Veteran Labor Knesset Member: Assad is Preferable for Israel
Knesset member Binyamin Ben-Eliezer openly says that Israel is better off facing Syria as a state than a shattered country.
Almost 18 months ago (Dec. 11, 2011), then Defense Minister Ehud Barak predicted that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s days in power were numbered and that his situation was dire. Albeit that his assessment, which he kept reiterating, was based on intelligence information, it was also wishful thinking — he believed Assad’s downfall would be a blessing for the Middle East and good news for Israel. His opinion was shared by nearly all of the senior defense echelons in Israel.
But a few days ago, it transpired that an argument has been taking place in defense and political circles between those who continue to espouse Barak’s view and others who feel it would be best if Assad were to retain his seat. An intelligence source quoted by the London Times, on May 17, 2013, put it this way: "Better the devil we know than the demons we can only imagine.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chose to deny the quote. At a meeting of his Likud ministers on Sunday (May 19), he made clear that the words attributed to the intelligence official did not represent the government’s position and that Israel does not interfere in Syria’s civil war.
Former defense minister and Knesset member Binyamin (Fouad) Ben-Eliezer, who serves on the parliamentary External Affairs and Defense Committee, contends that the current situation, with Assad maintaining control, is preferable for Israel. In an interview with Al-Monitor, Ben-Eliezer explains why this is the lesser evil. Ben-Eliezer is expressing his own views, but he is also reflecting the conceptual change that has taken place recently among decision-makers in Israel, at least some of them.
