Following a contentious third election, Gantz’s betrayal of his allies came as a surprise to many in Israel; but not to the Joint List and Palestinian citizens of Israel, who saw straight through his false image of change and reform. Now, with the complete collapse of Blue and White, and the Jewish centrist bloc, the Joint List stands as the sole voice of progress, equality, and change.

Liberal Zionists who now call on Democrats to stop Israeli annexation should have applied sanctions pressure years ago. But they feared the left’s call for democracy and sided with rightwing Israel supporters on lavishing aid to the Israeli occupation. No wonder Israeli leaders have always ignored liberal Zionists.

Israeli media reported on Monday that Netanyahu and Gantz agreed on a plan to begin formally annexing parts of the West Bank, as early as this summer. “The coronavirus pandemic has been the biggest gift to Netanyahu,” Palestinian political analyst Dianna Buttu told Mondoweiss. “If there’s any time to go forward with annexation, it’s now, when everyone is focused on something else.”

American liberal Zionists are panicked over the possibility of annexation of the West Bank under a governing agreement between Benny Gantz and Benjamin Netanyahu. Please Nancy Pelosi call Benny Gantz on the phone, Tal Shalev urges the Blue White leader on a J Street phone call.

Renowned for his ability to pull off political miracles, Benjamin Netanyahu appears to have gradually worn down Benny Gantz’s resistance over the past 12 months. The coronavirus epidemic proved the final straw.

Palestinians are players in Israeli politics in a new way, Yael Patir of J Street says. Three-fourths of Israeli Jewish centrist voters supported a possible government that would have had Palestinian political backing, and that is “huge,” she says, seeing a silver lining in the collapse of the effort to remove Netanyahu.

Israel’s year-long political stalemate appears to be over. Netanyahu was saved by coronavirus and racism. The virus made him popular. Racism stymied Benny Gantz’s efforts to form a government with Palestinian support.

The Israeli hospital system would collapse without Palestinians, who make up a sizeable percentage of doctors, nurses and pharmacies, but the Jewish politicians who are trying to form the country’s next government exclude the 15 Palestinian legislators from any real role in that future. And they call that a democracy?

As Netanyahu likens himself to the captain of the Titanic amid the coronavirus pandemic, Israeli political protests of his powergrab have gone forward despite lockdown, with people in cars with black flags.

Netanyahu has adopted a fatherly tone in responding to the COVID-19 crisis, trying to present himself as the indispensable Prime Minister, even as he runs a racist campaign against rival Benny Gantz’s effort to build a coalition to put him out of office.