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"Lunacy." That's how Danny Danon describes Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's decision to hand over104 killers to the Palestinian Authority as a "goodwill gesture."
He's hardly alone, as many observers (including myself) are outraged by this move. But Danon, 42, has a unique place in this debate because he (1) sits in Israel's parliament as a member of Netanyahu's Likud Party, he (2) is chairman of Likud's powerful Central Committee, and he (3) serves as Israel's deputy minister of Defense. In American terms, his criticism resembles Gen. Stanley McChrystal's 2010 interviewmocking Vice President Joe Biden. But McChrystal was gone within days whereas Danon continues to gain influence and stature.
Danon (right) is widely seen as a thorn in Netanyahu's side, as in this Ha'aretz cartoon. |
Danon has remained true to the core principles of his party and his country. His righteous opposition when his party makes mistakes – such as the 2009 freeze on building residences for Jews on the West Bank or accepting the two-state solution – shows a strength of character. As he points out, "It's not easy being in a room of thirty people, alone saying no."
His rise through Israel's national camp institutions reveals tactical skill: serving as assistant to Uzi Landau, as head of the World Betar Organization, then head of the World Likud Organization, as organizer of street protests and challenger to the prime minister for the party's leadership. These efforts culminated in his strong showing in his party's electoral list (coming in No. 5) and the jaw-dropping 85 percent of the vote he won in elections to lead Likud's Central Committee. With reason, the Forward newspaper calls him "a master of social and conventional media" and the Times of Israel deems him "a major stumbling block toward Palestinian statehood."
Yitzhak Shamir, Israel's last principled prime minister, left office in 1992. |
Danon's moment may have arrived. AsNetanyahu appears to be making excessive and immoral concessions to the Palestinian Authority, Danon has emerged as a leading dissident ready to challenge his prime minister (remember "lunacy"). Should Netanyahu feel no longer welcome in his own party and leave it to found a new one (following exactly in Ariel Sharon's 2005 footsteps), Danon will be a potential candidate to lead Likud and win a subsequent election.
One sign of his rise is the invective used against him. Justice Minister Tzipi Livni coined the term "Danonism" and demanded that Netanyahu reject it. Gideon Levy, an extreme left columnist for Ha'aretznewspaper, disdainfully but fearfully writes that "little Danny Danon will be big, the sugar of the Israeli right. … [he] will go far."
Daniel Pipes testifying before the Knesset's Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs Committee, chaired by Danny Danon, in March 2012. |
On a personal note, through the two decades since Shamir, I have constantly looked for someone with the character, energy, skills, and vision to lead Israel. I have known Danon since 2009 and have concluded that he has the necessary qualities. I hope and expect he stays true to his principles and rises to the point where he can end the recent desultory politics of the Jewish state and bring them in line with the country's many remarkable achievements. Much hangs in the balance.
Original piece is http://www.danielpipes.org/13202/danny-danon
Pipes has been peddling this schtick since he met Danon, and knowinlgly promotes a poseur, is this what it takes? One meeting, some nice noises that fit with his ideas of what is good for Israel- well- he is the one. Pipes is not an Israeli, not even a half, so what does he really know about this pretender? really? Danon speaks like a 12 years old, I never understood what is the attraction? Very few in israel would cry if one day he was missing from the headlines, he hardly has any following, but the so called die hard from the herut, or Settlers who see in him the next big thing, he is small and does not have the heft of Bibi or other giants like Menahem Begin. Having seen over many years who was coming and going from his perch at 1 Rosenbaum, TLV, I doubt if he would have been one of those he d waste his time on? My opinion.
Posted
by The Neighbor from Rosenbaum! on 2013-09-02 01:57:53 GMT