The exclusion by Labor/Meretz of a Palestinian lawmaker in the next election list is a reminder of the racism in Israeli politics. The main reason Israeli politics are stalemated and the country is going to its third election in a year is Palestinians don’t really count in election totals; and the leading Jewish party is happy to cut a deal with other Jewish parties but refuses to deal seriously with the third largest party, the Joint List of Palestinian parties.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu attacked publicly the possibility of a minority government of his rival Blue-White that would be dependent on the Joint List of Palestinians parties, crying that Blue White leadership “has lost its mind, stop this madness.” He reportedly told followers “Burn it all down,” if such a government is formed,
In the wake of the Israeli assassination in Gaza and the counter-attack by Islamic Jihad, a “convoy” of Netanyahu’s political allies in the Likud party have issued statements that Benny Gantz is not trustworthy because he will depend on the Joint List of Palestinian parties in order to become prime minister, says Moty Cristal, a former Israeli negotiator.
Some commentators are predicting Netanyahu is about to be betrayed by a “broad” coalition of Israeli centrists. But the race-baiting against Palestinian legislators continue unabated. And one likely replacement says Netanyahu has been soft on Gaza and Israel must speed up “targeted killings” of Palestinian leaders.
Benny Gantz is “bad,” but Netanyahu is “the worst,” says Ayman Odeh of the Palestinian Joint List in Israel. But Odeh told Time magazine that 10 Palestinian legislators endorsed Gantz because they want to stop Trump’s deal of the century and the annexation by Israel of West Bank lands.
Naim Mousa writes, “There are two candidates for prime minister, one incites violence against Arabs and constantly carries out racist policies, and the other does the exact same but is called Gantz.” Yet Palestinian voters have shown their growing power through the Joint List’s endorsement of Gantz to lead the government.
Mondoweiss talks with Diana Buttu about the possibility of a Palestinian-led opposition in the Israeli Knesset, the Joint List’s endorsement of Benny Gantz, and the reception among Palestinians inside Israel of the recent election.
Palestinians in Israel are far more liberal than Jews. Nearly 90 percent say they would support a Palestinian party being part of the government, while Israeli Jews reject that idea overwhelmingly. So the one group that doesn’t buy into Zionism is the only hope to save Israel from its rightwing intolerance; and it is time that American Jews understand that reality.
The recent Israeli election has been a win for the Zionist right-center. The Joint List which mostly represents Palestinians has endorsed Benny Gantz, but that stance divided the List. That’s understandable because a unity government headed by Gantz would back policies toward Palestinians that are not different from those of a Likud government.
When Donald Trump race-baits minorities, the New York Times offers his targets space to respond. But the Times published Netanyahu’s smears of Palestinian political parties as terrorists without giving them space to respond and repeatedly diminished their achievement in the election, in which they finished behind the two leading Jewish parties.