It has been thirty years since Baruch Goldstein carried out his massacre of Palestinian worshippers in Hebron. His legacy of bloodshed continues in Gaza and the West Bank as his followers are now in power.

New Knesset member Zvika Fogel told a British interviewer that “the concept of proportionality must cease to exist” and that he is prepared to make “a thousand Palestinian mothers cry” to prevent the loss of one Israeli. This call to violence is shocking, but it is also the logical result of Zionism.

The Israeli latest polls suggest that Benjamin Netanyahu could become prime minister with the help of the overtly racist politician Itamar Ben Gvir of the fascist Jewish Power party. This is causing great consternation for liberal Zionists. For them, the problem is not that Jewish Power is antithetical to Zionism but rather that it is quintessentially Zionist (and giving Zionism a bad name).

“Even Israeli kibbutzes these days is hosting Itamar Ben Gvir. He is invited to speak at the kibbutzim. Unbelievable,” says Tal Schneider of the Times of Israel. And Netanyahu’s possible return to prime minister in Israel is helped by the rise of Ben Gvir’s racist party, once banned in the Knesset.

Israeli Defense Minister Naftali Bennett pretends to be a liberal by refusing to run with the “Jewish Power” party despite pressure from Netanyahu to do so. But the collection of rightwingers Bennett is aligned with have made many racist comments of their own.

As Israeli elections approach, Avigdor Lieberman remains the kingmaker of a likely rightwing coalition. Even if the new leftleaning Democratic Union and center join up, they would need the Palestinian parties and Lieberman to create a majority bloc, and that is not going to happen, Jonathan Ofir observes.