As Israel’s November election approaches, the far-right coalition led by Bibi Netanyahu seems ascendant. The center-right coalition which formed the current caretaker government is in shambles and in no shape to mount a serious challenge. While Bibi is himself almost as far to the right as one can be in Israeli politics, he has flirted, in the coming election, with figures even farther to his right.
The latest example is his playing shadchan for a merger of the two Judeo-fascist parties: Betzalel Smotrich’s Religion Zionism and Itamar Ben Gvir’s Jewish Power. Each party alone would probably not pass the threshold to enter the Knesset, thus forfeiting all their votes. But together, they will not only enter the Knesset, the seats they win may play a decisive role in securing a 61-seat majority for Netanyahu’s Coalition of the [Judeo-Nazi] Damned.
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I’ve urged in my Twitter timeline that every foreign government, especially the Europeans and Americans, boycott such a government.
Why? Smotrich is a homophobe and “reformed” Jewish terrorist. A former top Shin Bet official claimed he transported a bomb meant to explode in protest over the Gaza withdrawal. The only reason he failed was that police stopped his vehicle thus ending the plot. The Times of Israel reported:
Smotrich was held by the Shin Bet security service for three weeks on suspicion that he was planning to…damage infrastructure to protest the withdrawal. He was part of a cell of five people who were caught…planning an attack….
Ilan [former Shin Bet number 2] appeared to confirm this…telling the gathering: “I interrogated Smotrich…He is a terrorist. He’s Jewish, but he’s a terrorist,” Ilan reportedly said. “At the time of the disengagement he wanted to blow up cars on the Ayalon highway, at rush hour, with gasoline. We caught him with 700 liters (185 gallons) of the stuff.”
Smotrich told the Knesset that Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben Gurion should have “finished the job” and expelled all Palestinians from Israel in 1948. He also once said that Israel’s Palestinian Bedouins were a “time bomb.” Needless to say, the phrase “finish the job,” was used after World War II by anti-Semites who decried that the Nazi had not completely wiped Jews off the face of the earth. It’s no accident that an Israeli fascist should echo the terms of Euro-fascism.
In 2005, in response to the Jerusalem Pride parade, he mounted his own “Beast Parade,” bringing donkeys bearing “Beast Pride” signs. Smotrich himself drove an SUV with a “Kahane Pride” banner. At the gay pride event that same day, ultra-Orthodox homophobe-murderer, Yishai Schlissel, stabbed and seriously wounded one of participants. At the 2015 parade, he attacked a second time, stabbing six people, including a young girl who later died. The second attack came after he was freed from prison. On his release, he was never monitored.
The Israeli Kahanist called homosexuality “incest” and blamed, without proof, an LGBTQ party for causing a surge in COVID cases. He also decried the gay community for controlling the media and ensuring, via censorship, that his voice cannot be heard. It sounds like he’s lifting GOP talking points.
When he planned a trip to visit far-right Jewish groups in the UK, the Board of Deputies told him to stay home. They wanted nothing to do with him. In response, he said that the Jews of Britain would suffer the same fate as the Jews of Germany during WWII.
Smotrich is an Orthodox Jew and settler. He once told a reporter that Avigdor Lieberman (whose nickname is Yvet), who campaigns against Orthodox Judaism’s dominaton of Israeli secular society, should be “killed.”
He also exposes the homophobic views of the entire Israeli Orthodox community and the Arabophobic views of most Israeli Jews. Netanyahu’s alliance and possible appointment of him to a cabinet post, is a slap in the face of Israel’s LGBTQ community. It exposes the ugliness at the heart of Israel, and forever tarnishes the notion that it is a gay-friendly country.
Ben Gvir is a devout Kahanist who once boasted that he ripped the Cadillac hood ornament from PM Yitzhak Rabin’s car. He bragged:
“We reached Rabin’s car, we will get to Rabin too.” Rabin was assassinated later that year.
seeks, as Barak Ravid notes in the tweet featured below, to expel Israeli Jews are “enemies” and “disloyal” to his Judeo-fascist state. He also seeks to invoke the death penalty for acts of terrorism. By which he means Palestinian terrorism of course. His brand of Judeo-fascist is not a terrorist at all. But a freedom fighter for Jewish rights.
These are the “shining lights” Netanyahu welcomes into his future coalition. As part of the merger talks, the potential future PM certainly offered enticements in return for the two agreeing to join forces. Israel media is full of reports that Ben Gvir will get a cabinet post.
SCOOP: Senator Bob Menendez warned Israeli opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu that if he forms a government after the Nov. 1 elections that includes right-wing extremists, it could harm U.S.-Israel bilateral relations, @alaynatreene & me write on @axios https://t.co/EgfFsdR8P4
— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) October 1, 2022
Sen. Bob Menendez, one of Israel’s major water carriers in the Senate, met with Netanyahu earlier this month. The meeting did not go well–at least for Bibi. Menendez. to the Israeli’s chagrin, repeatedly warned him that including Ben Gvir and Smotrich in his potential government, including offering them cabinet posts, would be unacceptable to the US:
Menendez, chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee one of the most outspoken Democratic supporters of Israel in the Senate, specifically mentioned Jewish Power party leader Itamar Ben Gvir, a Jewish supremacist who will likely be a minister if Netanyahu wins the elections.
