More and more, Israel is finding increasing difficulty in justifying its overtly far-right ethno-nationalists and antiquated apartheid policies in a 21st century world which doesn’t regard its policies and practices as civilized or acceptable.
One of the main problems facing Israel as it attempts to project a ‘normal’ image to the rest of the world, is that the Zionist doctrine which claims the whole of former Palestine as being a ‘gift from God’ is itself a form of pure ideological fundamentalism – which has now morphed into the official extremist state doctrine. This extremist ideological stance then gives the state of Israel its sole claim to the West Bank, East Jerusalem and key portions of Gaza, hence, Likud’s status quo has gone past the point of no return in terms of Israel’s inclusion into an international community which sees running a pogrom in the 21st century as being not only patently illegal, but also vile in a moral and ethical sense. Rather than evolving towards a more moderate position, Israeli hawks are pushing the state institutions even further to the right – into a bona fide fascist camp.
In his recent piece entitled, “Netanyahu Now Endorses Jewish Fascism. US Jews Cut Your Ties With Him Now,” Haaretz’s Etan Nechin explains how the Likud-dominated Israeli political leadership is locked into a far-right political death spiral which it will not escape with a new and even more extremist coalition hoping to seize power this spring…
Benjamin Netanyahu faced media criticism this week for hosting the right-wing prime ministers of the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary who have been accused of being anti-immigrant and anti-Semitic. But in response, Likud MK Anat Berko epitomized Netanyahu’s politics in a single sentence: “They might be anti-Semites, but they’re on our side.”
Netanyahu lost his moral compass years ago, but in this election cycle – a chronicle of a victory foretold – he no longer cares about appearing as the fascist-enabling Pied Piper who will lead Israel into oblivion and isolation only to keep himself in power.
PM Netanyahu: "I have to commend you for taking on the effort, and your foreign minister, for confronting the lies that are put forward against Israel in places like the Human Rights Committee in EU forums and elsewhere. You stand up for Israel and you stand up for the truth" pic.twitter.com/ALdUNyI3pz
— PM of Israel (@IsraeliPM) February 19, 2019
Netanyahu has been working hard in the last few weeks to help create a coalition between Jewish Home, the latest incarnation of the Mafdal, a venerable religious Zionist party, and a party called Otzma Yehudit, which could be called the Jewish National Front, a radical far right party whose members, like its former leader, Baruch Marzel, were followers of Meir Kahane’s Kach Party. Baruch Goldstein, who massacred 24 Palestinians at prayer in Hebron in 1994, was a Kach member at that time.
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The Jewish home, Jewish Power, Eli Yishai, and the National Union must unite to save 6-8 seats to the right-wing bloc. We must not lose these votes because the split on the right will lead to a loss in the elections and the establishment of a leftist government. None of them alone does pass the threshold, uniting them will bring at least 6-8 seats.
This is a moment of crisis for Israel as a liberal democracy, but it is just as much a moment of crisis, and a test, for American Jews.
(…) This may seem like a political puppet show, or familiar political horse-trading. But it isn’t. It shows how far to the right the Israeli right has gone.
Betzalel Smotrich, an MK for Jewish Home who famously organized the “Beast Parade” as protest to the Pride Parade in Jerusalem and has declared his support for segregating Jews and Arabs, not only in settlements, but also in hospitals, tweeting, “It is natural that my wife would not want to lay down next to someone who just gave birth to a baby that might want to murder her baby in another 20 years,” could be the post-election minister of education.
Moti Yogev, another Jewish Home MK, said that Israel’s Supreme Court should be razed with a bulldozer. And now, Jewish Home has merged with Otzma Yehudit – who are even more extreme.
Yes, there have always been extremist elements in the Israeli political sphere, but they have always been outcasts…
Continue this story at Haaretz
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