Mere Rhetoric: MR Was Right. Ha'aretz Was Wrong. Peretz Is An Incompetent Union Thug. Thus Was It Ever So.

In November 2005, Ha'aretz announced that Peretz would take power in Israel and bring peace and security to the country. We commented that Peretz was an incompetent union thug and that Ha'aretz's party hackery was clearly false and a little pathetic.

In December 2005, Ha'aretz complained that the Israeli public wasn't being very nice to Peretz, mostly because lots of people suspected him of being an incompetent union thug. Akiva Eldar even threw in a line about "the over-hyped debate on the Iranian nuclear question". We made fun of Ha'aretz.

Last January, Ha'aretz celebrated the people that Labor voters put in charge in the most shamelessly euphoric terms, trumpeting that it was "a hard night's work, a fresh list of high quality... this is the week of Amir Peretz". We speculated that the Ha'aretz editors were stupid, and that Peretz was an incompetent union thug who would destroy the Labor party and harm Israel in the process.

This morning, Ha'aretz has an editorial up labeling Peretz as incompetent and demanding his resignation:

f the country's defense is in the hands of the wrong minister, and if everyone in the government recognizes this, the public should not be concerned by who is heading the Labor Party at the end of May - but by who is filling the defense portfolio tomorrow morning. The lack of public responsibility among elected officials, foremost Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz, can go only so far... Amir Peretz destroyed his own career, and he is not worthy of compassion or understanding - only disposal from office. Since Labor is a party with working institutions, is not built around the passing popularity of a charismatic leader, has already recovered from factionalism and the assassination of its leader, and knows how to put forth an agenda and offer new leadership.

In a sane world, a newspaper's editors would have to choose:
(1) Declare that the election of the Labor list means that it is "the week of Amir Peretz"
(2) Declare that Labor is "not built around the passing popularity of a charismatic leader"

For some reason, the Ha'aretz editors have reserved for themselves the luxury of pretending that they weren't partly responsible for the rise of Amir Peretz - and that they weren't willfully blind to his staggering inexperience in an attempt to bring down the Sharon government. We don't anticipate any mea culpa, let alone something like circumspection the next time they back an incompetent populist leader just because he's incompetent and populist. Quite the opposite - we're quite confident that Akiva Eldar will remain a darling of the intellectual and academic left. Because, really - why should being wrong get in the way of good intentions?

Previously: News Roundup: Ha'aretz Forgets Which Sides It's On (Or, Ha'aretz Remembers Which Side It's On), Ha'aretz Editorial: Demographic Time Bomb is a Lie, Israeli Political Roundup - Say I Won't