Benzion Netanyahu in the 1940s seeking American support for a Homeland for the Jews in Israel
Interview by Maariv Reporter Sari Makover-Belikov
Maariv News – “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu often refers to his father as the person who inspired him the most. When he resigned from the government just before the disengagement from Gaza, Netanyahu mentioned his father as one of the reasons for his move (Prof. Netanyahu opposed the disengagement plan). “From you I’ve learned, father,” said Netanyahu that day.
In this interview, Prof. Ben Zion (who’s mind and thinking are clear as ever – in fact, he is about to go on a work tour to the US) explains his political views in length, discusses the dangers from the Left in Israel, and even passes judgment on his son’s character. He also discusses personal issues, such as his relations with Netanyahu’s wife, their kids and how he misses his son, Yoni, who was killed leading Operation Entebbe in 1976.
Prof. Netanyahu gave the interview without informing the PM’s office. As walla.co.il reported, Benjamin Netanyahu tried to prevent the publishing of this interview, and even called Maariv’s publisher, Ofer Nimrodi, on the matter. Finally it was agreed that because of the father’s age, the PM’s brother, Ido, will have the right to go over his answers. I believe this makes this interview even more valid, since Ido wouldn’t have let Maariv publish a text which doesn’t reflect the father’s personality and views.
In today’s political world, Prof. Netanyahu will be considered an extreme right wing man. In fact, Prof. Netanyahu says that because of his views, he was never offered a teaching job in one of Israel’s universities (he is a world expert on medieval Jewish history). I tend to believe him. He was also one of the leaders of the US Zionist movement, and personal secretary to the founder of the Revisionist movement, Zeev Jabotinsky.
Professor Netanyahu on the Peace Process, Operation “Cast Lead”, and are the Arab Peoples capable of Negotiating Peace – Part One of Interview
Prof. Netanyahu: “The Jews and the Arabs are like two goats facing each other on a narrow bridge. One must jump to the river – but that involves a danger of death. The strong goat will make the weaker one jump… and I believe the Jewish power will prevail.”
Q: What does the Arab’s jump mean?
A: “That they won’t be able to face [anymore] the war with us, which will include withholding food from Arab cities, preventing education, terminating electrical power and more. They won’t be able to exist, and they will run away from here. But it all depends on the war, and whether we will win the battles with them.”
Q: I suppose you don’t believe in the peace process.
A: “I don’t see any signs that the Arabs want peace… we will face fierce attacks from the Arabs, and we must react firmly. If we don’t, they will go on and Jews will start leaving the country… we just handed them a strong blow in Gaza, and they still bargain with us over one hostage… if we gave them a blow that would really hurt them, they would have given us Gilad Shalit back.”
Q: Operation “cast Lead” was one of the worst blows we handed on a civilian population.
A: “That’s not enough. It’s possible that we should have hit harder.”
Q: You don’t like the Arabs, to say the least.
A: “The bible finds no worse image than this of the man from the desert. And why? Because he has no respect for any law. Because in the desert he can do as he pleases. The tendency towards conflict is in the essence of the Arab. He is an enemy by essence. His personality won’t allow him any compromise or agreement. It doesn’t matter what kind of resistance he will meet, what price he will pay. His existence is one of perpetuate war.”
Q: Is there any hope of peace?
A: “Out of agreement? No. the other side might stay in peace if it understands that doing anything [else] will cause it enormous pain. The two states solution doesn’t exist. There are no two people here. There is a Jewish people and an Arab population… there is no Palestinian people, so you don’t create a state for an imaginary nation… they only call themselves a people in order to fight the Jews.”
Q: So what’s the solution?
A: “No solution but force… strong military rule. Any outbreak will bring upon the Arabs enormous suffering. We shouldn’t wait for a big mutiny to start, but rather act immediately with great force to prevent them from going on…
If it’s possible, we should conquer any disputed territory in the land of Israel. Conquer and hold it, even if it brings us years of war. We should conquer Gaza, and parts of the Galil, and the Golan. This will bring upon us a bloody war, since war is difficult for us – we don’t have a lot of territory, while the Arabs have lots of space to retreat to. But that’s the only way to survive here.”
There is valuable experience [on this matter] we don’t pay notice to. I mean the Ottoman rule over the Arabs. The Turks ruled over the Arabs for 400 years, and there was peace and quiet everywhere. The Arabs hated the Ottomans, but every little thing they did brought mass killings and hanging in towns squares. They were hanging people in Damascus, and Izmir… every town had hanging posts in its center…the Arabs were so badly beaten, they didn’t dare revolt.
Naturally, I don’t recommend the use of hangings as a show of force like the Turks did, I just want to show that the only thing that might move the Arabs from the rejectionist position is force.”
Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu’s Father Benzion and Mother Cela - Netanyahu means in Hebrew "Gift of G-d"
Professor Benzion Netanyahu on Israeli Arabs, the International Peace Process, Compromising with the Arabs, Giving away Golan Height to Syria, and Palestinian Rights – Part Two of Interview
Prof. Netanyahu: “The problem with the Left is that it thinks that the war with the Arabs is like all the wars that nations around the world are conduction. These wars end with a compromise after one side wins or after both sides get tired from war and understand that victory is not possible.
