Yesterday, Israel’s new Judeo-fascist governing coalition was sworn in and ministers assumed their new portfolios. I’ve profiled the most troubling of the bunch here. Here I want to focus on the most problematic “principles” of the new government:
“These are the fundamental principles of this national government: the Jewish people has sole and inalienable right to all territory of the Land of Israel. The government will advance and develop Jewish settlement in all parts of Israel–the Galilee, Negev, Golan, and the West Bank…
In other words, Israel seeks to settle, by many accounts, as many as 1-million Jews in majority-Israeli-Palestinian regions: the Triangle area in the Galilee. The Bedouin region in the Negev. Palestine to the east. And the Syrian Druze in the Golan. The goal of Judeo-supremacist ministers is to “Judaize” those areas and erase the preponderance of the “Arab” population. It plans to do this by a combination of incentivizing Jewish settlement, and suffocating existing Palestinian residents in these areas. Among the tools will be denial of housing permits, destruction of individual Palestinian homes, and wholesale eradication of Bedouin communities like Al Araqib and Palestinian villages like Maaser Yatta.
This should be a crushing rejection of US policy. How has the Biden administration responded? The statements from the president and Tom Nides, US ambassador are toothless, hapless and embarrassing. First, Biden trots out the old “two-state solution,” by now a doddering old fool of a concept:
“…The United States will continue to support the two state solution and to oppose policies that endanger its viability.”
How, in the name of Allah, El Shaddai or God, can you continue to feebly offer two-states as a viable concept? How long can you wander through this House of the Dead with a sputtering candle seeking its corpse?
Speak about “opposing policies”–this too is clueless. We are not talking just about ‘policies.’ We are talking about an entire government; indeed an entire Knesset which wholly rejects the concept. Not only does it reject it, it has slapped Biden in the face with the most maximalist vision of Judeo-supremacist territorial sovereignty.
What does Biden offer in response? N-O=T=H-I-N-G. A big fat zero.
Not to be outdone, Nides offers this utter banality:
“We want to work closely with him [Netanyahu] on mutual values we share, and at this point not get distracted by everyone else [Smotrich, Ben Gvir et al]. So the focus is on the prime minister and the prime minister’s office.”
What “mutual values” does the US share with Israel? Ethnic cleansing? Desecration of holy sites? Mass murder? Apartheid? Are these our values? And if not, why pretend that we have any in common? Aside from the fact that a powerful Israel Lobby ensures that administrations toe the line, thus acting as enforcers for Israel.
Further, Nides claims all other ministers aside from Netanyahu don’t matter. He plans to “ignore” Smotrich, who will control virtually everything happening in Palestine (West Bank). His agenda includes a massive increase in new Jewish colonies and accompanying infrastructure, destruction of Palestinian homes, confiscation of privately owned Palestinian land, obstruction of Palestinian travel and access to farmland, etc.
The US ambassador will also “ignore” former terrorist, Ben Gvir, who will command not only the national police force, but the Border Police. They routinely invade Palestinian villages (along with the IDF), and assault and kill Palestinians, Ethiopian Jews and African refugees. These are the very same forces who’ve incited a mass national uprising and near civil war two years ago. Not to mention an Israeli military assault on Gaza which left 250 dead. These are some of the “distractions” Nides proposes to ignore.
He claims he wants to focus solely on Netanyahu as his interlocutor, as if the incoming prime minister is the “responsible adult” of the bunch. In fact, Netanyahu favors most of the agenda of the theo-fascists. He can’t explicitly acknowledge this. But these are the very extremist views which brought him to power and maintain him there.
Netanyahu is a master of stabbing his political partners and rivals in the back and pulling the political rug out from under them. The road is paved with the headstones and epitaphs of those who accepted his invitation to form a government, only to be outmaneuvered and cast aside at an opportune moment. This is one of the reasons why the “centrist” political parties wanted nothing to do with Bibi in forming this new government. They’d been burned too many times to mention.
