Israeli Election Postmortems

by Stephen Lendman

Propaganda works. Israelis got the best electoral results fear-mongering can sell.

They bought smoke and mirrors deception about nonexistent threats. They voted overwhelmingly for right-wing fascist governance.

All parties significant enough to matter represent ideological extremism. Israel's political system is like America's.

It's too broken to fix. It represents white supremacist Jewish interests exclusively.

Netanyahu's Likud and Isaac Herzog/Tzipi Livni's Zionist Union are two sides of the same coin. Rhetoric and style alone separate them.

They both consider Palestinians subhumans. They want them ethnically cleansed or eliminated altogether.

They want their land stolen for exclusive Jewish development. They want them denied all rights afforded Jews.

Netanyahu's opposition to Palestinian statehood is no different from policies under all Israeli governments since 1948 - especially under nearly half a century of illegal occupation.

Zionist Union ideology matches Likud's extremism.  Its racist platform called for:

"Demilitarizing the Palestinian state, keeping the settlement blocs in Judea and Samaria under Israeli sovereignty; strengthening Jerusalem and its status as the eternal capital of the State of Israel and ensuring religious freedom and access to the holy sites to all religions, along with maintaining Israeli sovereignty; resolution of the Palestinian refugee problem through the establishment of a Palestinian state and not within Israel."

Herzog and Livni are like all previous significant Israeli party leaders. They want Israel for Jews alone.

They want Palestinian land stolen for exclusive Jewish development. At most, they'd accept meaningless Palestinian statehood in name only - on isolated bantustans on worthless scrubland.

They want Palestinians effectively imprisoned on their own land. They want Gaza's blockade maintained.

They perpetuate the Big Lie about nonexistent Hamas terrorism. They want permanent apartheid worse than South Africa's.

They want unlimited settlement expansion. They deplore peace and stability.

Livni was one of the architects of Ehud Olmert's December 2008-January 2009 Operation Cast Lead war on Gaza.

Herzog criticized Netanyahu for not hitting Gaza hard enough last summer. He made a video titled "Netanyahu - weak against Hamas."

He said "(y)ou had to hit them on the head and on time. You failed. What accomplishment did you have in the war? Did you destroy Hamas? You strengthened Hamas."

Israeli polls showed around 95% Jewish support for Operation Protective Edge's mass slaughter and destruction. It bears repeating. Propaganda works.

Likud, Zionist Union, and other significant Israeli parties represent its dark side - white Jewish supremacist, racist and Islamophobic.

Netanyahu's thuggishness best represents it. Israelis are stuck with leadership no legitimate civil society would accept - governance of, by and for its privileged few alone.

New York Times editors justifiably criticized Netanyahu's racism. They called his campaign rhetoric "desperate and craven."

He "long (ago) convinced many people that he has no interest in a peace agreement," they said. His public rejection of Palestinian statehood "laid bare his duplicity…"

His "demagoguery further incite(d) the rage that has torn the country apart. (He) resorted to fear-mongering and anti-Arab attacks while" ignoring bread-and-butter issues Israelis want addressed.

Herzog/Livni are as hardline as Netanyahu. Leaders come and go. Names and faces change.

Dark side Israeli politics remains unchanged. Don't expect New York Times editors to explain.

Or Washington Post ones. WaPo editors headlined "Who loses as Netanyahu wins?"

Saying the price of victory "could be further degradation of Israel's relations with European governments and the Obama administration and a dangerous standoff with the Palestinian Authority."

Obama so far failed to congratulate Netanhayu. It's well known both leaders dislike each other.

On Wednesday, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said "(t)he president at this point has not telephoned Prime Minister Netanyahu."

"(B)ased on (his) comments, the United States will reevaluate our position and the path forward" on issues relating to Palestinian statehood and peace process discussions.

Earnest said the White House was "deeply concerned by (Netanyahu's) divisive rhetoric…"

WaPo editors irresponsibly blamed Palestinians as much as Netanyahu for failing to achieve peace.

Decades of stillborn discussions show it's the greatest diplomatic scam in modern memory.

WaPo editors turned a blind eye to decades of militarized Israeli rule. Not a word about lawless occupation, settlement construction, institutionalized racism and ruthless persecution.

They lied about nonexistent Iranian "aggression." They expressed concerns about the ability of an Israeli leader to campaign against a US president and win reelection.

"That doesn't bode well for either US-Israeli relations or for Mr. Obama's ability to achieve his goals in the Middle East," they said.

They ignored US regional wars of aggression against independent governments - to eliminate Israeli rivals and achieve unchallenged US hegemony.

WaPo's outspoken neocon Charles Krauthammer praised what he called Netanyahu's "Churchillian warning" of a nonexistent Iranian threat.

No legitimate editors would touch his rubbish. WaPo editors feature it - hyping Big Lies about what he calls "ramped up (Iranian) aggressiveness in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Gaza an Yemen."

Shamelessly claiming Tehran "defie(s) the world on uranium enrichment." Entirely ignoring Israel's illegal nuclear, chemical and biological weapons arsenals.

Praising Netanyahu instead of rebuking him. Ignoring US and Israeli intelligence saying Iran's nuclear program is entirely peaceful - with no military component. Don't expect racist neocons to explain.

Hard-right Wall Street Journal editors gloated over what they called Netanyahu's "remarkable personal triumph."

They lied about Palestinians rejecting "reasonable" peace offers. They disgracefully call Palestine's legitimate Hamas government a "terror group."

They ludicrously claimed Israeli history shows it's "will(ing) (to) take risks for peace…" All Israeli regimes from inception categorically rejected it.

Israel consistently blames Palestinians for its high crimes. So do Journal editors.

They hype the Big Lie about "Israelis surrounded by hostile nations sworn to their destruction…"

Israel's only enemies are ones it invents. None existed since 1973.

Don't expect Journal editors to explain - or tell how all Israeli governments allied with America threaten world peace.

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.

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