Analysis

Israel is taking a dangerous gamble on its ties with US, top minister charges

Ultimately, though, predicts Yesh Atid's Yaakov Peri, Netanyahu will be willing to freeze settlement-building in order to facilitate regional peace efforts

By David Horovitz
  • David Horovitz is the founding editor of The Times of Israel. He is the author of "Still Life with Bombers" (2004) and "A Little Too Close to God" (2000), and co-author of "Shalom Friend: The Life and Legacy of Yitzhak Rabin" (1996). He previously edited The Jerusalem Post (2004-2011) and The Jerusalem Report (1998-2004).
 3 November 2014, 5:09 pm
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) and Minister of Science Yaakov Peri at a June 2013 press conference at the PM's office in Jerusalem. Photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem/POOL/FLASH90)

The Israeli government is taking a potentially “very dangerous gamble” on Israel’s ties with the United States, a top minister charged.

“In areas such as security ties, intelligence ties, economic ties, we don’t see any significant damage at this stage,” said Yaakov Peri, the minister of science from the Yesh Atid party, in an interview with The Times of Israel. “By contrast, in the political relationship, at the UN, with things like this, there could be very serious harm.”

Said Peri: “It could be a very dangerous gamble… And you know, in gambling, you can be almost totally convinced that you’ll come out on top, but there is not a casino to this day that has been beaten. I hope we won’t wind up big losers.”

Peri, a former head of the Shin Bet intelligence service, was referring to the back-and-forth sniping between the Netanyahu government and the Obama administration, largely around the issue of building over the pre-1967 lines, which culminated last week with an unnamed US official calling the prime minister “a chickenshit” and a subsequent apology on the administration’s behalf from Secretary of State John Kerry.

Peri, who attends meetings of the key decision-making inner security cabinet as an observer but not as a participant, said he did not think the damage to the most vital of Israel’s relationships was “necessarily irreversible. The question is how long it will take to repair it.”

Peri said it would have been far better to avoid the friction, among other reasons because of the perilous security situation in Jerusalem. “I hope we will manage to lower the flames in Jerusalem a little. That’s very important, because otherwise [the violence] will spread to Judea and Samaria” (the West Bank), he warned. “Then it will be necessary to start talking about an intifada. Today, it’s still at the level of severe disturbances, severe escalation, but not actually an intifada,” said Peri, who headed the Shin Bet security service for six years from 1988, when the first intifada was raging.

Peri also said he believes that, ultimately, the prime minister will be prepared to freeze settlement-building and take other steps to facilitate a regional peace effort — the only framework, in Peri’s assessment, within which it would be possible to make progress toward resolving the Palestinian conflict.

The full Yaakov Peri interview is here.

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