Benny Gantz partnered with Yair Lapid and Benjamin Netanyahu teamed up with the “David Dukes” of Israeli politics as Israeli parties joined forces ahead of the deadline to find running partners for the April elections. Jonathan Ofir explains where things stand now: “Gantz and Lapid, with their accompanying generals, may possibly succeed in unseating Netanyahu – but they will not unseat Zionist ultra-nationalism. They are running on that ticket too.”
Israeli premier contender Benny Gantz has chided Prime Minister Netanyahu for lobbying to include the ultra-nationalist Jewish Power party in a future coalition, but in doing so, Gantz incited against the BALAD Palestinian-Israeli party which promotes democracy. The former army chief of staff equated the two.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been working hard to make sure a racist, xenophobic, homophobic Ultra-Right wing party called “Jewish Power” that has roots in the banned “Kach” party gets into the next Knesset in the April 9 election so that he can maintain a right-wing coalition and stay in office, Barak Ravid reports.
Once again, Likud Party in Israel applies anti-Palestinian race-baiting campaigns in favor of Netanyahu, framing the rival Benny Gantz as enabling a treason. But both sides compete on the “Israel-first” notion.
“Disney BDS’d me,” Roseanne Barr said on a tour of Israel, where she repeatedly attacked the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign aimed at Israel as the second coming of Nazis. She also said ABC tried to kill her when they canceled her show, and she’d make a good prime minister.
Former Israeli Chief of Staff Benjamin (‘Benny’) Gantz has launched his campaign to challenge Netanayhu from the ‘left’, with an incredibly bellicose series of videos. His slogan is “Israel before everything”. Gantz brags in campaign videos of his responsibility for Gaza onslaughts in 2012 and 2014.
The upcoming Israeli elections, usually a sign of democracy, will in fact demonstrate how the country is not a democratic state. The right to vote is only granted to 60% of the total population, and only one third of Palestinians who live under Israeli rule will have a say in the next government.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition announced on Monday that it would be dispersing the country’s Parliament and holding early elections in April 2019, seven months before their scheduled date next November. Israeli media and political analysts have speculated that the real reason behind the sudden call for snap elections is that Netanyahu wants an election before Israel’s Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit announces whether he will indict the premier in three different corruption cases. If he wins in April, Netanyahu will be able to claim the support of the people, and be better suited to combat potential charges against him.
The Israeli Knesset passed on Wednesday the first reading of a bill to forcibly transfer families of Palestinians involved in attacks against Israelis, despite heavy opposition from intelligence and army officials. If passed into law, it would see that within a week of an attack or attempted attack, the Israeli army’s central command would be permitted to expel the relatives of the Palestinian assailants from their hometowns to other areas of the West Bank.
Today, the Knesset voted down the Basic Law: Equality bill by a margin of 71-38. The text of the bill was clear and concise: “The State of Israel shall maintain equal political rights amongst all its citizens, without any difference between religions, race and sex.” With the vote the Knesset told 20% of the country’s citizens that it would demand their loyalty, but would not grant them equality.