Saturday, November 27, 2010

Samson and Delilah, 2010


Op-ed: Prime Minister Netanyahu must stand firm in face of Livni’s seduction attempts

Ron Breiman
Israel Opinion

The Book of Judges recounts the story of Biblical hero Samson, whose mission was to save Israel from the Philistines. To that end, the hero was gifted with a variety of traits that qualified him for the demanding mission. At first, he was indeed successful – he was loyal to his way and his mission, and the results appeared to be encouraging. Later on, Samson started to deviate and be tempted by the follies of this world and short-term pleasures. The more he distanced from his important mission, the more mishaps and failures he encountered. However, our hero believed that he still in control of the situation and that he would be able to both fight the Philistines and still attend parties and be in the company of women.


We know what ended up happening. At the end of the day, he lost his strength. Samson fell in the trap laid by Delilah, who put him to sleep on her knees and shaved off his hair, thereby taking away his unique gift and the secret to his strength.


She then turned him in to his enemies and pursuers, the Philistines. After being tortured and put to slave labor by his Philistine captors, Samson regained his strength for one more time: He chose the renowned suicide path – Let me die with the Philistines.


Netanyahu’s Samsonian mission

In this day and age, Benjamin Netanyahu has assumed a Samsonian mission upon himself: Saving Israel from the Philistines. He received superb Zionist education at home and possesses a sober worldview as well as the support of most of the people, who are fed up with the follies of the New Middle East notion and its tranquilizing delusions. However, our hero thought he has great strength and would be able to cope with his missions even while bearing a great weight.


Indeed, he has two weights that are weighing him down; two mentors – Shimon and Ehud – as he tries to operate under these impossible circumstances. The result is a grave, dangerous deviation to the left, towards the abyss.


Yet if this was not enough, the current-day Samson is showing the dangerous tendency of repeating the mistakes of his Biblical counterpart and falling into the arms of a modern-day Delilah, Tzipi. Netanyahu’s son, a master of the Bible, would do well to keep an eye on his father and prevent him from falling into Tzipi’s trap. The pleasures of unity with her are expected to be brief, and the road to the Philistine trap from there is a short one.


Bibi no longer a rookie

Netanyahu is no longer a political rookie. He should be aware of the pressures being exerted and closing in on him domestically – Shimon, Ehud, Tzipi and the media – in the aims of prompting him to make the difficult, “right” decision: Continuing to hand over Eretz Yisrael to the Philistine occupier.


It is no wonder that the external pressures – Obama and his partners – do not trail behind the domestic pressures: Bring the Trojan horse, Tzipi, into the government, they say. Those who exert the pressure, both domestically and externally, know what they’re doing. Their aims are transparent.


In order to say “yes” to any external pressure at the service of the Philistine enemy, Tzipi would do. Benjamin was not elected to be a Livni twin. His role is wholly different: To put an end to the suicidal march of folly indoctrinated by Shimon and his buddies.


Hence, Benjamin must not allow Tzipi to shave off his hair. Netanyahu must avoid the prospect of falling into Tzipi’s arms. The honey trap of false unity is expected to bring his political demise and serve as yet another step in Israel’s suicidal march to the abyss. He will not achieve his glory by taking the Oslo way.



Dr. Ron Breiman is the former chairman of Professors for a Strong Israel

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