28 sept 2019
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Israelis have just voted in favour of continuing to deny all Palestinians, between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, equal rights.
Israel’s election results are in. In terms of narrow party-focused politics, the results were inconclusive. The two main electoral lists resulted in a near draw. According to the final vote tally, the Blue and White electoral alliance – led by two former Israeli generals and an ex-TV news presenter – ended narrowly ahead with 33 seats in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament. But they were only a single seat ahead of the ruling Likud Party of the current prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who won 32 seats. |
Nonetheless, the Israeli president has just provided Netanyahu with the first opportunity to form a government, since the incumbent obtained more recommendations from incoming lawmakers overall.
But in terms of what the elections mean for the indigenous people of Palestine, this vote concluded with an emphatic result. Israelis have just voted to continue to permanently impose their racist military occupation regime upon millions of Palestinians.
Liberal Zionists in the UK and the US, when criticised for their support for Israel, quite often take a defensive posture claiming that they oppose “the Netanyahu government.”
Many have been on social media in recent weeks, praying for the downfall of Netanyahu. They also sometimes claim to oppose “the occupation” stating that they work for a “two-state solution” to “the conflict.”
But all that is just so much sophistry.
It is to ignore the reality of the Zionist regime and what it means for Palestinian lives.
The truth is that Israelis have overwhelmingly just voted in favour of continuing the occupation forever.
Israelis have just voted profoundly in favour of continuing the violent, racist, military dictatorship that the Israeli military imposes on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, indefinitely.
Israelis have just voted in favour of continuing to deny all Palestinians, between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, equal rights.
And Israelis have just voted unquestionably in favour of continuing to permanently deny Palestinian refugees their internationally recognised legal rights to return to their homes, in present day Israel.
These are the cold hard facts of this most recent Israeli election – as indeed, in every Israeli election.
All Zionist parties in the Knesset, oppose ending the Israeli military occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Only the Joint List – an alliance of parties led by politicians who are mostly Palestinian Arabs – called for an end to the occupation. Even the so-called “left wing” Zionist party Meretz (now part of the Democratic Union list), did not issue a statement claiming that they would end the occupation.
The Joint List did reasonably well, winning 13 seats. But even that means that only almost 11 per cent of citizens of Israel voted to end the occupation of any Palestinians at all.
It means that more than 89 per cent of Israeli citizens voted to keep 5.3 million Palestinians living under the boot of their military dictatorship, forever denying them the most basic human and political rights.
For all the cant of the Western liberal Zionists about “Israeli democracy,” the fact is that none of those 5.3 million people have a vote in the elections for the only government that really controls every aspect of their daily lives – purely, and simply, because they are not Jewish.
None of these are the actions of a democracy. This is an apartheid regime – an ethnocracy.
As the Palestinian intellectual, Diana Buttu, put it this week (in an interview which you can watch in the video above), there is no real difference for Palestinians between Netanyahu and the leader of the Blue and White list – former Israeli general, Benny Gantz.
As Buttu explained, the latter is “a man who even when individuals said that all that they were demanding was equality, came out and said very succinctly he does not at all believe in equality. On the issue of Gantz versus Netanyahu, when it comes to Palestinians, they are exactly identical.”
In his election campaign this year, Gantz repeatedly boasted of how many Palestinians he has killed during wars he has led. His election videos gloated that in the 2014 war, he had bombed parts of Gaza back to the “stone ages”.
When Netanyahu unveiled his plan to annex large swathes of the West Bank this month, rather than condemning him, Gantz too explained that the Jordan Valley would forever remain under Israeli military occupation.
All of this means that anyone campaigning in favour of Palestinian rights, has to face up to a stark reality – the vast majority of Israelis support the occupation. They do not oppose it, as is often claimed.
The figure of 89 per cent of Israelis in support of the occupation, is extremely conservative. A majority of the less than 11 per cent, who voted for the Joint List, will have been Palestinian citizens of Israel.
It is true, that a small minority of dissident Israeli Jews are against the occupation and for equality – just as how in apartheid South Africa, there was a small dissident minority of the white settler population who opposed – and even fought against – the white supremacist regime there.
But we have to face up to this simple fact. Just as was the case with white South Africans – the vast majority of Israelis are never going to vote away their privileges under Israel’s racist system.
Full equality will have to be imposed upon them.
That means isolating Israel’s apartheid regime, by supporting the Palestinian struggle for freedom, equality and return using boycott, divestment and sanctions.
