The 2020 elections pose a daunting question for Democrats – will they go with a progressive candidate or a moderate one?  In helping to decide which way to turn it could be helpful for the Democrats to consider the history of the Israeli Labor Party, which faced a similar crossroad and took a direction which led to its demise.

The big surprise of the Israeli elections was the lead that Likud got over centrist Blue White, 36 to 32. ALthough just short of a right-wing majority for Netanyahu’s bloc, the lead spells hope for Israeli rightists out from the deadlock of the past year.

Israel’s third election inside a year shows the rightwing continuing to gain ground. This is what Jewish nationalists want. A society governed by an authoritarian leader, no matter how corrupt. Just so long as there are no Arabs anywhere near power. The only hope politically is the burgeoning Joint List of Palestinian parties, which reject apartheid and discrimination.

AIPAC ceo Howard Kohr implicitly describes Bernie Sanders as a “radical” who is trying to undermine U.S. support for Israel and aid Israel’s enemies. “Israel cannot afford a single minute where America’s friendship with Israel at the highest levels either wavers or skips,” Kohr said.

Concerns about Russia’s impact on U.S. elections have generated countless articles and wall-to-wall cable news coverage, however blatant election interference from other countries is certainly not treated in the same way. This contradiction was on display over the weekend, when Benjamin Netanyahu bashed Democratic frontrunner Bernie Sanders during AIPAC’s annual policy conference.

A rightwing Israeli rabbi secretly taped his spiritual meeting last week with an adviser to Netanyahu’s chief rival, Benny Gantz, and the tape was publicized by a Netanyahu media mouthpiece. Now a second tape has emerged showing that Netanyahu and the rabbi discussed the secret tape before it was released. The scandal broke too late to have much impact on today’s election.

Benjamin Gantz, Netanyahu’s rival in Israeli election, denounced a corona hoax as an attempt “by Netanyahu to prevent you from going out and voting.” Two recent hoaxes about coronavirus contagions in Israel have led to warnings that Likud will attempt to used corona hoaxes as a tactic of voter suppression during Israel’s election tomorrow.

Some murder cases are so full of lies, that every attempt to hide them from public view only brings more attention to the crime. Such is the case of the extrajudicial execution in 2017 of Israeli Bedouin citizen Yaqub Mousa Abu al-Qia’an, who was left to bleed to death after being wounded during an ethnic-cleansing operation in al-Qia’an’s village by Israeli police in the Negev.

Finally, the ‘NY Times’ ends its blackout, and reports how Palestinian citizens are participating in Israel’s election on March 2. But the Times fails to state the fact that Israel is having its third election in a year in part because of Jewish parties’ racism against Palestinians being part of the government.

Only democracy in the Middle East? Poll conducted by the Pew Research Center finds support in Israel is “significantly lower than in most countries for freedom of expression, including an uncensored press, internet freedom and freedom for human rights groups to operate freely.”