On Monday, as the number of children killed in Gaza approached 1,000, Knesset member Meirav Ben-Ari declared “the children of Gaza have brought this upon themselves.” Such calls by Israeli politicians for collective punishment are not uncommon.

Israel is determined to pressure Unilever to change the Ben & Jerry’s decision not to sell ice cream in occupied territory; and six left-of-center Jewish parliamentarians originally signed on to a letter deploring the decision. They backed out later, but their instinct shows how broadly committed Jewish Israelis are to “Judea and Samaria” as part of Israel.

Following Israel’s fourth election in two years, Benjamin Netanyahu’s base is more vulnerable and more extreme than ever before. But this time a coalition with Arab parties could tip the scales.

Phil Weiss speaks to Yossi Gurvitz to unpack the March 23rd Israeli election results. Yumna Patel discusses the upcoming Palestinian elections with Dr. Yara Hawari and Dr. Haidar Eid.

The Israeli election appears to be deadlocked, judging by exit polls. Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party has the upper hand with 31 or more seats, far more than the nearest competitor, per the polls, but the anti-Netanyahu parties have as many as 60 seats, or half the parliament.

Israeli politics continue to lurch rightward. The only way to knock out Netanyahu is for Naftali Bennett to join Gideon Sa’ar in opposition, and no room for Palestinians. The Netanyahu opposition would go from left to far right, but at least that way it’s a Zionist coalition with ability to govern, says Amir Tibon of Haaretz.

Netanyahu will move ahead to annex territories in Palestine near the Green Line containing Jewish settlements, says Yair Golan of Meretz. “He will explain to the rest of the world, Alright, we did what was reasonable, what was accepted by the Palestinians in former negotations, and what was heavily accepted by President Trump according to his future plan.”

As a deadline looms in Israeli election tonight, Netanyahu has broken Benny Gantz and may be playing for a fourth election, as the coronvirus PM. Gantz and Netanyahu appeared to be very close to a unity government agreement in Israel, between Likud and the now-reduced Blue White. But then Netanyahu wanted to renegotiate terms, and Blue White broke off.