Netanyahu on the Ropes
Stephen Lendman
Netanyahu in the world’s biggest snake pit, blustering away. (2015)
[dropcap]O[/dropcap]n Tuesday, March 17, Israelis vote. Will they decide six years of Netanyahu are enough? He was elected in March 2009. Earlier he served as prime minister from June 1996 – July 1999. At the time, he was Israel’s youngest ever leader. In 1993, he succeeded Yitzhak Sharmir to head Likud. He strongly opposed Oslo. He served as Israeli embassy in Washington chief of mission, UN envoy, deputy foreign minister, foreign minister, and finance minister. He’s current Likud party chairman and Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs minister.
He’s a former Boston Consulting Group Mitt Romney colleague. In 1978, he told local television viewers:
“The real core of the conflict is the unfortunate Arab refusal to accept the State of Israel.”
Fact: Fascists dominate Israeli politics. So do monied interests.
Fact: Whatever new government is formed post-election, Palestinians, Israeli Arab citizens, and most Israeli Jews lose.
Fact: White supremacist privileged Jews run Israel. They’ll continue doing so like always since 1948.
Expect nothing different this time. Business as usual will continue. Late pre-election polls show Zionist Union winning 24 of 120 Knesset seats to Likud’s 20. Coalitions always run Israel. Winning doesn’t mean the prevailing party gets to form the new government. Whoever wins, Netanyahu may be better able to cobble together coalition partners than Herzog.
He’s on the ropes, widely disliked, despised by many, but could remain prime minister. It may be days post-election before a new government is formed. Likud and Zionist Union are competing for coalition partners. Who’ll prevail remains to be seen. It bears repeating. For Palestinians, Arab Israeli citizens and ordinary Jews, it’s no more different than if Republicans or Democrats prevail in America. Same old, same old wins every time. Don’t expect this time to be different. Palestine will remain occupied. Racist apartheid policies will continue.
Settlements will keep expanding on stolen Palestinian land. They’ll continue being denied virtually all fundamental rights. Israeli Arabs are considered more fifth column threats than citizens. Neoliberal harshness remains official policy. Wars of aggression will continue being waged at Israel’s discretion. America, Britain and Israel remain the greatest threat to world peace. Their alliance reflects pure evil.
Electoral change in each country is pure fantasy. Democracy exists in name only. Illusion substitutes for reality. Leaders come and go. Dominant interests control things. On Tuesday, business as usual will triumph like always.
[box] Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.”
http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html
Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. [/box]
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