RETURN OF THE BAD BIBI

This past month has seen Bibi at his best - eloquently defending Israel's right to defend itself, taking apart Palestinian propaganda, placing the interests of Israel over his own ambitions. Well, no sooner had Operation Defensive Shield ended the siege of terror that Arafat had placed on Israel's cities, the bad Bibi was back in force. Yesterday, Bibi and his friends in Likud Central pushed through a resolution, to describe it State Departmentese, that was most definitely "not helpful." Such a resolution does nothing to actually prevent the creation of a hostile Palestinian state, or encourage reform towards a peaceful one - its sole accomplishment is to score Bibi some hawk points with his base. While Bibi reaps domestic political gains, Israel pays a P.R. price. Such a resolution takes the attention of the world off the content of the Palestinian government (its support for terror, corruption, etc.) and back into symbolic questions of the form of Palestinian self-rule. Even the political gain Bibi forsees for himself and his party (currently at a three-decade low of 19 seats in the 120-seat Knesset) may not amount to much. If you read the pulse of the Israeli public, they will not support ideologues from either side, but are looking for a leader willing to stand firm against Palestinian terror, but keep all diplomatic options open should a chance for peace arise. So far Sharon is proving a better option than Bibi. That is something few Israelis could have imagined just five short years ago.