But in terms of what the elections mean for the indigenous people of Palestine, this vote concluded with an emphatic result. Israelis have just voted to continue to permanently impose their racist military occupation regime upon millions of Palestinians.
Liberal Zionists in the UK and the US, when criticised for their support for Israel, quite often take a defensive posture claiming that they oppose “the Netanyahu government.”
Many have been on social media in recent weeks, praying for the downfall of Netanyahu. They also sometimes claim to oppose “the occupation” stating that they work for a “two-state solution” to “the conflict.”
But all that is just so much sophistry.
It is to ignore the reality of the Zionist regime and what it means for Palestinian lives.
The truth is that Israelis have overwhelmingly just voted in favour of continuing the occupation forever.
Israelis have just voted profoundly in favour of continuing the violent, racist, military dictatorship that the Israeli military imposes on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, indefinitely.
Israelis have just voted in favour of continuing to deny all Palestinians, between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, equal rights.
And Israelis have just voted unquestionably in favour of continuing to permanently deny Palestinian refugees their internationally recognised legal rights to return to their homes, in present day Israel.
These are the cold hard facts of this most recent Israeli election – as indeed, in every Israeli election.
All Zionist parties in the Knesset, oppose ending the Israeli military occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Only the Joint List – an alliance of parties led by politicians who are mostly Palestinian Arabs – called for an end to the occupation. Even the so-called “left wing” Zionist party Meretz (now part of the Democratic Union list), did not issue a statement claiming that they would end the occupation.
The Joint List did reasonably well, winning 13 seats. But even that means that only almost 11 per cent of citizens of Israel voted to end the occupation of any Palestinians at all.
It means that more than 89 per cent of Israeli citizens voted to keep 5.3 million Palestinians living under the boot of their military dictatorship, forever denying them the most basic human and political rights.
For all the cant of the Western liberal Zionists about “Israeli democracy,” the fact is that none of those 5.3 million people have a vote in the elections for the only government that really controls every aspect of their daily lives – purely, and simply, because they are not Jewish.
None of these are the actions of a democracy. This is an apartheid regime – an ethnocracy.
As the Palestinian intellectual, Diana Buttu, put it this week (in an interview which you can watch in the video above), there is no real difference for Palestinians between Netanyahu and the leader of the Blue and White list – former Israeli general, Benny Gantz.
As Buttu explained, the latter is “a man who even when individuals said that all that they were demanding was equality, came out and said very succinctly he does not at all believe in equality. On the issue of Gantz versus Netanyahu, when it comes to Palestinians, they are exactly identical.”
In his election campaign this year, Gantz repeatedly boasted of how many Palestinians he has killed during wars he has led. His election videos gloated that in the 2014 war, he had bombed parts of Gaza back to the “stone ages”.
When Netanyahu unveiled his plan to annex large swathes of the West Bank this month, rather than condemning him, Gantz too explained that the Jordan Valley would forever remain under Israeli military occupation.
All of this means that anyone campaigning in favour of Palestinian rights, has to face up to a stark reality – the vast majority of Israelis support the occupation. They do not oppose it, as is often claimed.
The figure of 89 per cent of Israelis in support of the occupation, is extremely conservative. A majority of the less than 11 per cent, who voted for the Joint List, will have been Palestinian citizens of Israel.
It is true, that a small minority of dissident Israeli Jews are against the occupation and for equality – just as how in apartheid South Africa, there was a small dissident minority of the white settler population who opposed – and even fought against – the white supremacist regime there.
But we have to face up to this simple fact. Just as was the case with white South Africans – the vast majority of Israelis are never going to vote away their privileges under Israel’s racist system.
Full equality will have to be imposed upon them.
That means isolating Israel’s apartheid regime, by supporting the Palestinian struggle for freedom, equality and return using boycott, divestment and sanctions.
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24 sept 2019
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Netanyahu urges the Turkish president to 'stop lying' after Erdogan holds up map of Israel during address to world leaders, claiming it shows 'shrinking Palestine'; shortly before the speech he compared murder of Jews in WWII to events in Gaza
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday compared Israel's actions in Gaza to the Holocaust and provided a show and tell presentation, similar to the ones favored by Israeli leader, condemning what he described is an Israeli occupation of Palestine. Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly attended by world leaders, the Turkish president said the only solution to Israeli-Palestinian conflict is an "immediate establishment" a Palestinian state. |
"The immediate establishment of an independent Palestinian state with homogeneous territories, on the basis of the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, is the only solution," he said. "Any other peace plan will never be implemented."
