You are absolutely right. What went wrong was that Netanyahu goaded Hamas into attacking so he could respond and destroy the possibility of an alliance with a small Arab party that–who knows–could have been the start of something good. This is now off the table and Bennett is evil.
From a practical perspective - Israeli public opinion is pretty overwhelming that the response to rockets being hurled at them should be a strong one that significantly prevents more rockets being hurled. Netanyahu is IMHO all kinds of horrible, but my understanding (with full deference to the Israelis who post here), is that in this Netanyahu did pretty much what any Israeli leader would have done once attacked. A leader who accepts rockets being tossed at their population without doing whatever it takes to make them stop and not be a risk in the immediate future at least would be out in a flash.
Limited understanding is that he lost support because the response did too little to prevent future attacks beyond the very immediate future.
Ironically the complete lack of hope for any meaningful progress other than status quo, and the near unity regarding the need for a strong response to rocket attacks to protect Israeli citizens, is what allows these disparate groups to come together to kick Netanyahu out. Bennett may dream of annexation but he knows it is not going to happen right now. The Left may dream of a negotiate two state solution but they know that with the power that Hamas has on the ground right now there is no possible chance even if they had overwhelming public support. With no hope for any of those dreams there is also no fear of any of those dreams, and it is safe to unite around getting rid of Bibi.
Again, subject to correction by those on the ground there!
No, that’s pretty spot on. Well said.
Would any Israeli leader have done what Netanyahu did to provoke the attacks? It’s weird to see the Hamas rocket attacks, criminally terroristic though they indisputably are, described as though they were just spontaneously launched in a political vacuum.
I thought they were angered by a fundamental Jewish group holding a Jersualem Day parade on the last day of Ramadan.
And attempted evictions of Palestinian families from East Jerusalem homes, and police raids on Al-Aqsa mosque, AIUI.
[quote=“Left_Hand_of_Dorkness, post:21, topic:943238”]
“Look what you made me do!” is never a compelling case for violence.[/quote]
So if someone is going to keep hitting you until you force them to stop, there’s no compelling case to make them stop? What kind of cockeyed logic is that?
Quite frankly, yes. Outside of Israel, there’s some deep identification between Netanyahu personally and either Israeli government right-wing policy or overall worldwide right-wing policy (i.e., Netanyahu = GOP/Trump in Israel), and this shows in posts like yours which seem to feel that Israeli policy (especially vis-a-vis the Palestinians, which is a tunnel vision through which much of the world sees Israeli politics) under Netanyahu is some reflection of the man himself and will significantly more pacifistic if only he were removed. Israelis, who know better, understand that Netanyahu’s replacement was only going to be another right-winger, and whatever domestic Israeli policies they might differ on (and in actuality, that’s probably very little and is more about personal animosity than policy), the attitude toward the Palestinians and other external threats is likely to be the same.
MHO? Rocket attacks were quite a disproportionate response to the civil rights abuses alleged, and my WAG is that Hamas was looking for a provocation in order to establish that they could get away with rocket attacks and even have some that could land.
I suspect that another better leader might have controlled events beforehand in a manner that prevented the episode though.
My hope is that another Israeli administration controls the right wing marchers better. I have no in depth knowledge of the details of the raid or the evictions but I would readily believe that such were done in a manner that trampled on the rights of some Palestinian Israeli citizens and would hope that a future government would at least try to improve those processes. But I would not expect much success unfortunately, and as a practical comment on human nature, especially after rocket attacks. The rocket attacks did not have improving the civil rights situation of Israeli Arab citizens as their goal.
There’s a Jerusalem Day parade every year. It’s a national holiday. This year it had the misfortune of falling on the end of Ramadan, and combined with the approaching conclusion of the Sheikh Jarrah lawsuit, and provocations by the far-right, created a perfect storm. That didn’t mean that Hamas had to interfere. It did nothing to help the situation, and inly got a bunch of people killed.
