The rapidly growing demonstrations against Netanyahu have yet to draw a connection between his personal abuses of office and the systemic corruption of Israeli politics, with the occupation its beating heart.
In what many critics claim amounts to a power grab, Netanyahu began pushing through changes last week to Israel’s basic laws, the equivalent of a constitution. The move was described as “terrifying” by Elyakim Rubinstein, a conservative former supreme court judge.
It would be a grave mistake to assume that the continuing political deadlock in Israel is evidence of a deep ideological divide. There is nothing divided about Israel. In this month’s general election, 90 per cent of Israeli Jews voted for parties that identify as being either on the militaristic, anti-Arab right or on the religious, anti-Arab far-right.
The strangest thing about the coverage of the deadlock between the Israeli right and the “center-left” is that none of the parties view it that way. According to their own assessments, only a tiny fraction of the new parliament consider themselves to be on the so-called center-left.
As the Joint List endorses former general Benny Gantz for prime minister over Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's Palestinian citizens have found themselves once again characterised as a threat to the country’s supposed 'Jewish and democratic' politics.
Netanyahu's failure to secure a majority for his far-right coalition in the election was all the more glaring, given that he conducted by far the ugliest – and most reckless – campaign in Israeli history, including a bid to bypass his military chiefs to wage war on Gaza to postpone the vote.
The real fight in Israel's imminent election re-run isn't between the right wing and a so-called 'centre-left' but between two rival camps within the ultra-nationalist right. The outcome may prove a moment of truth for the shrinking secular right as it comes up once again against an ever-more powerful religious camp.
In recent weeks, a political “resistance” movement has emerged in Israel against Netanyahu, echoing the one against Donald Trump in the US. With Gantz as its figurehead, it has mobilised over the threat Netanyahu poses to Israel’s system of checks and balances. The chief concern has been the far-right’s intensifying assault on the supreme court, the last relatively liberal institution.
With the election in the bag, Benjamin Netanyahu's only problem is that he faces imminent indictment for corruption. But he has a plan: extract an 'immunity from prosecution' law from his far-right coalition partners in return for annexing much of the West Bank
Benjamin Netanyahu now enjoys the luxury of choosing between a narrow government of far-right parties, and a right-wing national unity government embracing his rival Benny Gantz. Either way, this election demonstrates that opposition to Netanyahu and the right has been well and truly crushed.
