From Assaf Oron at dailykos:
Aluf Benn is a veteran Ha’aretz columnist. Don’t mistake him as an anti-Occupation maverick like Amira Hass or Gideon Levy; Aluf Benn embodies the Israeli consensus.
During the 2006 Lebanon war, for example, he sucked up to then-PM Olmert so bad, it hurt. After Olmert’s war-opening speech, Benn wrote (quoting from memory): "today a politician has turned into a statesman." Ya.
In short, Aluf Benn is not the type of Israeli columnist you’d expect to write this:
Only one thing does bother the Israelis, according to the polls: fear of a diplomatic embargo and an international boycott.
…as long as relations with the rest of the world are satisfactory, Israelis see no reason to emerge from indifference and listen to the president of the United States.
