(Aluf Benn - Haaretz).The central aim of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech at Bar-Ilan University on Sunday was to win him widespread public support among Israelis. The positions he laid out at the Begin-Sadat Center match those the polls show to be mainstream Jewish opinion: support for the concept of a Palestinian state, without defining its borders; the demand for Palestinians to recognize Israel as a Jewish state; demilitarization to will prevent rockets raining down on Tel Aviv and nearby Ben-Gurion Airport; and a positive, if not overly passionate, attitude toward the settlements and their residents.
Netanyahu stressed in his speech that he is acting for national unity and in the name of coalescence. He constructed it thus to deflect criticism from political extremes, among them those who would accuse him of betraying his principles.
The speech comes after years of a prime minister who was once the most profound opponent of a Palestinian state and who ultimately changed his stripes. The public praise Netanyahu lavished on the settlers and the allusion to continued construction in the settlements will not mollify the right.
