"... the ineffectual, the panic-monger, the loser..."

Leading Israeli columnist Nahum Barnea rakes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the coals over the flotilla episode in highest circulation Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth today:

It is possible to whine about the world’s hypocrisy: Netanyahu does this better than anyone else, in a deep baritone and despairing hand motions. Whining is the last refuge of the ineffectual, the panic-monger, the loser. It will not extricate Israel from the complex situation it has encountered...

There are various reasons, not all of which were under Netanyahu’s control. But the errors he made had a crucial contribution. ...

Netanyahu lives in a state of repression. ...He did not ask himself what Erdogan would do, how Turkey would react to the takeover of a Turkish ship by Israeli commandos. He did not ask himself what the reaction would be of governments who had respected citizens on board. He was so complacent that he did not leave anyone from his bureau in Israel as a contact person, despite the fact that he knew the operation would be carried out during his stay abroad, prior to a meeting with the US president.

And then, when the damage has been done, he backs down all the way: He announces that the Turks on the ship are al-Qaida agents but sends them home, as heroes, without fully questioning them. He eases the blockade on Gaza. He consents to international participation in the investigation and then changes his mind.

He deludes himself that things will be fine: Soon Obama will begin his election season, and then he will be defeated and weakened. All Israel has to do is lower its head until the storm passes.

A leader would take the initiative into his own hands, replace Lieberman with Steinitz or Yisrael Beiteinu with Kadima, take steps that would strengthen the Palestinian Authority’s sovereignty in the West Bank, remove the blockade from Gaza, which has mainly harmed Israel until now, and prepare for a new age in the ties with Turkey.

But as of now, Israel has no leader, and it has no leadership..."