Labor Party leader Ehud Barak said that unless the opposition waited a decent interval before attacking Netanyahu politically, \”it could be interpreted as if we were defending Arafat, even though this is not true — we are defending the State of Israel.\”
On Salah a-Din Street, the main street on the Arab side of the capital, the spirit was very different. People kept their heads down,aware that they were being watched, aware that the Jews weren\’t too fond of them these days. But if they were expected to feel remorseful about Mahane Yehuda, some did, while others felt roughly the opposite.
To the general Israeli public, the \”Lerner Affair\” reveals the frightening tentacles of the Russian mafia in Israel, and the danger it poses to this country\’s economic and political system. To many in the Russian immigrant community, however, the Lerner Affair is a case of harassment — a high-profile attempt by the established Israeli \”elite\” to cast all Russian immigrants as criminals.
During the yearlong tenure of the Netanyahu government, Syria has become the forgotten front in the Israeli-Arab peace process. The two sides aren\’t negotiating, and Warren Christopher\’s frequent-flier shuttles between Jerusalem and Damascus are already a relic of Middle East diplomacy.
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