Does Benjamin Netanyahu photobomb historical events? - analysis
Netanyahu's critics would call it ego. His defenders would say that he is the son of a historian, and he likes to be part of history.
By GIL HOFFMANPrime Minister Benjamn Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting, June 7, 2020(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
The United States was under attack.Planes had hit the World Trade Center, bringing about their shocking collapse, while another crashed into the Pentagon.The attacks of September 11, 2001, killed nearly 3,000 people.Many current and former world leaders rushed to convey their condolences. But only one called a press conference to announce to the world that he had predicted the attacks.That was Benjamin Netanyahu, who at the time had no official title, but the media still came to the King David Hotel for the press conference, where they were handed copies of his prediction in his book.As impressive as that prediction might have been, reporters left the hotel wondering why such a historic day had to be about Netanyahu out of all people.Fast forward to Monday’s historic flight from Israel to the United Arab Emirates. Netanyahu was not on the flight, but he made a point of making his presence felt.He called the flight from his office and addressed passengers as they flew over Saudi Arabia. In case what he said was not heard, he released a video of him talking to the passengers.Netanyahu then called an evening press conference to make sure Israelis knew that the invitation of the Emiratis to come to Israel came not from the delegation to Abu Dhabi but from his orders to them.But that was not enough for Netanyahu. There could not be a historic newspaper cover the following day without him.
So his office apparently leaked to Yediot Aharonot that Netanyahu had met with Emirati Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed in Abu Dhabi in 2018, two years before Monday’s historic El Al flight to the UAE.The Prime Minister’s Office refused to respond to the report. But during the press conference on Monday, Netanyahu hinted that some of the meetings he has held with Arab leaders still haven’t been revealed to the public.This behavior is typical of Netanyahu, whose office leaked to The Jerusalem Post that he had been consulted on Israel’s attack on Syrian nuclear installations in 2007, when he was an opposition leader. After the report was censored, Netanyahu leaked it himself on live television in an interview on Channel One’s nightly newscast.His critics would call it ego. His defenders would say that Netanyahu is the son of a historian, and he likes to be part of history. Sometimes in an attempt to achieve that goal, he goes what some would consider as too far.But both would agree that when it comes to the UAE deal the role of Netanyahu in history cannot be denied.
