Democracy in the United States of Obama, as many claim it exists, is losing its values. When we have a president who does whatever he wants, without presenting it to Congress and by failing to respect the Constitution - for me, I see this as a dictatorship. As for Israel it is the opposite of the United States. There is a democracy there, even a too broad one. Today the Israeli left has great freedom and sometimes plays a detrimental role, as did Shimon Peres when he convinced Rabin to sign the treaty with the Palestinians. At that time, a few Americans from Columbia University had rigged the whole system and asked Arafat to simply answer "yes" to questions. This was to convince President Bush, the father that Arafat had said yes. But in reality it was Arafat who had tricked everybody, as he had no intention of honoring any agreement with Israel. When Bush the son became president, he had finally confirmed this when he said that Arafat was lying.

As for Bibi Netanyahu, at the moment he is only wise, honest and competent man, and he comes from a great family, since he and his brother were officers of honor and their father was loving Israel. I think Netanyahu will be reelected; he is the only one who is multilingual and knowledgeable about the American mentality to be a good Prime Minister and a good interlocutor.

It was not necessary to sacrifice more young Israelis for an even more prolonged war. I think he had done well to accept the cease-fire, knowing that he gave nothing else to Hamas and that Hamas was well decimated. Besides, all of Israel's wars were short. None of them has seen the Arabs raise their hands. They all ended with a cease-fire. So Netanyahu has not found it necessary to extend the war that would have made even more Israeli deaths.

Let’s have some time pass with peace and quiet and we will all see how the Palestinians of Gaza will realize their true situation. Qatar too is going to realize it had made a grave mistake by supporting Hamas and taking advantage of the presence of the American army at home. I think this whole Gaza and Palestine episode was the pure fault of our President Obama who thought to restore his prestige in trying to help Hamas and Qatar. Soon Israel will surprise its enemies.

Emile Tubiana