If liberal American Jews weren’t already dismayed about the fact that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is a shoe-in to be re-elected in next month’s election, the latest political news out of Israel may give them conniption fits. The results of new polls show that Netanyahu’s Likud and its coalition partners are set to exceed the strong governing majority they had in the current Knesset. But the really interesting numbers are those that show that the main party to the right of the Likud—the Habeyit Hayehudi or Jewish Home Party–is on track to be the third largest in the next parliament with only Likud and Labor (set to finish a distant second) ahead of it.
This will give residents and supporters of the settlement movement an even louder voice in the next Knesset than their already healthy contingent in the current one. This will be interpreted by some on the left as a sign of Israel’s depravity or indifference to peace. But the reason for it is clear. Whereas in Israel’s past it could be asserted that the Likud represented Israel’s right-wing constituency, it has, to the shock and dismay of many in the left-wing Israeli media, become the center. That is not because more Israelis are supporters of increasing settlement throughout the West Bank. They are not. Rather it is due to the fact that the Israeli center as well as even many on what we used to call the Israeli left have given up on the Palestinians. They know that neither Fatah in the West Bank nor Hamas in Gaza will ever recognize Israel’s legitimacy no matter where its borders are drawn. So they have abandoned those parties that hold onto the illusion of peace in favor of those with a more realistic vision while those on the right are now embracing parties like Habeyit Hayehudi in order to hold Netanyahu’s feet to the fire and prevent him from making concessions that will neither entice the Palestinians to the negotiating table nor increase its popularity abroad.
Habeyit Hayehudi is the beneficiary in part of the merger of the Likud with Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beitenu. Rather than polls showing Likud getting as many seats as the two parties got in the last election, it is registering a loss of several places as some nationalist voters abandon the new conglomerate for its more ideological rival to the right. Though the enlarged Likud will still gain several seats from the mark it won in the 2009 vote that brought Netanyahu back into power and make it by far the largest in the Knesset with 35, Habeyit Hayehudi is set to get 12 with another pro-settlement party getting another two. That will double the number of seats those smaller parties won four years ago. Combined with the Orthodox religious parties, that will give Netanyahu nearly 70 seats out of 120 next year even before any of the centrist members join him as some undoubtedly will do.
Habeyit Hayehudi also has the advantage of a new leader in the 40-year-old Naftali Bennett. He is the son of American immigrants who is a former chief of staff to Netanyahu and who earned great wealth through the sale of his Internet security firm. In him, Israel’s nationalist camp now has an articulate and savvy figure who can say things about the Palestinians that Netanyahu, who, as David Horovitz of the Times of Israel pointed out in an insightful analysis, cannot utter for fear of worsening relations with the United States.
Bennett’s powerful position, which will be enhanced by a Cabinet portfolio that he will demand and get, will make the next Knesset harder for Netanyahu to manage. The absence of several Likud moderates who have been replaced by more nationalist and younger figures on the party’s Knesset list will also ensure that the prime minister will not be straying far from the wishes of his voters the way some of his predecessors have done.
This won’t necessarily mean that Netanyahu will move to build throughout the West Bank the way Bennett would like. But it will strengthen his resolve to continue to do so in Jerusalem and its suburbs as well as the major settlement blocs that Israel will hold onto even in the theoretical scenario where the Palestinians finally give in and accept a two-state solution.
That will lead to much gnashing of the teeth on the part of liberal Jews who are uncomfortable with Netanyahu, let alone those to his right. But those who lament this development should understand that the Israeli people are making this choice with their eyes wide open.
Even Labor, the party that is historically associated with the peace process, has more or less abandoned the issue of reconciliation with the Palestinians in this election and instead is concentrating on economic and social justice issues. Those lists that are still devoted to the peace process, including the new party led by former foreign minister Tzipi Livni, have been thoroughly marginalized.
Unlike most Israelis, many if not most American Jews and many non-Jewish friends of Israel haven’t drawn conclusions from the last 20 years of failed peace processing. They cling instead to the fables about the Palestinians that once fueled the post-Oslo euphoria in Israel but which have now been discarded there.
Those selfish Israelis. n nThey refuse to believe Abbas wants peace, and they are tired of a few measly firecrackers lobbed their way – even though only a few Israelis were killed by them. It's not even close to six-million. n n5 dead is nothing for us Jews! n nAnd for this, they are willing to embarrass their American brothers by refusing to embrace Obama and his plans, after all Obama has done for gay marriage and abortion rights, yet. n nUnbelievable chutzpah.