How exactly was Netanyahu connected to these events? Did he bring the court case that is likely to result in evictions? Did he have anything to do with the timing of the ruling? Oh, wait, he (sort of) did…his Attorney General prevailed upon the court to DELAY announcing their decision. That’s provocation? On what planet?
The same is true of the other supposed “provocations.”
And the parade was re-routed from its usual path, at Netanyahu’s urging (what a provocateur!) in the hopes of reducing the likelihood of violence.
Gilead (no position of current authority) had suggested to just scrap the Flag March I thought, input declined, and could the Far Right’s ability to provoke had been contained a bit more?
The ruling on the evictions (on its face evidence that Israeli law is biased against its Palestinian citizens) was not Netanyahu’s doing but his saying this in response to international objections regarding the evictions did not help still the waters, did not do anything to address that the Palestinian residents being evicted were Israeli citizens who should have some rights:
Hamas attacking with rockets in no way supported the cause of the protesters. That dramatic escalation, and the deaths that occurred, served their purposes politically. He merely helped give them their excuse.
The purpose of this coalition - if it will be formed and will endure a reasonable length of time - is to purge Netanyahu and his supporters from the system. Unfortunately he came back with a vengeance at least twice so he cannot be written off easily.
He is vey similar to Trump in his politics, which are based on divisivness and hate, but he is well educated and very smart. You will not catch him with gross idiotisms and inane tweets. This makes him even more dangerous.
Netanyahu is in the midst of a corruption trial that may drag on at least 2-3 years with appeals etc. He may go to jail if convicted and not pardoned.
He is seen by many as the dismantler of the Jewish state, setting groups of people against each other. His support mostly comes from the less-educated traditional Jews who emigrated from Arab countries and have not adjusted to the modern economy. Being very charismatic, he is followed by his supporters unconditionally in the extreme.
It’s not so much right against left, but being a populist demagogue.
I hope he leaves us and emigrates to the US, as he lived there many years, and where he has many Republican rich admirerers. I also hope he doesn’t enter politics because he could ascend like a star in the GOP universe. He is leagues better than Trump in malevolence. Fortunately he is not US-born so he is ineligible as president.
Thanks, Alessan.
Thank you for that information DeadTreasSecretaries, but a day or two after posting that question I saw that Bennett is in favor of annexing parts of the West Bank, so I’m pessimistic about Israeli-Palestinian relations improving any time soon.
Oh, I agree. The whole thing is just political posturing and virtue signaling.
Bennett as an individual is farther right than Netanyahu. However the unity government has many parties that are farther left or more pro-Arab by a long shot than the normal Likud-led coalition.
I do think it’s an open question. The other parties know they need Yamina more than vice versa, which is part of the reason Bennett is going to be PM first. We’ll have to see but I think there’s a reasonable chance Bennett tries to see how far he can push things before losing party support.
I also personally think that none of the right wing parties really want to accelerate the settlement and eventual annexation process any more than is occurring now. They have to realize that if they actually succeeded in their goals they would have much less of a reason for people to vote for them.
A better thread title might have been “Hasta la vista, Bibi!”
Even if he is further right, I think a change is overdue. Bibi was too long in power, particularly after being indicted.
I am extremely skeptical of any improvement in Israel’s policies or actions, no matter who is in charge. This is painful to write, as I grew up believing that 1) Jews are obligated to support Israel and 2) Israel is always justified because, Holocaust.
On the subject of evictions… does anyone know any larger context about whatever court/jury/whatever it was that was issuing that ruling? Are there lots of cases which could end up booting out Arabs in similar situations, and some get ruled in the Arabs’ favor and some don’t? Because there’s a pretty important distinction between “kangaroo court always takes from the Arab and gives the Jew” and “there are lots of knotty land ownership questions dating back decades, and sometimes the ruling will go against the Arabs, but it’s at least within shouting distance of fairly and impartially investigated and judged”?