But in the Arabs’ case, their nature and character won’t allow any compromise. When they talk of compromise, it’s a way of deceiving. They want to make the other side stop doing its best efforts and fall into the trap of compromising. The Left helps them with that goal”
Q: If compromise replaces war, what is the damage?
A: “Compromise is not realistic. It weakens our positions and brings us to a state of limpness, of false beliefs, of illusions. Every illusion is weakening.”
Q: What is your position regarding Syria? There are those who claim that Netanyahu will try to advance there.
A: “I would not return the Golan Height. We conquered the Golan because the Arabs were shooting from these mountains and killing our farmers across the Jordan River. And anyway, you don’t give back land that was conquered in war, and for which we spilled our blood. It should be clear that parts of the Land of Israel that will fall into our hands – we will defend our right to hold them until all generations end. You don’t return land, just like you don’t return people.”
Q: Regarding the Arab citizen of Israel:
A: “We don’t have a real partnership with them. The Arab citizens’ goal is to destroy us. They don’t deny that they want to destroy us. Except for a small minority who is willing to live with us under certain agreements because of the economical benefits they receive, the vast majority of the Israeli Arabs would chose to exterminate us if they had the option to do so. Because of our power they can’t say this, so they keep quiet and concentrate in their daily life.
I think we should speak to the Israeli Arabs in the language they understand and admire – the language of force. If we act with strength on any crime they act, they will understand we show no forgiveness. Had we used this language from the start, they would have been more careful.
I am talking about strength that is based on justice. They should know that we will keep a just attitude towards them, but a tough one. You don’t kill or hurt people or deny their right to make a living just like that.
In the villages that we rule, we need to grant them all the rights – infrastructure, and transportation and education… but they have to give things in return. If the teachers are inciting the students, we should close the schools and expel the teachers… we should keep their rights, but also ours.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attend the funeral of his father, Benzion Netanyahu, in Jerusalem, Israel, 30 April 2012.
Professor Benzion Netanyahu as a Father evaluating his son: Bibi Netanyahu – Part Three of Interview
Prof. Ben Zion: “Bibi didn’t succeed in his first term. He wasn’t a very good Prime Minister. At the time, I was shocked to see how he defeated [Prime Minister] Shimon Peres who was a well-known personality, while Bibi was just a young man. I was sure he would be defeated. But I think he learned from his mistakes.”
Q: What do you think of him?
A: “Benjamin, or Bibi, is, from several aspects, a great man. He can influence and motivate people to do what’s necessary… he is loyal to his people, and has a sense of responsibility… he is not one who prefers the comfort of compromise just to rid himself of pressure.”
Q: So much for his strengths. What are his weaknesses?
A: “… his main fault is that sometimes he doesn’t choose people who are suitable for their positions. He doesn’t always see clearly their advantages and disadvantages, but rather falls for their deceiving ways. Sometimes he learns of their disadvantages only after the bond [with these people] is already made and cannot be broken…”
Q: To what extend is he influenced by your opinions?
A: “Sometimes I feel Bibi is influenced from a very small age, and sometimes I don’t. We don’t have the same opinions always…”
Q: And still, how much do you think you’ve influenced his opinions today?
A: “I have a general idea. Bibi might aim for the same goals as mine, but he keeps to himself the ways to achieve them, because if he expressed them, he would expose his goals.”
Q: Is that what you wish?
A: “No, I just believe that it could be so. Because he is smart. Because he is very careful. Because he has his ways to handle himself. I am talking about tactics regarding the reveling of theories that people with different ideology might not accept. That’s why he doesn’t expose them: because of the reaction from his enemies as well as from the people whose support he seeks. It’s an assumption, but it might be so.”
On Netanyahu as a kid:
Prof. Ben Zion recalls his son wasn’t interested in politics very much. “He only cared about being a good student, he only cared for history and math. He was a firm kid… I remember once he and his brother Yoni made a big noise next to where I was working. I came out to them and acted as if I was trying to catch them, though I never laid my hand on a kid. Bibi ran away, but when he saw I was getting close, he turned towards me and stood up like a tank, saying ‘You wouldn’t dare.’ I was shocked. I looked at him with amazement and admiration.
“Bibi stood up for what he thought he deserved. He had a friend, the son of Dr. Halperin. They both went to an excellent school, from which some students got picked to the Hebrew University High School [the most prestigious high school in Jerusalem]. A week before the years’ end, they announced who got picked, and Bibi’s name wasn’t mentioned. One day, it was announced that Halperin got picked as well. Bibi was so upset, and Halperin said to him: “What do you think, not anyone gets picked, only those who deserve it.” And that upset Bibi even more. He came home and ran to his bed crying. He hit the pillow with his hands and shouted ‘it’s not fair, it’s not fair’. And while he was at it, it was found out that he was chosen too. Then he said ‘I knew that my name would be there too.’”
