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Yet the delay in getting to that point had serious implications for my role as
Labor Party leader. Since the negotiations with the Palestinians were stuck in
neutral, I was under increasing pressure from within Labor to pull out of Bibi’s
government. What on earth was the point of staying, they asked. All I was doing,
from their perspective, was giving Bibi political cover for abandoning any serious
effort to get a peace agreement. Their argument was entirely reasonable. My
frustration was that, due to the need for military secrecy, the counter-argument was
impossible for me to make: that I felt I had a responsibility to stay at a time when
there remained a real possibility Israel might need to take military action against
Iran. To a mix of consternation and anger among many Labor colleagues, I ended
up taking what seemed to me the only realistic option. In January 2011, I left the
Labor Party. With three other of our ministers in the government – who were, of
course, aware of the ongoing Iran discussions – I set up a new “centrist, Zionist”
party called Ha’Atzmaut, or Independence. We remained in Bibi’s government.

* * *

My main focus was now on the Americans. In order to secure the “international
legitimacy” any Israeli attack required, we had to win at least their understanding
that we might feel it necessary to act. Fortunately, I had built up a good
relationship with the key figures in the Obama administration. That had not always
been easy, given the tension between the Americans and Bibi. That wasn’t just
because of the deadlock in the peace process, still a priority for President Obama.
There were other complications. Ever since the initial pressure for a settlement
freeze, right-wing politicians and commentators, and Bibi himself, had taken to
portraying President Obama as fundamentally unsympathetic to Israel. After the
Republicans’ victory in the mid-term Congressional elections in November 2010,
Bibi went a step further. He began cozying up to congressmen and senators on the
other side of the aisle. This overt meddling in the internal politics of our closest
ally was not just a breach of longstanding tradition, but of common sense.
Members of the Administration began privately calling Bibi “the Republican
senator from Rechavia” – a reference to the Jerusalem neighborhood where the
Prime Minister’s residence was located.

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