So it’s possible he will outfox his own new-found allies and neuter their extremist proposals. After all, he’s been at this for over 40 years. And most of these new extremist ministers have no previous ministerial experience. But why would he when he agrees with them, as noted above?
Our toothless Jewish communal mandarins are little better. They meet with Israeli diplomats clutching their pearls and moan about how hard it will be to schnorr more hundreds of millions from US Jews with an avowedly fascist, misogynist, homophobic government. They cajole and whine while doing nothing of any substance. They are more than an embarrassment.
Another troubling statement from the coalition statement of principles:
“The government will take steps to ensure governance and restore the proper balance among the legislative, executive and judicial branches.”
This is code for passing an Override Law that would dismantle an independent judiciary and destroy the rule of law. It would not “restore” balance since there never was the type of balance to which this refers. Israel has always had a judicial system that permitted courts to rule on laws passed by the Knesset. It was within its purview to disallow them if they violated the Basic Laws, which serve–in many cases, haphazardly–as a quasi-constitution. The proposed plan would permit the Knesset to eliminate any court ruling via majority legislative vote. It is essentially a hit-and-run assault on an entire branch of government. A destruction of the delicate balance of governance. A power-play by the theo-fascists, who know they cannot transform the nation into a Judeo-theocracy unless they eliminate an essentially secular institution of the judiciary.
So I’d like Biden and Blinken to explain to the American people, or anyone for that matter, precisely what it is that we’re affirming and protecting when they give Israel a pass at this crucial juncture of its history.
The Republicans coddled Senator Joseph McCarthy, and look what happened.
Eisenhower could have nipped it in the bud, but Ike was weak and temporized.
The Republicans coddled Donald Trump, and look what happened.
The Republicans could have nipped it in the bud and voted to impeach Trump, but they were weak, and refused.
Bibi and the Likud are coddling Ben Gvir, etal, and things will end badly for Israel.
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”–Santayana
@ Top Cat:
Joe McCarthy never murdered anyone. He never firebombed anyone’s home. He was never arrested with a bomb in his car. He never advocated destroying a holy site. He never attempted to build a church on the site of a mosque. He never advocated ethnic cleansing.
False.
Eisenhower didn’t step in as early as he should have. But after he did, McCarthy’s power evaporated and he died shortly after.
As for Trump, Thank God we didn’t need to rely on Repugnicans to do the right thing. Democrats did it for them. We voted him out of office and he will never hold office again. That’s because our democracy works. Imperfectly, but it works. Israel isn’t even a democracy. And pretty soon it will be the same type of theocracy Iran is. But even if it was a democracy, it would be a failed democracy.
We only had 4 yrs of Trump. You’ve had 20 yrs of Bibi and 50 years of far right governments. The problem isn’t merely a Ben Gvir or Smotrich; or even a Bibi for that matter. They are a symptom of far greater rot and dysfunction. Even if you get rid of all of them, the country will still be a mess because its flaws are systemic.
This comment is off-topic. Do not engage in whataboutism. The only subject relevant here is Israel and issues directly related to it. You’ve been warned about this before. I won’t warn you again.
Don’t offer quotations. You want to sound smart and offer profound lessons. You aren’t. And you don’t. And they serve no useful purpose.
Ben Gvir murdered someone?
He was arrested with a bomb in his car?
Where did these news items come from?
@ Bertrand: If you’d bothered to watch the Uvadah show in which one of his closest dicsiples (former) speaks very clearly about the role Ben Gvir plays in virtually all acts of terrorism, including murder. He is the Meir Kahane of the Judeo-terrorists. YOu should watch it. It might be instructive. I wrote an entire post about it in the past few weeks. You must’ve missed it.
Smotrich was arrested with a bomb in is car which he planned to detonate himself or transport to a co-conspirator to do so. He was jailed for 3 weeks. That too, I’ve written about here in the past few weeks. Must’ve missed that too. You need to do a better job of keeping up with me.