Shortly before his speech at UNGA, the president met with Turkish natives living in New York, where the General Assembly is located, where he compared the murder of Jews during the Holocaust to the "genocide" committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip.
"When we look at the genocide Nazis committed against Jews, we should look at the massacre happening in the Gaza Strip from the same point of view," Erdogan is quoted as saying by the Turkish Anadolu news agency.
In his UN speech, Erdogan went on to hold up a map showing Israel through the years from 1947 to the present day, revealing what he claims are "shrinking" Palestinian territories. "Where are the borders of the State of Israel?" Erdogan said, adding the Jewish state is one of the most racist countries in the world.
Visual presentations have in the past been a tool favored by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who during his UNGA address last year used a map revealing what he claimed was "another atomic facility in Iran."
"He who does not stop lying about Israel, who slaughters the Kurds in his country, and who denies the awful massacre of the Armenian people – should not preach to Israel," said Netanyahu in a statement following the Turkish president's speech. "Erdogan, stop lying."
The 65-year-old then took another thinly veiled shot at Israel, saying nuclear power should either be free for all states or banned completely, and warned that the "inequality" between states who have nuclear power and who do not undermines global balances.
Erdogan has hinted in the past that he wanted he same protection for Turkey as Israel, which foreign analysts say possesses a sizable nuclear arsenal.
Israel maintains a policy of ambiguity around the nuclear issue, refusing to confirm or deny its capabilities.
"The position of nuclear power should either be forbidden for all or permissible for everyone," Erdogan told the United Nations General Assembly annual gathering of world leaders.
Turkey signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in 1980, and has also signed the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, which bans all nuclear detonations for any purpose.
Shortly before his speech at UNGA, the president met with Turkish natives living in New York, where the General Assembly is located, where he compared the murder of Jews during the Holocaust to the "genocide" committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip.
"When we look at the genocide Nazis committed against Jews, we should look at the massacre happening in the Gaza Strip from the same point of view," Erdogan is quoted as saying by the Turkish Anadolu news agency.
In his UN speech, Erdogan went on to hold up a map showing Israel through the years from 1947 to the present day, revealing what he claims are "shrinking" Palestinian territories. "Where are the borders of the State of Israel?" Erdogan said, adding the Jewish state is one of the most racist countries in the world.
Visual presentations have in the past been a tool favored by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who during his UNGA address last year used a map revealing what he claimed was "another atomic facility in Iran."
"He who does not stop lying about Israel, who slaughters the Kurds in his country, and who denies the awful massacre of the Armenian people – should not preach to Israel," said Netanyahu in a statement following the Turkish president's speech. "Erdogan, stop lying."
The 65-year-old then took another thinly veiled shot at Israel, saying nuclear power should either be free for all states or banned completely, and warned that the "inequality" between states who have nuclear power and who do not undermines global balances.
Erdogan has hinted in the past that he wanted he same protection for Turkey as Israel, which foreign analysts say possesses a sizable nuclear arsenal.
Israel maintains a policy of ambiguity around the nuclear issue, refusing to confirm or deny its capabilities.
"The position of nuclear power should either be forbidden for all or permissible for everyone," Erdogan told the United Nations General Assembly annual gathering of world leaders.
Turkey signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in 1980, and has also signed the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, which bans all nuclear detonations for any purpose.
Joint List member of Knesset Abd Al Hakeem Haj Yahya
Believing he is speaking to PM during prank call by radio station, Abd Al Hakeem Haj Yahya confirms Likud reached out to his party after April elections for assistance in legislation to dissolve Knesset and hold second round of elections in six months
A Joint List MK inadvertently revealed Monday that Prime Minister Bejamin Netanyahu's Likud party had reached out to the predominantly Arab party after the April 2019 elections.
In what was supposed to be a prank call, local Jerusalem radio host Menachem Toker phoned Abd Al Hakeem Haj Yahya for a live interview and connected him to a Netanyahu impersonator to discuss Likud overtures towards the predominantly Arab faction.
Believing he was talking to the real prime minister, Haj Yahya revealed that Netanyahu emissaries Natan Eshel and Likud MK Miki Zohar had both approached him in the wake of the April elections.
Despite denials from both sides, the Knesset member let it be known that his Balad faction was approached in order to enlist support for Netanyahu's efforts to dissolve the newly elected Knesset after he failed to form a right-wing religious coalition.
