THE SEMI-DISGUISED ENEMY WITHIN

By Schmoel Yitzhak


In a normal world one would think that with Israel surrounded by enemies the time has come for the country to unite against its belligerent foes.

But that would assume that fanatical leftist Jews in the Holy Land -- not to mention some so-called "centrists" such as Tzipi Livni -- would be rational enough to grasp the threats being generated around the Middle East's only democracy.

Threats? They are real and growing. Any doubters should consult the latest dispatches from Tehran. We now learn that an Iranian nuclear physicist is orchestrating an "unexpected" quickening of that country's nuclear material production.

Does Mademoiselle Livni doubt that any number of Iranian mullahs would like nothing better than to blast Israel from here to eternity?

Israel's foes are fairly well all over the place. Closer to home, we have Hezbollah (formerly Lebanon) and Hamas (formerly the Palestinian Authority.)

The one up north can't wait for an opportunity -- how about off-shore drilling rights? -- to find a reason to unleash an endless cloudburst of rocketry -- while our Southern neighbor simply hopes to finagle Israel right out of existence.

These are as obvious as salt in the Dead Sea but a growing equally dangerous group is growing within Israel itself.

Some are as easily identifiable as Israel-hating Arabs within the Knesset. Others are Israeli Jews who pose as fair-minded journalists, human rights "activists" (whatever that means) while still others are proteges of Ariel Sharon -- that's you, Tzipi -- before the Prime Minister began awarding the Arabs presents such as Gaza without getting even a receipt in return.

On the newspaper side, when it comes to undermining the government in a crisis, one need not look beyond Haaretz.

No Jewish journal has done more to publicly deface Israel's image and its ability to defend itself against its sworn enemies than writers such as Gideon Levy and Israel Harel
for both the Hebrew and English versions of the daily.

Day after day the likes of Bradley Burston relentlessly spew a pro-Arab mantra that would be more suitably for journals published in Damascus, Beirut and Gaza City. And because Israel is a democracy, they are able to get away with their blatant anti-government propaganda. There are times when Burston's words read as if Hamas politburo chief Khaled Mashaal is Bradley's ghost-writer.

Even more damaging to Benjamin Netanyahu's government is the Axis of Misconception that has been coupled together by Haaretz and the New York Times.

Guided by its longtime anti-Israel agenda, Times' dispatches from Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and all points between Eilat and Metulla, invariably quote Haaretz authors as if they purportedly represent the nation's thinking; which, of course, is not the case.

This ongoing journalistic deception has been clearly revealed by Stuart Palmer of the International Citizens Action Network.

Palmer notes that a recent survey details that within the past three years-plus, Haaretz readership has fallen consistently from a "high" or 8.1 percent to 5.8 percent now.

"Does the international media not realize," says Palmer, "that such a SMALL proportion of Israelis actually read the paper? This shows that the Israeli public has reflected its views on the credibility of Haaretz."

Which brings me to Livni and what has become her endless vendetta with Bibi at the expense of her country's credibility. At a time when Israel desperately needs the partnership of a Kadima-Likud alliance, Livni has done everything possible to torpedo her former Likud partner.

"Since taking the helm of the opposition," writes Jerusalem Post columnist Caroline Glick, "Livni has never been willing to recognize that foreign attacks on Netanyahu are quite often attacks on Israel.

"In this vein, Livni has consistently sided with Barack Obama, the Palestinians and the international left against Netanyahu."

What Israel needs more than ever in these dangerous times is a spirit of unity not divisiveness for the sake of political gain.

With that in mind, I am reminded of America prior to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941. The United States was politically divided with isolationists very vocally trying to keep the United States insulated from the rest of the world while their realistic opponents knew that there was no way to ignore the threats from the Nazis on one side of the Atlantic and the Japanese on the other side of the Pacific.

Once both the Japanese and Germans declared war on Uncle Sam, an amazing thing happened and that was the manner in which virtually all Americans -- there were a precious few exceptions -- rallied behind president Franklin Delano Roosevelt's war effort. It was the most unprecedented show of unity that ever took place throughout the then forty-eight states.

Israel is not in a "declared" war at the moment but the Arabs merely are biding their time for another "right moment" to attack.

Unity -- American-style, 1942-1945 -- is particularly important at a time when the Barack Obama administration continues to make nicey-nice with Israel's enemies and treats Netanyahu as a fourth-cousin-twice-removed.

Unfortunately, the one Israeli leader in a position to help Bibi is the very person he brought into the Knesset in 1994, Livni. Incredibly as it now may seem, she once was a super-hawk but now as Kadima leader Tzipi is far more left than centrist; more favoring Obama's policies that those needed to preserve her own country's welfare.

Glick: "Livni defended Obama as a friend of Israel. She ignored Obama's shocking renunciation of pledges that his predecessor made to the Sharon government regarding Israel's right to defensible borders."

Her motive is as clear as a freshly-washed window; she wants to be Prime Minister and -- whether she actually realizes it or not -- in her relentless pursuit of that goal will harm her country far more than she is helping it.

"It is," concludes Glick, "a shameless exploitation of Israel's vulnerability."

I always liked the theme, "By their works shall ye know them."

From this view, Tzipi is not working for the good and welfare of Israel.

And that is my understatement of the year.