The Blue White party gave Israelis who used to vote left the option of voting Likud-light with the pretense of being centrist. Blue White is essentially a rightwing party. And there was only one winner in this election, and it’s the one that has always won: Zionism.
Haidar Eid says there is nothing for Palestinians to celebrate about the Israeli elections. “Only secular democracy under the rule of law and in which ALL citizens are treated equally regardless of ethnic and religious origin is what should be celebrated,” Eid writes. “Anything short of that is a recycling of 19th century ethnic nationalism disguised in slogans that mean absolutely nothing to us Palestinians.”
The last decade in Israeli politics was all Netanyahu, all the time. The Israeli left twisted itself into a pretzel trying to get rid of Netanyahu and forgot about trying to end apartheid. Now it looks like the great hate monger is gone and the issues that matter may matter again.
Israelis went back to the polls for a second time in six months in a combative snap election between incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who is seeking his fifth term in office and already serving a record 13 years, and former general Benny Gantz. The first exit polls show there is no clear winner in sight.
The Iran/Saudi Arabia/Yemen crisis may break into war and damage the global economy, but U.S. mainstream media leaves out Israel’s deep involvement.
A new report shows that a net majority of Democratic voters support cutting aid to Israel based on the country’s human rights violations. Nonetheless, only two Democratic presidential candidates have floated the idea during this campaign and neither has provided much in way of details.
Most of the world might hate Donald Trump, but in some places, based largely on his policies, there is hope and even admiration. Political scientist Monti Datta says the data shows Trump is more popular than Barack Obama among people in authoritarian nations, and the one place in the world where Trump’s policies seem to be enjoying the most public support is Israel.
The Israeli election challenges Americans to recognize what “Jewish democracy” has produced: a rightwing society in which all the politicking has been on the far right, and even the center-left Blue White calls for expanding the illegal occupation and pounding Gaza. Palestinian parties are a sign of real democracy, but leading Jewish parties want nothing to do with them.
Rep. Debbie Dingell has withdrawn her support from a bill that promotes the human rights of Palestinian children.
Bari Weiss’s book argues that if you embrace Zionism you will suffer ostracism and career reputational damage. But the last week she’s gotten treatment other authors only dream about, from cable networks to the 92d Street Y to a big-media party where everyone bewailed social media (because the leftwing dares to advocate for Palestinian human rights).