Today the Germans apologize for the Nazi crimes. n nToday the Spanish apologize for the Inquisition crimes. n nBut today the ARABS not only don't apologize but ARE PROUD of the CRIMES OF ISLAM. n nARABS must APOLOGIZE for the CRIMES OF ISLAM and return to the Jews STOLEN JEWISH HOLY SITES like Temple Mount and the Cave of The Patriarcs in Hebron. n nHow DARE Muslims today not APOLOGIZE for the CRIMES of their ancestors? n nHow dare they build mosques where the Jewish Patriarcs Abraham, Ytzaak and Yaakov are buried and today REFUSE TO ACKNOWLEDGE their CRIME? n nMUSLIMS must APOLOGIZE for their ancestors actions and RETURN JEWISH HOLY SITES to the Jews! n
What would the arabs in Judea and Samaria do if they didn;t have jobs in Israel? n nStop employing them n nStop enriching them n nStop funding them n nThe more ISrael does to support their wellbeing, the stronger they are to kill Jews.
Israelis have also shifted to the right because they don't believe the nonsense and pablum spouted by Commentary's "Commentariat" Max Boot and Seth Mandel that Israel should back the PA Abbas thugs and proceed with the Two-State Final Solution because they are better genocidal enemies than Hamas. And they are supporting politicians and parties to the right of Bibi because they are tired of hearing Churchill-like speeches followed by craven Chamberlain-like appeasement.
regarding: n nThis will be interpreted by some on the left as a sign of Israel’s depravity or indifference to peace. n n(there are those on the left who feel the existance of Israel and Jews is in itself a crime-what unadulterated shit) n nBut the reason for it is clear. n nWhereas in Israel’s past it could be asserted that the Likud represented Israel’s right-wing constituency, it has, to the shock and dismay of many in the left-wing Israeli media, become the center. n nThat is not because more Israelis are supporters of increasing settlement throughout the West Bank. n nThey are not. n nRather it is due to the fact that the Israeli center as well as even many on what we used to call the Israeli left have given up on the Palestinians. n nwhere does this author find these assumptions? n nI haven;t read so much crap in a long time!
Read the Israeli media. Resuming peace talks with the Palestinians is a non-topic and a non-vote getter. Tzipi Livni and Labor are concentrating on social justice and environment. Meretz has about the same support in Israel that Peter Beinhart has … in Israel. This would seem to match your own beliefs.
Why would liberal Jews in America be upset? Jews push liberalism and diversity where they are a minority and promote homogeneity and unity where they are the majority. nSo, even as 'liberal' American Jews make a show of being upset, they are happy to see Zionist hardliners rule Israel. n nIf Israel ceased to exist and if Netanhayu settled in the US, he would be a liberal Jew out of Jewish interest. nAnd it would be smart. n nIf you're a minority, favor liberalism to mellow out the power of the majority. nIf you're party of the majority, favor nationalism to maximize the power of your own people. n nNetanhayu has always been rightwing for Israel only. He never suggested that white gentiles in America should act like Jews act in Israel. His message to white Americans has been 'support rightwing Jews in Israel', but he has never said he would support rightwing whites in America who are struggling for white interests. He wants US and EU to be open borders. n nIn a way, Jews are being hypocritical, but in another way, not really. They're just being smart. If someone wears coat in winter, is he being hypocritical if he doesn't wear it in summer? nNo, he wears a coat in winter because it's cold, and he takes it off in summer because it's warm. Only an idiot would consistently wear a coat all year around. nJews are simply adapting to whatever the political climate happens to be. n nWhen most Americans were white, Jews used white ethnics against wasp power concentrated in the GOP, and it seemed like liberalism had won the day in 64. Jews, white ethnics, blacks, and liberal wasps overwhelmingly voted for LBJ. But when all hell broke loose, many white ethnics went to the GOP, and the Democrats also lost white southerners. nSo, a new strategy was needed and now we have Obama supported by growing masses of non-whites. n nIn summer Jews take off the coat and insist goy must wear it. In winter, Jews wear the coat and insist goy must stand in the cold. nMakes the Jew stronger, makes the goy weaker. To make your side stronger, it helps to make the other side weaker. So, I say it's smart. n
While America’s left-leaning and liberal Jewish community (fully 70%) has been obsessively repeating the hypnotic “peace process” mantra, back here on earth, Israel has overtaken America as leader of the Jewish world. Perfect timing, since Israel and American Jews are moving in the opposite direction. If you want proof, there’s a recent story in the Times of Israel about the new right-leaning political consensus. And if you want evidence of the ensuing hysteria and desperation that has come over our Jewish intelligentsia in the wake of this tectonic shift, Jeffrey Goldberg of the Atlantic provides a prime example. Seems to me, the Friedmans, Goldbergs, Beinarts and J Streets of this world – and their petulant rants – have become irrelevant to the debate about Israel. Literally and figuratively, they’re talking to themselves.