End of Interview
Reader’s Comments
James Garel wrote: “Professor Ben Zion Netanyahu is very clear and correct about his views. To me is very refreshing. And the results of the last 60 years, going into 61, prove his comments. I wish it could have been different, that we could have had a partner for peace. So the only answer is a strong Israel, an honest Israel, as it always is, a fair Israel, as it always is. This is the most realistic interpretation I ever read of the Israel Arab conflict.
Noan wrote: “James, thanks for the comment. There are two basic problems with this line of thinking: first, Prof. Netanyahu’s views that “Arabs can’t be satisfied”, or that the conflict is part of their character, are no different than saying that Jews like money. It is just racism.
Naturally, I believe that the conflict has to do with geo-political circumstances, and not the inherent nature of one of the sides. Realistically speaking, Netanyahu’s way (both father and son), will lead us to one big state, where more than 30 percent of the population will have no civil rights. This kind of system is called Apartheid, and it won’t last. It will be the end of the Jewish state.
James Garel wrote: “Professor Ben Zion Netanyahu is very clear and correct about his views. To me is very refreshing. And the results of the last 60 years, going into 61, prove his comments. I wish it could have been different, that we could have had a partner for peace. So the only answer is a strong Israel, an honest Israel, as it always is, a fair Israel, as it always is. This is the most realistic interpretation I ever read of the Israel Arab conflict.
As Golda Meir said: “There is no ‘Palestinian’ people.” Read the British Peel Commission transcripts from the 1930s, when the Arabs consistently insisted that they were NOT Palestinian, but Lower Syrians. They had Jordanian Passports until 1989.
The only Nobel Peace Prize given to Israelis and Arabs had NO PUBLISHED official bio for Yasser Arafat–because it would have had to say he was born in Cairo: he was an Egyptian!
Read Mark Twain and see for yourselves who was NOT living there in the mid 19th century. The Arabs only began coming to Israel when the Jews began to return in force and resettled their homeland, amongst other things growing oranges the size of grapefruits–there was no work in their adjacent Arab homelands, so they migrated. So now that they want to steal the land they’re “Palestinians”? Bull! They kill Jews, they’re freedom fighters; Jews kill Arabs, they’re occupiers and oppressors. How can you “occupy” your own land? Let the Arabs go home: there already IS a Palestinian country. It’s called “Jordan.”
The world only likes Jews when they’re dying or dead–then they’re pitiable, quaint, and can be consigned safely to the dustbin of history. The EU and USA now want to tell Jews where they can and can’t live–just as European nations have been doing for 2000 years.
What would be illegal to do in the US and in Europe, they want to make de rigeur in Israel: make areas Judenrein: Give up the Golan, give up the “West Bank,” give up Gaza, give up Hebron, give up Jerusalem, just GIVE UP! The reason that I live in the US and NOT in Israel is because only a 99-year-old can safely speak these truths. If I were an Israeli speaking these truths aloud, I would be “detained” by the apologists and appeasers–or banned like Kahane Chai. Pathetic!
Benzion Netanyahu’s Landmark Book on the Spanish Inquisition – “The Origins of the Inquisition in Fifteenth-Century Spain”
Interview Credit to Maariv Reporter Sari Makover-Belikov
You might want to read the series: “Benzion Netanyahu’s legacy to Israel”
Part One – “Benzion Netanyahu’s legacy to his son, Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu; ‘Conquer the Land of Israel’”
‘Part Two – “99 year-old Zionist, Benzion Netanyahu speaks on the ‘Future of the Jews’”
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With the death of Benzion Netanyahu, the father of Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu, the State of Israel and the Jewish people are again at the dividing line. Will the Prime Minister rise to the mantle of his father, and defend the Divine interests of the Holy One of Israel to conquer the Land and prepare it for the coming of the Mashiah ben Dovid?
At the same time, will the Lost Ten Tribes of the House of Israel, as the “Lost Sheep of the House of Israel” begin your transformation back to your Hebrew-Judaic roots and accept the mandate that the G-d of Israel is preparing to redeem you and return you to the land of your forefathers, in Shomron, the biblical heartland of Israel? As family, we will soon fight the same physical and spiritual battles together. This is part of G-d’s way of wooing each one of you, the Lost Ten Tribes of the House of Israel, to return and be restored back into brotherhood with the Jews of the House of Judah so that He will send His Messiah to clean house of all the wickedness and corruption on Planet Earth.
If you want to learn more divinely led prophecies, we invite you to Contact “Kol Ha Tor Vision”, the Voice of the Turtledove. Here you will discover is a joint Orthodox Jewish and 10-Triber Mission to bring awareness of the imminent fulfillment of the Biblical Prophecies regarding the Redemption of all Israel (12 Tribes Re-conciled and Re-United). This super Event of all Times will bring the restoration and the Shomron Region, the Ancient Biblical Heartland of the Patriarchs plus the Judean Wilderness as part of the entire Land of Israel. Then we will witness the Divine as the “Land” will be restored and prepared for the Return of the Lost Tribes of the House of Israel and then the Redemption of All Israel.
If you would like to visit Israel and the land of your Hebrew-Israelite forefathers in the biblical lands of the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, we invite you to Visit – “Shomron Lives!”, a Spiritual Retreat and Guest House in Samaria that offers tours of Biblical Samaria.