Menendez told Netanyahu he has “serious concerns” over a possible partnership with “extremist and polarizing individuals like Ben Gvir” in a potential future government, the sources said.
“People who were in the room saw how pissed off Bibi got” with Menendez’s comments, one of the sources said.
Menendez did not back down from the issue even after Netanyahu expressed his annoyance over his comments, the source said.
“The senator told Netanyahu he needed to realize the composition of such a coalition could seriously erode bipartisan support in Washington, which has been a pillar of the bilateral relationship between the U.S. and Israel,” the source added.
A US official said: “Anyone with an ounce of common sense understands that this [Ben Gvir becoming a minister] is deeply problematic.” He added that “this would be a huge problem” and that Netanyahu is “well aware of this.” An American Jewish leader likened the Kahanist to the Ku Klux Klan.
Bibi doesn’t like being told what to do. It raises his hackles. Nevertheless, he usually knows when he’s met a superior force and backs down. And the US, despite his claims to wrap us around his little finger, is such a force. So it remains to be seen how he will deal with this opposition, but he will more than likely back down.
One possibility would be for Netanyahu to send Ben Gvir to the back benches, while appointing another MK from his Party to a ministerial position. This would offer the Party leader access to power through his colleague, while it would solve Netanyahu’s problem with the Americans; also allowing the Biden administration to say it succeeded in moderating the incoming government. None of which will be true, since Ben Gvir will be as powerful as he would be as a minister.
50 US senators wrote a letter demanding a credible, independent investigation. Menendez’s stern lecture could only have happened if cracks like these are developing in the Democratic mainstream. When a stalwart pro-Israel pol like Menendez reads you the riot act, you know there is something afoot. Maybe not a sea change. But the first signs of one. Perhaps they are developing a bit of a spine when it comes to Israel. The consensus is beginning to shatter. And this will only increase as naked fascism becomes even more ascendant in Israel.
It is critical that foreign governments say, in concert and in no uncertain terms, that such a far-right government filled with out-and-out fascists is unacceptable. They must not only make public statements, they must support them with action. That should include threats to withdraw aid and withdraw “protection” provided to Israel via votes on the UN Security Council. It also could include supporting a war crimes investigation by the ICC.
The most crucial thing to remember is that whether either of the two fascists gets cabinet posts is irrelevant. If they do, it won’t change the radical Blood and Soil agenda of Israeli politics. It won’t decrease Israeli hatred of Palestinians or lessen their suffering. The trajectory of Israel is clear. Its arc definitely does not bend toward justice.
Richard, Unless I’m missing anything, it seems to me that the Meretz and any other left parties should band together with the Joint List and form a serious party. Are there not a lot of Jews in Israel that oppose the occupation and who want peace with the Palestinians? Is there a Joint List in the upcoming elections?
A friend in Israel just wrote complaining of Netanyahu. She was formerly left, then right leaning disgusted with the peace process, blaming the Palestinians. We argued on our last visit then quit to keep the friendship. But the right ascended and showed its ugly face more and more, and as the walls grew and the “status quo” remained morally uncomfortable and indefensible. The incidents kept occurring (not unprovoked), hate and insecurity increased. The mistreatment of the “other” maybe crashed through some to conscience; their arguments justifying it became lame. Realizations happen at least in some.
How deeply the Israel is spoiled, shamed, by the long occupation and the character of its politics.
@ Walter Ballin: Sorry to say that the Joint List is also in disarray. Its constituent parties could not agree on a list ordering the candidates and one of them, Balad, withdrew from the coalition. Now, it’s unlikely there will be a united front. One of the them is Hadash, a Jewish-Palestinian party. However, it is not a major party.
As for Meretz, it calls itself left-Zionist. It supports the chimera of a Jewish democratic state and is mired in the two state illusion. There are efforts to merge Meretz with Labor because both are under threat of not meeting the vote threshhold. But each one refuses to do it. All in all, its a divided fragmented Opposition confronted with a united Likud-led coalition.
Richard, A sad situation. The assassination of Yitzhak Rabin has been a huge example of assassinations having consequences, as Rabin was on the way to settling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict when a Jewish settler killed him. I understand that while Arab parties were not in Rabin’s coalition, there was an arrangement members of Arab parties voted with the coalition in the Knesset because Rabin was working with Arafat for peace. That among other things.
“Finish the job” – I’m almost certain the term was used countless times by both Martin Luther King and Batak Obama.
Just saying…
@ Yitz G: WTF are you talking about? Claiming MLK & Obama said “finish the job” regarding an ethnic group as Smotrich did? That they advocated ethnic genocide or ethnic cleansing? And are you likening that Judeo-terrorist Smotrich to MLK and Obama as Smotrich did? A schandeh!
One Thursday, the house gardener has finished mowing the lawn and watering the plants at the White House.
When Obama appeared the gardener asked whether he can postpone clearing the rubbish to the next week. “No”, answered Obama – “finish the job now”
Eli Gal: First, the story is invented. 2nd, how dare you compare an ordinary comment made every day, with a Judeo-fascist advocating ethnic cleansing of an entire people along with genocide against them? I warn you, this nonsense is a banning offense to you and anyone else who chooses to go there. I will not let anyone publish garbage here.