Guess Who's Back

The only encouraging news in Israel is the rainy weather; three days of torrential downpour after a long, dry November and December is just the metaphor some people around here would like to apply to the flashy comeback of Ehud Barak, erstwhile IDF chief of staff and former prime minister of, let's say, limited success.

The political leadership is up the creek with no object that could possibly substitute for a paddle in sight. When Ehud Olmert and Amir Peretz were elected last March they expected to be running a country in search of creative political options for peace and economic alternatives that would eliminate poverty. Instead, they were completely blindsided by the outbreak of the Lebanon war this summer. Together with the IDF, they've all received failing grades for their handling of the conflict and not many people are confident they will rise to the potentially existential challenges roiling around us - the imminent Palestinian civil war, the political crisis in Lebanon and, of course, the Iranian nukes.

Olmert's tenure has been a non-stop roster of scandals: questions regarding the legality of several of Olmert's real estate transactions; the president and the justice minister accused of sexual harrasment; the bumbling ineptitude of the police in capture of escaped rapist Benny Sela; and now, a fresh crack in the facade of quality government - a corruption scandal at the highest levels of the Israeli equivalent of the IRS, suggesting that businessmen were involved in tax official appointments to protect their personal interests. Amongst the implicated is Shula Zaken, Olmert's personal assistant and office manager, which looks really bad for the prime minister even though he had nothing to do with it. At the moment it's not clear just who's guilty and who's been badmouthed. It's worth mentioning, however, that the political witch hunt is a popular sport in Israel. The trauma of the Yom Kippur War in 1973 created a fissure of faith in the elected leadership, a condition which has morphed into screaming headlines and breaking news over the slightest suspicion of official impropriety. These accusations are often not substantiated enough to indict and after prolonged investigations the accused politicians ultimately return to the fray, leaving a whiff of manipulative victory trailing behind them. Olmert has managed to brush off most of these scandals but many Israelis view him as a corrupt leader who reached the prime minister's office in order to further his personal agenda.

To make matters worse, there is a complete disconnect between Olmert and Peretz; the prime minister and the defense minister aren't talking to one another, like two boys in junior high feuding over a lost soccer ball. They are incapable of cooperating, yet each one clings ferociously to his seat, refusing to budge. At this point Peretz also appears to have lost the support of his own party members, not only as defense minister but also as leader of the Labor party. They're all screaming at him to get off the field - he's a colossal failure as defense minister. However, Peretz's skin is as thick as an elephant's and he's dug his fingernails deep into his seat. He's not leaving the defense ministry unless he is offered an alternative position of equal prestige and influence, meaning the finance ministry, with which Kadima will never part.

Into this hopeless morass saunters Ehud Barak, after six years of exile in the political wilderness after his stinging defeat by Ariel Sharon in 2001. It's a new, updated version of Ehud Barak; he still sports that pompous smirk but he claims to be contrite. Amid the fanfare of his announcement to run for head of the Labor party in the upcoming May primaries, he issued a blanket apology for all of his mistakes as prime minister:
"It is possible that I became prime minister too soon. I made many mistakes, and my lack of experience was to my detriment. Today I know that there are no shortcuts, certainly not in public and political life, and that leadership is a shared burden, not a solo mission. It is impossible to succeed alone and coherent thinking, will and talent on their own are insufficient to run a state."

So the Jewish Napoleon is back - should we consider ourselves lucky? When surveying the Israeli political leadership today one can't help but wonder why there are so few people to admire, although anyone familiar with the biographies of the 120 members of Knesset knows there are many quality individuals sitting under that roof. However, the nature of the Israeli political system means that wheeling and dealing, manipulation, horse-trading and back stabbing are the keys to survival here. It seems impossible to pass through the Knesset doors and come out untainted by the Israeli political culture. Therefore, the 2007 version of the want-ad for prime minister is: a double-crossing schemer with a deep understanding of our security needs. Of Begin, Rabin and Sharon, the three prime ministers who made significant concessions for peace, two of them came from long military careers. Ehud Barak is far more qualified to make the important decisions on the prime minister's table this year than the two disappointing men currently in charge. He might be the right guy for the job, even if we can't stand him.