Two weeks ago I wrote this to my mother;

My assessment is that Benjamin Netanyahu is not big enough to do a proper job in Gaza. When I vote in the next elections here in January, I will vote for Avigdor Liberman, currently the Foreign Minister, the man the left wing Israeli press loves to demonize. Provided, of course, he has not been indicted for some crime or other. I know the Attorney General has been investigating him for about a dozen years, without getting anywhere, but they’re always right on ‘the verge’ of indicting him. Basically, he’s a gracious man, an émigré from the FSU, who speaks with a heavy Russian accent and doesn’t bother with the ‘speak softly – carry a big stick’ type of diplomacy we’re so used to in the west. Goes more for the Russian, ‘bellow at the survivors – after you’ve beaten the ringleaders to a bloody pulp with the howitzer,’ kind of thing.

Just goes to show what a useless assessor I am, doesn’t it? It’s clear I know nothing about him at all. All I’ve done is delude myself, once again. Listen to this quote:

“I am proud that we have a leadership that can make decisions even when they are contrary to its electoral interests,” Liberman told Channel 2 News about the decision to call a ceasefire in Gaza rather than choosing to launch a ground assault.

“It is obvious that a majority of the population was in favor of continuing the operation,” Liberman added, “but power is not only about hitting but also about holding back… This was not a strategic operation. We explicitly said that there are three goals: stopping the rocket fire, restoring deterrence and destroying Hamas’s stockpiles of long-range Fajr missiles. We achieved all those goals.” (as reported by Elad Benari for Arutz 7)

Liberman says we achieved all three goals, which makes him a liar carrying a very small gummy-bear, indeed.

a.) We didn’t stop Hamas rocket fire, Hamas stopped it.

b.) We did not restore deterrence. There never was any and there isn’t any now. Any quiet is the result of a Hamas tactical decision, not a situation imposed by the IDF.

c.) Finally, we have no clue as to the numbers or location of the long-range Fajr missiles in Hamas’s arsenal. They were still being fired as the ceasefire took effect.

What Liberman is saying is this: “I know things you don’t. The view looks very different looking out of the window in my office. I can’t explain it without revealing classified info and losing my job, so you’ll just have to trust me when I tell you that we, in the government, know what’s best for you.”

Nice. Very nice.

What happened is that by the time Mr. Liberman and his colleagues agreed on the inescapable necessity for a ground invasion, and pumped themselves up into a full blown testosterone party, they were undercut by Ehud Barak telling them that we had run out of Tamir anti-missile missiles with which to restock the Iron-Dome batteries. That, were we to invade Gaza, the exchange would turn very sanguinary for us in Israel, leaving Mr. Liberman with nothing to contribute.

In effect, we were a week late.

A week is a long time in politics, too, Mr. Liberman, as you will discover.

We who were watching the debacle unfold knew soon after the third day of hostilities that the war was lost. You missed the opportunity to invade when it presented itself; when it practically prostrated itself in front of you, begging to be taken.

Because you know things we don’t? Somehow I doubt it.

There is a tide in the affairs of men.
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.

(Julius Caesar Act 4, scene 3, 218–224)

The journalistic piece quoted above ends with the following: Referring to the potential impact the ceasefire may have on the elections, Liberman said: “The public knows exactly what I represent. In this case, the right decision was made, even if it is not popular and against my electoral interests.”

You can say that again, sir, with knobs on.

At the Likud meeting on Monday evening, Likud Central Committee members overwhelmingly voted to allow Liberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu to run together with the Likud as a joint list.

The attempts led by Likud MK Michael Eitan to have the vote done by secret ballot failed to collect enough signatures.

Netanyahu said that the decision to run together won’t change the Likud, but it would allow the Likud to change the State of Israel.

Liberman said the decision was a historic and important one that will strengthen Israel.

Liberman will take the number 2 position on the list, and Netanyahu reportedly offered him the choice of receiving the Finance, Defense or Foreign ministry. Liberman chose to remain as Foreign Minister.

The new joint list will receive 42 seats in the next Knesset elections next January, a Channel 2 News poll found on Sunday. It means that the parties will retain their current power.

The poll found that Shelly Yachimovich’s Labor party will get with 23 seats (up from 8). Shas 13 seats (up from 11) and Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party 9 seats. Left-wing Meretz will grow from 3 to 6 seats. The new National Union-New National Religious Party will drop to 5 seats, United Torah Judaism will stay at 5. Ehud Barak’s Independence party will get 3 seats. Kadima will drop from its current 28 seats to 3 seats. The Arab lists will get 10 seats altogether.

The merger of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s Likud party and the Yisrael Beiteinu party of Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman on Thursday has left-wing parties scrambling for a solution to the sudden show of solidarity on the part of the pro-nationalist camp.

In an article by Israel HaYom, an anonymous Kadima MK said unity on the left is a big item of discussion now, with emphasis on securing a great leader who will draw votes.

According to the MK, Kadima chairman Shaul Mofaz, Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid, and Labor chairwoman Shelly Yachimovich are being called on to unify under the leadership of either former Foreign Minister and failed almost-Prime Minister and Kadima chairwoman Tzipi Livni, or the recently acquitted former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Both are expected to announce whether they will re-enter politics early next week.

Mofaz has said he will relinquish leadership of Kadima if either party needs the position in order to run for prime minister.

The strong Sephardic party, Shas, has expressed its concern over the Likud-Beiteinu merger, saying it could mean the drafting of Hareidi Jews into the army.

Yair Shamir, son of former prime minister Yitzhak Shamir (Likud), will be entering the political arena under the banner of the Yisrael Beytenu party.

His political debut will put him just under Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, at the party’s number 2 slot.