With the votes from the Joint List, however, Netanyahu was able to pass a law dissolving the Knesset and call for the snap elections that were held earlier this month.
Netanyahu has been repeatedly criticized for anti-Arab rhetoric during the 2015 and both 2019 election campaigns.
Haj Yahya, on live radio in what he thought was a three-way conversation with the prime minister, spoke of the good chemistry that existed between the Balad representative within the Joint List, MK Mansour Abbas, and Netanyahu's close advisor Natan Eshel.
Believing he is speaking to PM during prank call by radio station, Abd Al Hakeem Haj Yahya confirms Likud reached out to his party after April elections for assistance in legislation to dissolve Knesset and hold second round of elections in six months
A Joint List MK inadvertently revealed Monday that Prime Minister Bejamin Netanyahu's Likud party had reached out to the predominantly Arab party after the April 2019 elections.
In what was supposed to be a prank call, local Jerusalem radio host Menachem Toker phoned Abd Al Hakeem Haj Yahya for a live interview and connected him to a Netanyahu impersonator to discuss Likud overtures towards the predominantly Arab faction.
Believing he was talking to the real prime minister, Haj Yahya revealed that Netanyahu emissaries Natan Eshel and Likud MK Miki Zohar had both approached him in the wake of the April elections.
Despite denials from both sides, the Knesset member let it be known that his Balad faction was approached in order to enlist support for Netanyahu's efforts to dissolve the newly elected Knesset after he failed to form a right-wing religious coalition.
With the votes from the Joint List, however, Netanyahu was able to pass a law dissolving the Knesset and call for the snap elections that were held earlier this month.
Netanyahu has been repeatedly criticized for anti-Arab rhetoric during the 2015 and both 2019 election campaigns.
Haj Yahya, on live radio in what he thought was a three-way conversation with the prime minister, spoke of the good chemistry that existed between the Balad representative within the Joint List, MK Mansour Abbas, and Netanyahu's close advisor Natan Eshel.
Natan Eshel
Eshel is the prime ministers' emissary and political problem solver. He was dishonorably dismissed from his official post in the Prime Minister's Office over sexual misconduct, but continues to provide services for the prime minister in an unofficial capacity.
Haj Yahya said Tuesday he was unable to hear the radio call clearly because of bad reception, but confirmed discussions with Likud had taken place in April.
"We have always had discussions with members of Knesset, ministers and the office of the prime minister," he said, adding that, "we are always willing to negotiate."
He said that while he was out on Election Day urging his fellow Arab citizens to vote in order to oust Netanyahu, political "meetings and conversations are only natural."
Eshel is the prime ministers' emissary and political problem solver. He was dishonorably dismissed from his official post in the Prime Minister's Office over sexual misconduct, but continues to provide services for the prime minister in an unofficial capacity.
Haj Yahya said Tuesday he was unable to hear the radio call clearly because of bad reception, but confirmed discussions with Likud had taken place in April.
"We have always had discussions with members of Knesset, ministers and the office of the prime minister," he said, adding that, "we are always willing to negotiate."
He said that while he was out on Election Day urging his fellow Arab citizens to vote in order to oust Netanyahu, political "meetings and conversations are only natural."
22 sept 2019
An election poster of Benny Gantz is seen ahead of the General elections in Jerusalem on 16 September 16, 2019
Experience has taught Palestinians not to pay heed to Israeli elections. But to every rule there is an exception.
Although it is still true that no Israeli Zionist leader has ever been kind to the Palestinian people, the dynamics of the latest Israeli elections on September 17 are likely to affect the Occupied Palestinian Territories in a profound way.
Indeed, the outcome of the elections seems to have ushered in a new age in Israel, ideologically and politically. But the same claim can also be made regarding its potential influence on Palestinians, who should now brace themselves for war in Gaza and annexation in the West Bank.
Former chief of general staff of the Israeli army, Benny Gantz, who had orchestrated the destructive war on the besieged Gaza Strip in 2014, is likely to be tasked with the job of forming Israel’s new government. Gantz had recently boasted about sending “parts of Gaza back to the Stone Age”.
There is little discussion in Israeli, and, by extension, western media of Gantz’s numerous war crimes during the Gaza war.
The focus is mainly placed on the fact that he seems to have finally dislodged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from a position he had held for nearly 13 years, a scenario that was, until recently, deemed inconceivable.
The leader of the Kahol Lavan (Blue and White) party had plotted the ouster of Netanyahu back in January 2018, when he formed the Israeli Resilience Party. Following several political mergers and a strong showing in the previous elections in April, the centrist politician has finally edged past Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party in the most recent elections.
