The new Israeli government this week moved forward on plans to build 3000 more settlement units in the West Bank; and yesterday the State Department issued its strongest opposition to the plans since Joe Biden took office, calling the plans “unacceptable.” The State Department spokesperson said yesterday the U.S. “strongly” opposes the expansion of settlements.
On Sunday Israel approved plans for 1,300 new settlement units in the occupied West Bank, in the first move of its kind since US President Joe Biden took office. Later this week, the Israel Higher Planning Committee is expected to meet to push forward plans for an additional 2,862 units.
Israel is facing widespread backlash for its dangerous decision to label six Palestinian human rights groups as terrorist organizations. “Supporters of Israel often say to critics, ‘Stop singling out Israel. Stop picking on Israel. Treat Israel like any other country,'” Mehdi Hasan said on his MSNBC news program. “Well, okay then. Let’s condemn them for doing this then because when our other allies, like Turkey or Saudi Arabia or Egypt, crack down on human rights groups, we condemn them for it. We criticize them. So why give Israel a pass?”
In Israel’s latest attack on Palestinian civil society organizations, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz announced a list of six Palestinian human rights organizations which he claimed have links to militant “terror” groups. On the list were prominent institutions like Addameer, Al-Haq, and Defense for Children International – Palestine.
Following a pogrom in Southern Hebron that injured a 3-year-old Palestinian child, Israeli human rights organizations started an ad campaign calling on the Defense Minister and Internal Security Minister to end settler violence. Israeli bus companies removed the ad within a day after pressure from rightwing activists.
Israel withholds Palestinian tax funds from the PA so as to enforce its collective punishment of the families of militants. Now Defense Minister Benny Gantz is seeking to “loan” the P.A. that money in line with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s promise to Joe Biden to improve Palestinian conditions.
The Israeli government has approved initial plans for thousands of new housing units in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, along with hundreds of Palestinian units in Area C, the part of the West Bank under full control of the Israeli government. “It seems that the approval of a handful of plans for the Palestinians is only intended to try to reduce criticism of the government and to please the US administration ahead of Prime Minister Bennett’s expected visit to Washington in the coming weeks,” settlement watchdog Peace Now said in a statement.
The international delegitimization of Zionism has begun. Palestinian resistance to further ethnic cleansing of Jerusalem has been answered with a cascade of mainstream voices saying that Israel practices “apartheid” and Palestinians deserve equal rights, not missiles.
As of yesterday, Benjamin Netanyahu is officially a loser. He lost four elections in a row, and failed to form a government – the one time he managed it, a year ago, he did so on Benny Gantz’s mandate. That, however, does not mean Yair Lapid, who received the mandate to try to form a government yesterday from Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, will do any better.
The news from Israel’s four elections is that there is little ideological debate in Israel. Israeli Jewish voters are overwhelmingly rightwing. They are deeply divided over Netanyahu, but nearly 80 of the 120 members in the new parliament are rightwingers, dedicated to keeping the entire “land of Israel,” and Palestinians be damned.