[comment deleted: one comment per thread. Next time, you’re done]
We really need to stop our unconditional support of Israel.We pay for it internationally. What goes on inside Israel, as distasteful as it has been and will surely become if this government proceeds with its goals, will be up to Israeli’s to change if they care. The Israeli public can be, or are, already as subdued as Russians are regarding Ukraine. Many Israeli’s are in fact Russian and Ukrainian.They know authoritarian rule.They may be okay with it and the repercussions being so traumatized as to buy into fears and the right to claim ancient lands.
The weaker Palestinians have no choice but to surrender or to shoot rockets and resort to attacks, asymmetrical warfare.But we should stop calling Palestinian uprisings terrorism; Consequent “Mowing the lawn” should not have us shrugging it off after a few phrases.
A Biden with balls would get out there and give a speech changing policy towards Israel. Our policy of exceptionalism towards Israel has not helped us internationally.Come what may American Jews can decide if they want to support what Israel has become.
Happy New Year.
[comment deleted: comments must be directly related to the subject of the post. If you comment here in future do not stray from that subject.]
I directly addressed a comment you made in the post. I even highlighted it. Please post it. I want a discussion with the others here about it.
@ Tamanna: No you didn’t. My post, almost all my posts, are about ISRAEL. As is this post. Confine your comments directly to that topic.
Further, when I make a decision don’t complain about it. It will only get you moderated or banned faster.
Here is something I.F. Stone wrote years ago. from “The Holy War” in the NYRB August 1967:
“In the outside world the welfare of Jewry depends on the maintenance of secular, non-racial, pluralistic societies. In Israel, Jewry finds itself defending a society in which mixed marriages cannot be legalized, in which non-Jews have a lesser status than Jews, and in which the ideal is racial and exclusionist. Jews must fight elsewhere for their very security and existence—against principles and practices they find themselves defending in Israel. Those from the outside world, even in their moments of greatest enthusiasm amid Israel’s accomplishments, feel twinges of claustrophobia, not just geographical but spiritual. Those caught up in Prophetic fervor soon begin to feel that the light they hoped to see out of Zion is only that of another narrow nationalism.”
The mixed marriage thing is not ‘racial’ a convert to Judaism in the diaspora can make aliya and also marry an Israel. If an Israeli non Jews converts to Judaism they can marry a Jewish Israeli. It is a religious thing, not a racial one.
Have you noticed that not one Palestinian has ever complained about this? They are happy that Israeli law doesn’t allow Palestinian muslim women to marry a Jew.
In most Muslim countries women cannot marry non Muslims unless they convert. Same for men, they can only marry book women unless they convert.
Why should this be held against Israel?
I am in secular England. My religion does not allow me to marry a non Muslim. Nobody in England is insisting i marry a non Muslim, the way you are insisting Israeli Jews should.
@ Tamanna: First, this post has no reference to marriage. Comments MUST respond directly to the post. Yours is off topic.
But since you raised issues worth refuting here goes: miscegenation (race mixing) is indeed a “racial” thing. Judeo-fascists have the same obsession with blood purity that Nazis and southern Whites did. Lehava is a group dedicated almost solely to fighting race mixing between Jews and “Arabs” (Muslim and Christian Palestinians). While it may claim that it does this for religious reasons, there is nothing in halacha that calls for hostility or violence against non-Jews. That is a prime tactics used by these fanatics.
You clearly know nothing about Israeli law. It does NOT prohibit Muslims from marrying Jews. In fact, there are many such marriages. Though of course they face the hostility, threats and intimidation of Judeo-Taliban like Lehava.
There are millions of Muslims around the world married to non-Muslims. So this claim as well does not stand.
You have no idea what Islam allows or forbids. Just as in halacha there is no specific prohibition against marrying non-Jews (though this is a custom followed until the Englightenment and after), Islam does not prevent it either. Of course, many Muslims and Jews strongly prefer and urge their children to marry within their respective religions. But it is not a requirement under religious law.