With 33 seats in the Israeli Knesset – compared to Likud’s 31 seats – Gantz now needs a broad coalition to rule Israel.
The vehemently anti-Palestinian politician has made it clear that he will not enter into a coalition with the Joint List, the alliance of various Palestinian Arab political parties. The latter has managed to achieve an outstanding 13 seats, making it the third largest political force in Israel.
But, according to Gantz’s previous statements, the inclusion of Arab parties in the coalition is out of the question, despite the fact that Ayman Odeh, the leader of the Joint List, had indicated his willingness to join a Gantz-led government.
It is now likely that Gantz will seek a coalition government that includes the Likud, along with Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu.
The country’s former ultra-nationalist defense minister, Lieberman, with 8 seats, has restored his previous “kingmaker” status. He, too, is keen on such a coalition. Gantz is open to such a scenario, with one condition: Netanyahu should stay out.
While the “king of Israel” has finally been dethroned, however, Palestinians have little to rejoice over. True, Netanyahu has destroyed any chance of a just peace in Palestine through the entrenching of the illegal military occupation and inhumane siege of the West Bank and Gaza. However, future possibilities are equally, if not even more, grim.
Once upon a time, outright discussion of annexing large parts of the Occupied Palestinian Territories were relegated to the margins of Israel’s political discourse. This is no longer the case. The call for annexing major illegal settlement blocs, along with the Jordan Valley, is now a common demand made by all of Israel’s main political parties, including Gantz’s own.
Gantz, possibly Israel’s next prime minister, has repeatedly made it clear that he would be strengthening, rather than dismantling, the illegal settlements in the West Bank, and has even attempted to take ownership of Netanyahu’s pledge to annex the Jordan Valley.
“We are happy that the Prime Minister has come around to adopt the Blue and White plan to recognize the Jordan valley,” Gantz’s party said in a statement shortly before election day.
The annexation of these areas would amount to illegally seizing more than 60 percent of the West Bank.
Given that Israel has successively normalized the concept of annexation in its own, political discourse, and that it has already received an American nod on the matter, it is then a matter of time before such a step takes place.
The likelihood of it taking place sooner than later is that a broad, center-right-ultranationalist coalition would serve as an insurance to Israel’s leadership, in case of a political or security fallout once the decision is taken and enforced.
That political insurance simply means that no single party or official would bear the blame or shoulder the consequences alone, should Palestinians rebel or the international community push back against the flagrant Israeli violation of international law.
The same logic is applicable to the case of a future war on Gaza.
Israel has been itching for a major military campaign in Gaza since its last onslaught of 2014. Since then, Gaza has been bombed numerous times, and hundreds of innocent lives have been lost. But Netanyahu steered clear of an all-out war, fearing a high death toll among his soldiers and the blame game that often follows such military misadventures.
Mandated by a large coalition, bringing together Israeli army generals, right-wing politicians and ideologues, Gantz would feel far more empowered to go to war, especially since the former military chief has repeatedly accused Netanyahu of being “weak” on Gaza, “terrorism” and security.
If a future war goes as planned, Gantz would be happy to claim the accolades of victory; if it does not, due to Gaza’s stiff resistance, the political damage is likely to remain minimal.
When it comes to war, Gantz is Netanyahu on steroids. He has participated, orchestrated or led many military campaigns, including ones aimed at suppressing any resistance in Gaza, in Lebanon and during the previous popular uprisings.
For Gantz, war is the answer, as indicated by one of his campaign slogans, “Only the strong survive.”
While it is typical, and understandable, to dismiss all Israeli governments as one and the same, a Gantz-led government will possess the needed political legitimacy, popular mandate and strategic tools to achieve a job that Netanyahu himself couldn’t finish: a war on Gaza, and annexation of the West Bank.
Experience has taught Palestinians not to pay heed to Israeli elections. But to every rule there is an exception.
Although it is still true that no Israeli Zionist leader has ever been kind to the Palestinian people, the dynamics of the latest Israeli elections on September 17 are likely to affect the Occupied Palestinian Territories in a profound way.
Indeed, the outcome of the elections seems to have ushered in a new age in Israel, ideologically and politically. But the same claim can also be made regarding its potential influence on Palestinians, who should now brace themselves for war in Gaza and annexation in the West Bank.