Shamir made the announcement on Friday, saying he believes his father would have considered joining the party due to their similar values of “freedom of the individual, wholeness of the nation and the land, and aliyah”.

Shamir, 67, is the former chairman of El Al airlines and Israel Aerospace Industries, as well as a former pilot and IAF Colonel.  He is now chair of the Shalem Center and Gvahim job-placement company for new olim, as well as a partner in Catalyst Investments.

The Florida Holocaust Museum, located at 55 Fifth Street South, St Petersburg, is proud to present the following new exhibits:

Reflections on Man’s Fate: The Art of Judith Weinshall Liberman, on view September 8, 2012 through January 20, 2013. The exhibit, drawn from the Florida Holocaust Museum’s permanent collection, is made up of paintings and textile work by award-winning artist Judith Weinshall Liberman.

The collection includes wall hangings and works on canvas from her Holocaust paintings, Holocaust wall hangings, skulls series and genocide series. Her work focuses on the present state of mankind as well as the relentlessness and enormity of history’s darkest period.

Liberman was born in Israel. She received four American university degrees including a J.D. degree from the University of Chicago Law School and LL.M degree from the University of Michigan Law School.

Liberman redirected her interest in law to her passion for art. She is the award-winning author-illustrator of “The Bird’s Last Song.” Her work has been exhibited in shows throughout the United States and abroad.

Letters to Sala: A Young Woman’s Life in Nazi Labor Camps, on view September 15 through December 31, 2012. The opening reception for the exhibit will be held on Thursday, September 20 at 7 p.m.

The power of the written word to sustain life is a theme of “Letters to Sala: A Young Woman’s Life in Nazi Labor Camps.” Sala Garncarz saved items including handwritten postcards, photographs and official documents from the time she entered the labor camp in 1940 until her liberation in 1945.

Ann Kirscher, daughter of the author, will attend the event as a special guest. The reception will be free to museum members and $16 per person for guests. RSVP at (727) 820-0100 ext 236.

Admission to the Florida Holocaust Museum is $16 for adults and $14 for seniors. Discounted admission is offered to students and to adult and student groups. Audio wands for the permanent collections are included in admission.

Admission is free to active duty military, museum members and children six and under. Museum hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday through Sunday.

Call (727) 820-0100 or visit www.flholocaustmuseum.org for directions and further details including holiday closures. Limited free parking is available.

The government on Sunday voted to put a ministerial committee headed by the Prime Minister in charge of Jewish development in Judea and Samaria , the first time in 16 years that the establishment and expansion of Jewish communities in the biblical heartland will not come under the purview of the full government.

In 1996, then-and-current Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu established Decision 150, making the establishment of new communities contingent on full governmental approval.  The rescinding of that decision in 2012 makes the establishment of those communities the responsibility of an 11-member ministerial committee, with the approval of the defense minister.

The committee will be responsible for formulating policy pertaining to unauthorized construction in Judea and Samaria, as well as authorizing construction and demolitions, and it would formulate policies and principles pertaining to state responses to petitions to the High Court of Justice on Judea and Samaria land issues.

Education Minister Gideon Sa’ar called the creation of the committee significant.

Political analyst and Knesset insider Jeremy Man Saltan said the new arrangement has more to do with political maneuvering than the establishment of Jewish communities.  “This new committee strips Defense Minister Barak of some but not all of his authority over settlers and settlements,” Saltan told the Jewish Press.   “Most ministerial committees don’t meet that often and I don’t see the Chairman Prime Minister Netanyahu conducting weekly or even monthly meetings. It is a known Bibi trick to create a committee that rarely meets and buys him time. In reality this will mean very little to the settlement enterprise.”

Vice Premier Shaul Mofaz, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Shalom Simhon and Government Services Minister Michael Eitan opposed the decision, with Vice Premier and Regional Development Minister Silvan Shalom, immigrant Absorption Minister Sofa Landver, Tourism Minister Stas Meseznikov, Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch, and  Energy and Water Minister Uzi Landau abstaining.

The new committee will be headed by the prime minister, and will include Barak, Mofaz, Saar, Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya’alon, Diaspora Affairs Minister Yuli Edelstein, Interior Minister Eli Yishai, Environmental Protection Minister Gilad Erdan, Minister-without-Portfolio Bennie Begin and Science and Technology Minister Daniel Herschkowitz.

Peace Now executive director Yariv Oppenheimer warned that the committee would authorize additional communities in Judea and Samaria.

Foreign Minister and Israel Beytenu head Avigdor Liberman, speaking at a press conference before a party meeting, welcomed Kadima’s entrance into the coalition but stressed that the new government faces two major tests – finding a replacement for the Tal law and the impending evacuation of the Ulpana outpost.

“This is a coalition Israel needs,” Liberman said, but “these are the two most important tests, and I hope we’re wise enough to pass them.”

Referring to the Tal Law, which expires in August, he said that coalition chairman and Likud MK Ze’ev Elkin’s recent proposal was inadequate. “We will not accept it. We expect a serious proposal, and to be consulted about it. We will fight to make sure that the bill will be serious and comprehensive.”

In light of the High Court’s ruling on Monday that Ulpana must be evacuated and destroyed by July 1, he said: “I hope that we will quickly resolve the problem. The residents who have lived in Givat Ulpana for years are law-abiding citizens. This is not an illegal outpost. It is the state’s mistake, and it must take responsibility. There are ways to regulate the matter with legislation.”

Liberman supports the passage of a law that will circumvent the High Court’s ruling by legalizing Ulpana, especially in light of the fact that the state permitted Ulpana residents to build their homes and community.

Liberman also ridiculed Yair Lapid, who was preparing to shake up the political arena in the now-aborted early elections. “The chances of being elected president of the United States are much higher than the chances that his party will still exist in 2020. This is obviously a one-campaign party.”