"…most American Jews and many non-Jewish [ahem] friends of Israel" did not need to draw any conclusion from the farcical "peace process" in the Middle East. It's not like they, and their children, will die should Israel suffer from the same stupidity, lower its guard, and let "Palestinians" control the high ground in Judea and Samaria.
It has always been the political cry of “far right extremists” ever since Jabotinsky.
Yes, everytime I am in Eretz Israel I am sickened seeing the near total dependence of Jews on Arab builders, earning high wages used to support and expand their huge families, while many Jews are engaged in unskilled service jobs or just don't work at all. However I was especially pleased while visiting Hevron, the cradle of Jewish civilization, this summer to learn that the Jewish residents there have mastered the building trades and don't use Arab labor. When are Jews going to learn to stop feeding those who plan to kill them in the morning?
the key point is actuall,y they are embarassing to Jews and contemptable to gentiles n nthey forget they are Jews when they marry, raise their children or live their everyday lives n ngood thing they have Israel to criticize so they can remind themselves and us, that they are Jews
regarding: n nIf you're a minority, favor liberalism to mellow out the power of the majority. nIf you're part(y) of the majority, favor nationalism to maximize the power of your own people. n nJews have an interesting history as minority in every nation state in the world, don;t you think? n nWhat happens to people who forget the past? n nThe arabs who constitute a growing minority in Israel pose a particular threat, don;t you think? n nWhy do you think 20 or so million Jews threaten the hegemony of more than 7 billion goyim? n nDo you have a Jew problem?
Abe: n nThe last reality check has it that it's the sole Jewish refuge which is at war with and under a death sentence by most of the World. n nunhappily, very true
Good post, except for one thing. "Hasbara" attempts are hopeless. May as well think that rats and cockroaches would not be marked for extinction if they had better hasbara – because that is how the world sees Jews – and Israel is the physical and symbolic nest.
No, no, no, Michael, you're not taking this seriously at all. You can't just construct a working hypothesis on such limited anecdotal and retrospective observations. Snapperhead may be on to something brilliant we've never thought of. Have you or anyone seriously investigated where those winter coats go in the summer? Unstructured, personal anecdotal data on your grand dad's windbreaker appearing on Summer evenings is at best a one-off cross-sectional study which cannot yield reliable data for any kind of empirically-based model-building on Jewish-Gentile coat-transfer relationships and dynamics. You must run a full empirical longitudinal study, account for all transient and temporal order of events and attempt to include time-invariant and unobserved individual differences. When you have a moment, that is.
Thank you, Mr MacWell.. Alas, the Arabs there have a better deal; UNRWA covers education and welfare, which the inmates administer as they see fit. This is to provide them with "dignity" and to teach them "nation-building" skills.You may not appreciate this approach, but the "Palestinian" leadership and the Swiss banks do.
Michael, Michael, Michael. Funny line, but needlessly negative. Forgive the finger-wagging, preaching to the choir, and undoubtedly repeating things you already know, but hasbarah is about re-publicising facts, declaring pride, defending positions and most of all, reminding….just as I'm trying to do now. It "works" mostly on fundamentally decent people and on folks who are already "on track," but need the reminders. Think of it as a gentle kick in a friend's butt from time to time. n nSeveral generations of dedicated North American Zionist students who volunteered millions of hours to inform and persuade their families, communities, general society and policy makers have helped keep the US, Canada and Australia from turning European on the issue of Jews and Israel. n nYou may atone for your sin of cynicism by pledging a little to a hasbarah project of your choosing. May I recommend Honest Reporting?