Not only have I not dealt with marriage prohibition in this post, I never said what you claim. I have never said, nor do I believe, that Jews “should marry” Muslims. I don’t care who Israeli Jews marry. They can marry extra-terrestrials as far as I care.
Though you claim you are Muslim. Clearly, you are not. If you were, you would have a much better grasp of Islamic law. I do not permit commenters to assume false identities.
I am a Muslim, but an Israel supporting one. Khaled Abu Toameh would disagree with much of what you write here, so a Muslim who does not agree with your views is not lying about their ID.
And Islamic law doesn’t allow women to marry non Muslims. Muslim men can marry Jewish and Christian women, but women cannot, unless the Jewor Christian man converts.
I went to Islamic madrassas as a kid, so yes, I know traditional Islam. Where do you get the idea that Muslim women marry non Muslims?
Please point to a majority following imam, in a Musllim country that allows that. Even a secular Muslim country. There are none. What you describe only happens in secular societies and the marriages are not valid under Sharia.
There are no millions of Muslim women marrying non Muslims.
I apologise for going off topic, didn’t mean to even write this, just wanted to inform you. Thank you.
@ Tamanna: THere are no “Israel-supporting” Muslims. Unless they are paid apparachiks with something material to gain for their trouble. Khaled abu Toameh is beloved by pro-Israel Jews. But hated by Muslims. In fact, I very much doubt he is a practicing Muslim.
You are not a kid obviously. Whatever you did as a child has nothing to do with who you are today or what you know about Islam. A Jew who attends Hebrew school as a child doesn’t pretend that he knows “traditional Judaism.” Clearly s/he doesn’t.
As for Muslim women marrying non-Muslims, it isn’t my idea. It is a fact:
As for whether imams allow such marriage, this is hardly relevant. What matters is only what Muslims do in the real world. Muslim women marry non-Muslim men. It doesn’t mean they are no longer Muslim nor that they have renounced their religion. It is simply the reality, a Muslim reality, whether you or any particular imam accepts it or not. But since you brought up the subject, there are experts in Islamic law who say not only is such marriage NOT prohibited in the Quran (though later Islamic sources have decreed this as a prohibition), the traditional view itself has become archaic and problematic. This view is here and quotes two Islamic scholars. Here is one:
In fact, we have the same issue in Jewish life. Over half of Jews marry non-Jews. Rabbis do not like it. Orthodox rabbis will not perform such marrieages. Communal leaders as well oppose it. But most Jews rabbis, communal leaders understand that it happens and they have to live with it. They don’t run such people out of Judaism, ostracize them or say they aren’t Jewish. They don’t refuse to recognize the marriage (except some Orthodox Jews, who are in the minority).
Islam too will have to deal with the matter in the same way. Otherwise, those 40% of women will leave Islam altogether. Only the most fantatical fundamentalist would be content with such an outcome.
You may not publish more than one comment in any thread. You have published three in this thread. Restrict yourself to a single comment if you do this in future.
I am a Muslim father of a Muslim woman who has married (with my blessing) a Jew who was not asked to embrace Islam. The marriage ceremonies were done by a Rabbi, an Imam and a Pastor, each marrying them in their own tradition. I know LOTS of Imams who have married Muslim men and women, with non-Muslims.
Going to a Madressa does not make one a proper Muslim. In fact, if the mullahs are like the run of the mill, narrow-minded and intolerant mullahs, all that is taught is narrow-mindedness and intolerance.
“majority following imam“? Does that mean you would only recognize a Sunni Imam as a genuine Imam? I assume you are aware that in the Quran, God says HE will decide who is a true, good person, a true person who submits to the will of one God, not humans. If a person has studied the Quran and preaches it, then he surely is an Imam, regardless of whether you approve or not.
“And Islamic law doesn’t allow women to marry non-Muslims…“. I presume you have found such a prohibition in the Quran? If so, please enlighten us, Richard might allow one more post with this information.
There is absolutely no prohibition against a Muslim marrying someone who is not on, NONE. Certainly, there may be personal or tribal preferences but that is not to be reflected on Islam.