Netanyahu’s hasbara minister says there is no occupied land in Palestine and peddles Zionist mythology. “We haven’t stolen anything…. This house is ours by deed.”

Amit Halevi, a member of Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party, has proposed dividing the Al-Aqsa Mosque between Jews and Muslims. Such plans can no longer be disregarded as extremist fantasies but increasingly represent mainstream Israeli politics.

In yet another threat by an Israeli official to revisit the “Nakba” on Palestinians, lawmaker Israel Katz, a former minister of finance, warns Palestinian youth who fly the Palestinian flag to ask their parents about “your Nakba” — and warns, “If you don’t calm down, we’ll teach you a lesson that won’t be forgotten”.

By campaigning for conservative “Arab” voters, Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to suppress the Palestinian vote, by shattering the Joint List, which won a historic 15 seats in the last election and is now polling at only 9.

Benny Gantz is the “liberal” white knight who was going to save Israel from Netanyahu, by becoming “alternate Prime Minister.” He has been outfoxed again and again and now Israel appears headed to a fourth election in two years with Gantz’s party polling at a miserable six seats and a politician to Netanyahu’s right threatening to become the “Just not Netanyahu” candidate.

Israel’s leading governing party, Likud, is secular, but its leaders parrot biblical statements about the Jewish people’s supposed right to lands in Palestine as history, such as that Abraham bought land in Hebron. These religious nationalist claims underlie the government’s desire for annexation, though the U.S. press never talks about this zealotry.

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.”

Netanyahu was quick to declare victory Monday, but a fractious anti-Netanyahu coalition is quickly cohering – and Netanyahu has now gone full Kahane. “The Arabs are not a part of this equation. This is the people’s will.”

Benjamin Netanyahu called off his idea for a snap Likud Party primary after Gideon Sa’ar, a rival, tweeted two words: “I’m ready.” That moment reveals Netanyahu’s essential political character: he operates out of fear and paranoia.

It would be a mistake to assume the political deadlock in Israel is evidence of a ideological divide. The reality is that there is strong unity – over shared racist attitudes towards Palestinians.