Former chief of general staff of the Israeli army, Benny Gantz, who had orchestrated the destructive war on the besieged Gaza Strip in 2014, is likely to be tasked with the job of forming Israel’s new government. Gantz had recently boasted about sending “parts of Gaza back to the Stone Age”.
There is little discussion in Israeli, and, by extension, western media of Gantz’s numerous war crimes during the Gaza war.
The focus is mainly placed on the fact that he seems to have finally dislodged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from a position he had held for nearly 13 years, a scenario that was, until recently, deemed inconceivable.
The leader of the Kahol Lavan (Blue and White) party had plotted the ouster of Netanyahu back in January 2018, when he formed the Israeli Resilience Party. Following several political mergers and a strong showing in the previous elections in April, the centrist politician has finally edged past Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party in the most recent elections.
With 33 seats in the Israeli Knesset – compared to Likud’s 31 seats – Gantz now needs a broad coalition to rule Israel.
The vehemently anti-Palestinian politician has made it clear that he will not enter into a coalition with the Joint List, the alliance of various Palestinian Arab political parties. The latter has managed to achieve an outstanding 13 seats, making it the third largest political force in Israel.
But, according to Gantz’s previous statements, the inclusion of Arab parties in the coalition is out of the question, despite the fact that Ayman Odeh, the leader of the Joint List, had indicated his willingness to join a Gantz-led government.
It is now likely that Gantz will seek a coalition government that includes the Likud, along with Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu.
The country’s former ultra-nationalist defense minister, Lieberman, with 8 seats, has restored his previous “kingmaker” status. He, too, is keen on such a coalition. Gantz is open to such a scenario, with one condition: Netanyahu should stay out.
While the “king of Israel” has finally been dethroned, however, Palestinians have little to rejoice over. True, Netanyahu has destroyed any chance of a just peace in Palestine through the entrenching of the illegal military occupation and inhumane siege of the West Bank and Gaza. However, future possibilities are equally, if not even more, grim.
Once upon a time, outright discussion of annexing large parts of the Occupied Palestinian Territories were relegated to the margins of Israel’s political discourse. This is no longer the case. The call for annexing major illegal settlement blocs, along with the Jordan Valley, is now a common demand made by all of Israel’s main political parties, including Gantz’s own.
Gantz, possibly Israel’s next prime minister, has repeatedly made it clear that he would be strengthening, rather than dismantling, the illegal settlements in the West Bank, and has even attempted to take ownership of Netanyahu’s pledge to annex the Jordan Valley.
“We are happy that the Prime Minister has come around to adopt the Blue and White plan to recognize the Jordan valley,” Gantz’s party said in a statement shortly before election day.
The annexation of these areas would amount to illegally seizing more than 60 percent of the West Bank.
Given that Israel has successively normalized the concept of annexation in its own, political discourse, and that it has already received an American nod on the matter, it is then a matter of time before such a step takes place.
The likelihood of it taking place sooner than later is that a broad, center-right-ultranationalist coalition would serve as an insurance to Israel’s leadership, in case of a political or security fallout once the decision is taken and enforced.
That political insurance simply means that no single party or official would bear the blame or shoulder the consequences alone, should Palestinians rebel or the international community push back against the flagrant Israeli violation of international law.
The same logic is applicable to the case of a future war on Gaza.
Israel has been itching for a major military campaign in Gaza since its last onslaught of 2014. Since then, Gaza has been bombed numerous times, and hundreds of innocent lives have been lost. But Netanyahu steered clear of an all-out war, fearing a high death toll among his soldiers and the blame game that often follows such military misadventures.
Mandated by a large coalition, bringing together Israeli army generals, right-wing politicians and ideologues, Gantz would feel far more empowered to go to war, especially since the former military chief has repeatedly accused Netanyahu of being “weak” on Gaza, “terrorism” and security.
If a future war goes as planned, Gantz would be happy to claim the accolades of victory; if it does not, due to Gaza’s stiff resistance, the political damage is likely to remain minimal.
When it comes to war, Gantz is Netanyahu on steroids. He has participated, orchestrated or led many military campaigns, including ones aimed at suppressing any resistance in Gaza, in Lebanon and during the previous popular uprisings.
For Gantz, war is the answer, as indicated by one of his campaign slogans, “Only the strong survive.”
While it is typical, and understandable, to dismiss all Israeli governments as one and the same, a Gantz-led government will possess the needed political legitimacy, popular mandate and strategic tools to achieve a job that Netanyahu himself couldn’t finish: a war on Gaza, and annexation of the West Bank.
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