For the fifth time in three years the so-called democratic State of Israel is headed to parliamentary elections.
This next round of elections, which will only serve to further apartheid interests, is scheduled for October, after the Jewish high holidays. It is worth reiterating the fact that a primary reason Israel can’t manage to put together a stable government is because Jewish Israelis largely refuse to form a government with the representatives of a major bloc of the Israeli electorate – Palestinian citizens of Israel.
In the September 2019 elections (which occurred after the April 2019 elections) the Joint List came in third. The Joint List is an alliance of four political parties that represent the Palestinian community west of the green line. In the elections of March 2020, it came in third again, even increasing its showing from the previous elections. Neither time did a Jewish Israeli party attempt to strike a deal with the Joint List which would’ve created a stable government. What this says about Israeli democracy I’ll leave to you to decide.
This time around the government collapsed for what can only be described as obscene reasons. And outgoing Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s remarks about not “splitting the baby” are especially rich when one considers the history of Zionist colonization of Palestine. In the Solomonic tale of the two mothers claiming a baby, it is the Zionist/Israeli side that more aptly fits the description of the woman who was okay with splitting the baby in half. Just look at pictures of the apartheid wall in the West Bank and the walls that keep Gaza cut off from the rest of Palestine (and the world).
In the United States, much of the news this week focused on the two major Supreme Court decisions handed down. But the United States Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit handed down its own controversial decision which stated that boycotts are not protected speech. And yes, you guessed it, the subject of the legal question the court considered was a boycott of Israel. This case will undoubtedly be taken up by the Supreme Court, and considering how this Supreme Court seems to be adjudicating its cases, it’s absolutely reasonable to worry that our 1st amendment freedom of speech may not be as secure as we’d like to think.
It’s fitting that should the Court uphold the 8th circuit’s decision, Americans will be demonstrably less free all in the name of stifling criticism of that so-called democracy practicing apartheid in the Levant.
Thanks for reading,
Scott Roth
