Binyamin Netanyahu has gotten himself in a tight spot once again. For a while, his popularity was receding and his far right coalition government partners were threatening to walk away. So the prime minister decided to shore up his appeal. Desperate to regain his stature among Israel's extremist politicians, including Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Netanyahu ended the moratorium on settlements, thus undermining hard-won direct talks with the Palestinians, alienating the Americans, and offending moderates in the region, including those in Israel. As if this wasn't enough, Netanyahu's government passed a repulsive law, calling on all those wishing to become citizens of Israel to undergo a loyalty oath to Israel as a Jewish state. Israeli Arabs were shocked, and many Israeli politicians denounced the move as being a leap down the road to fascism. To defuse tensions, Netanyahu said the law applied to Jews as well as non-Jews. This made things worse; some of Israel's religious parties said that the prime minister was placing obstacles in the way of Jews wishing to acquire Israeli nationality. Avishay Braverman, minister of minority affairs in Netanyahu's government, said that the law was flawed and that Netanyahu was alienating leftist Jews, rights groups, as well as American Jewish organisations. Moshe Gafni, Knesset member for Degel HaTorah, said that the prime minister was losing the sympathy of world Jewry. A few days ago, 30 parliamentarians and dozens of writers and academics held a protest at the Knesset, during which they accused Netanyahu of playing into the hands of his foreign minister, and called for the abrogation of the racist law. Netanyahu is having trouble these days keeping his friends. His policies have antagonised many inside and outside Israel, as well as undermined any faith Palestinian negotiators may have had in him and in talks. So what's next? Some Israeli and Arab commentators feel that Netanyahu may try to score political points by waging another attack on Gaza. He's been saying that Gaza has anti-aircraft missiles, that these missiles are becoming a threat to Israel's military and civil aviation, and that the Israeli air force is having trouble conducting sorties over Gaza. As he tries desperately to distract attention from his past errors, the Israeli prime minister may soon commit worse ones.
