(Haaretz).....Although this was a small step, it was a large one for Netanyahu, it must be admitted. Also, it was a good speech.
It lacked the pathos and the typical fear-mongering. Netanyahu's "we want peace" was pronounced just like his classic "they are afraid" line, another sign of a change in rhetoric that cannot be ignored.
A Palestinian state did not come into being Sunday and if the Israeli society continues with its blindness and timidity, it will not arise in another two generations. But neither did Netanyahu scuttle the possibility, nor did he miss an opportunity, and at least didn't close the door entirely.
American threats are more real to Netanyahu than the threats posed by right-wing leader Yaakov Katz, and this is a good thing.
Barack Obama can put his feet up on the table and be satisfied. Look what can happen in a matter of weeks: Mr. Iran can become, for a moment, Mr. Palestine.
Behind a decorative, dismal background, a hall filled with far too many knitted skullcaps broke out in mechanical rounds of applause, which as one TV anchor said, brought to mind the pictures from the speech in Cairo, and even if it was a less-stirring speech, we will always remember Netanyahu for his Bar-Ilan speech.
