netanyahu kicks off his four day European tour with a couple of meetings here in London. The first is with British PM Gordon Brown.  He'll say again that the building of settlements has to stop to let talks with the Palestinians get in - but he's not going to say anything the Israeli PM  hasn't heard before.  It's not going to cause a row - Britain still regards itselself as 'a true friend' of Israeli.

Tomorrow's meeting is much more important.  That's when Mr Netanyahu will sit down with the US special envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell.  While Europe is a player in the peace process, the much more important  voice comes from Washington.  And slowly both sides are edging to a place where talks with the Palestinian side can resume.

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