{"id":55794,"date":"2015-03-23T12:00:09","date_gmt":"2015-03-23T12:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=55794"},"modified":"2015-05-05T21:25:56","modified_gmt":"2015-05-05T20:25:56","slug":"why-im-relieved-netanyahu-won","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2015\/03\/why-im-relieved-netanyahu-won\/","title":{"rendered":"Why I\u2019m Relieved Netanyahu Won"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Benjamin<\/a>

Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to the US Congress on 3 March. (Caleb Smith\/Flickr)<\/p><\/div>\n

18 Mar 2015 – <\/em>Many had hoped that Benjamin Netanyahu would be defeated in yesterday\u2019s Israeli election. I was not one of them.<\/p>\n

Many had already written him off \u2013 pre-election polls showed his Likud Party lagging behind the allegedly center-left Zionist Union, headed by Isaac Herzog and Tzipi Livni<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But I kept in mind the 1996 election where Netanyahu was universally thought to be the loser well after the votes had been cast.<\/p>\n

In the wake of the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin<\/a>, it had been expected that his \u201cdovish\u201d successor Shimon Peres<\/a>, who had launched a bloody invasion of Lebanon months earlier in the hope of proving to the electorate his tough \u201csecurity\u201d credentials, would easily win.<\/p>\n

But on that election night, Netanyahu told his supporters, \u201cThe hour is still early and the night is long.\u201d As the votes were counted, he pulled ahead beating Peres and securing his first term as prime minister.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu did it again on Tuesday. With virtually all the votes counted, Likud has 30 seats, the Zionist Union has 24 and the Joint List of predominantly Arab parties is in third place with 14.<\/p>\n

It seems all but certain that Netanyahu will retain his post as Israel\u2019s prime minister and head another fanatically right-wing government.<\/p>\n

Truth in labeling<\/strong><\/p>\n

Let me be clear: I am not happy that Netanyahu won, as such. Netanyahu is a blood-soaked killer. He should be put on trial for his many crimes, from the relentless theft of Palestinian land to last summer\u2019s massacre in Gaza \u2013 and I yearn to see that day.<\/p>\n

But reveling in the murder of Palestinians and calling it \u201cself-defense\u201d barely distinguishes him from his rivals. Livni, a fugitive war crimes suspect<\/a>, was one of the proud and unrepentant architects of Israel\u2019s massacre in Gaza in 2008-2009, which undoubtedly served as Netanyahu\u2019s model.<\/p>\n

Her partner Herzog has faulted Netanyahu for not attacking Gaza viciously enough<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu\u2019s ugly election-day incitement<\/a> that the \u201cArabs are advancing on the ballot boxes\u201d revealed once again his true feelings that Palestinian citizens of Israel are not legitimate citizens deserving full rights. But Tzipi Livni has frequently expressed the same view<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And while he is absolutely committed to the theft and colonization of occupied Palestinian land, that too does not distinguish Netanyahu from his ostensibly dovish predecessors.<\/p>\n

A recent interactive feature<\/a> published by The New York Times<\/em> shows that Israeli settlement construction in the occupied West Bank (excluding occupied Jerusalem) was often far higher under the supposed peace-seeking governments of Ehud Barak and Ehud Olmert.<\/p>\n

But what has distinguished Netanyahu is that he strips away the opportunities for the so-called \u201cinternational community\u201d to hide its complicity with Israel\u2019s ugly crimes behind a charade of a \u201cpeace process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moreover, Netanyahu\u2019s open alliance with the most racist, white supremacist, Islamophobic and bigoted elements of the North American and European right \u2013 his speech to Congress<\/a> earlier this month was a manifestation of this \u2013 place Israel in the correct ideological camp. Israel can no longer practice apartheid at home while falsely presenting itself as a beacon of liberalism around the world.<\/p>\n

In short, Netanyahu\u2019s re-election is like the \u201cNutrition Facts\u201d label on a box of junk food: it tells you about the toxic ingredients inside.<\/p>\n

No Palestinian state<\/strong><\/p>\n

Netanyahu\u2019s clear declaration days before the vote that he will not allow a Palestinian state was simply an affirmation of the real policy of every Israeli government since 1967, to which Herzog and Livni would have adhered.<\/p>\n

Herzog and Livni would not have permitted a Palestinian state worthy of the name. Rather, with international support, they would have attempted to draw Palestinians back into \u201cnegotiations\u201d over what would at most be a ghetto-like bantustan designed to legitimize Israel\u2019s theft of vast tracts of land, its annexation of Jerusalem and its abrogation of the rights of Palestinian refugees. (Ben White\u2019s analysis of this horrifying plan<\/a> for permanent apartheid is a must read.)<\/p>\n

Herzog too had vowed to continue building settlements<\/a> on stolen Palestinian land. But he would hide this expansionist policy behind one of the cosmetic and fraudulent \u201cfreezes\u201d during which colonization continues unabated<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Had the Zionist Union won, there was a very grave danger that the Palestinians would have been dragged back a decade into fruitless Oslo-style \u201cnegotiations\u201d that would have served as a cover for continued sugbjugation and colonization.<\/p>\n

Such negotiations have provided the principal excuse for the so-called international community to endlessly defer holding Israel even minimally accountable.<\/p>\n

The refrain from gutless officials is always some version of \u201cyes, isn\u2019t it terrible what\u2019s going on, but there\u2019s a peace process and we support the peace process.\u201d<\/p>\n

The one positive outcome of Israel\u2019s election is that path seems to be closed.<\/p>\n

Step up BDS<\/strong><\/p>\n

We should be under no illusion that with Netanyahu\u2019s re-election, European, North American and Arab governments are suddenly going to end their complicity with Israel.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s every reason to believe that the Obama administration, for instance, will continue its relentless campaign<\/a> of opposing Palestinian rights and efforts to hold Israel accountable in any forum.<\/p>\n

But the Israeli Jewish public\u2019s choice to re-elect Netanyahu should make it clear to people around the world that Israel does not seek peace and does not seek justice. It will continue to oppress and ethnically cleanse Palestinians until it is stopped.<\/p>\n

Negotiating with such a regime is pointless when its power over its victims remains vast and unchecked. The message we should take away is simple: the proper treatment for a polity committed to occupation, apartheid and ethno-racial supremacy is to isolate it until it recognizes that it must abandon those commitments.<\/p>\n

Palestinians have asked the world to do that through boycott, divestment and sanctions<\/a> (BDS). Netanyahu makes the case a little easier, so it\u2019s time to step it up.<\/p>\n

_______________________________<\/p>\n

Ali Abunimah – <\/em>Co-founder of <\/em>The Electronic Intifada and author of <\/em>The Battle for Justice in Palestine<\/a>, now out from Haymarket Books, and of <\/em>One Country: A Bold-Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 electronicintifada.net<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

18 Mar 2015 – Many had hoped that Benjamin Netanyahu would be defeated in yesterday\u2019s Israeli election. I was not one of them. The Israeli Jewish public\u2019s choice to re-elect Netanyahu should make it clear to people around the world that Israel does not seek peace and does not seek justice. It will continue to oppress and ethnically cleanse Palestinians until it is stopped.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-palestine-israel-gaza-genocide"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55794\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}