1059 Israeli election - commentary from Israel Shamir and Gilad Atzmon

Israeli election - commentary from Israel Shamir and Gilad Atzmon

Newsletter published on September 19, 2019

(1) Israel election: Bad Guys win, but at least Netanyahu looks like losing
(2) Jewishness on show in Israel - Gilad Atzmon
(3) Economist: Netanyahu has yet to realise he is no longer the magician

(1) Israel election: Bad Guys win, but at least Netanyahu looks like losing

From: israel shamir <israel.shamir@gmail.com>
Subject: Israeli elections, by Israel Shamir

The Israeli Elections: Who Cares?

Repercussions in Washington and Moscow, in Gaza and Damascus, but not so
much locally.

http://www.unz.com/ishamir/the-israeli-elections-who-cares/

Israel Shamir

SEPTEMBER 19, 2019

Israelis held new snap parliamentary elections, as the previous round in
April had been inconclusive. Surprise! The new round has been also
inconclusive. The voters could not make up their mind and choose between
Tweedledum and Tweedledee, two major parties of little substantial
difference. The only noticeable distinction is personal: one party,
Likud, is lead by Mr Netanyahu; another party, B&W (Blue and White, the
colours of Israeli national flag) is dead-set against Netanyahu. Their
policy, otherwise, is identical; the leaders of B&W are ready to join
Likud-led government provided Netanyahu takes a hike. Likud has no
problem in joining with B&W if they would agree to accept Netanyahu.

Netanyahu sticks to his Prime Ministerial seat like Adonijah to the
horns of the altar (1 Kings 1:50), for the moment he lets off he would
be tried for assorted crimes of a pecuniary character and carried off to
gaol. While he is a PM, he is immune, and he intends to stay immune as
long as he can.

Netanyahu will fight to the bitter end, no holds barred, for he does not
want to go to jail. In Israeli politics, the politicians and statesmen
are imprisoned so often that it appears a normal professional hazard.
Perhaps the idea that 'no one is above the law' sounds good to you, but
it is a very troublesome concept for it makes a person in power
unwilling to relinquish the reins. The B&W leader's will for power can't
be compared with Netanyahu's desire to remain free. The Prime Minister
almost started a war with Gaza a few days ago, but his generals refused
to march it was reported
<https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Netanyahu-attempted-to-launch-military-operation-in-Gaza-before-election-601947>.
If he gave orders to shell Gaza before the election, what shall he shell
while facing defeat? That is why I do not expect a smooth transition of
power.

Liberal American Jews are involved: they want to break off the
Netanyahu-Trump connection and to restore the bi-partisan standing of
Israel in the US politics. Wily Trump created a schism between Zionists
and Liberal Jews. Netanyahu is a great friend of President Trump who is
a great friend of Israel. Naturally he is not a friend for Democrats in
the Congress and Senate, and he is not a friend for the US Jews,
predominantly Democrats. This is a new development; Netanyahu is not the
non-partisan figure he was when the Congress applauded to each word off
his lips. That was in Obama days; Obama loved Liberal Jews and was not
very friendly towards Israel. Netanyahu hated and despised Obama, but he
befriended Putin and Trump.

The Liberal Jews in the US and in Israel, closely connected with the
deep state, intelligence agencies, finances, and media in both countries
want to get rid of Netanyahu and install a man of their own who will
chill the Trump connection and restore the old link with the Democrats.
Hopefully he will restore the bipartisan standing of Israel. Such a man
is General Benny Gantz, a good-looking lanky man slightly similar to
late General Yitzhak Rabin. He is supported by Avigdor Lieberman, a
shrewd politician.

Probably here is the right moment to remind the reader that in this
story there are no good guys. Israeli politicians, whether pro-Trump or
pro-Democrat, are equally evil and bloodthirsty. Prime Minister
Netanyahu is complicit in uncountable murders of civilians, though the
Israeli media only accuses of some financial irregularities. Killing
Palestinians, bombing Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, inciting US wars from Iran
to Afghanistan is a feather in Netanyahu's cap, according to Israeli
morals. His opponent Benny Gantz is a war criminal who is wanted for
numerous war crimes he committed in 2014 as the commander of the Israeli
assault on Gaza
<https://www.thenation.com/article/israel-elections-benny-gantz-war-crimes-gaza-holocaust/>.
He actually boasted of committing mass murder in his campaign ads.

One boasts of killing 1,364 Palestinian terrorists during the war, while
another says that under Mr Gantz's command "parts of Gaza were sent back
to the Stone Age." The videos make no mention of the 1,462 civilians
killed during the conflict, according to a UN count.

reportedThe Daily Telegraph
<https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/01/27/israeli-ex-general-benny-gantz-uses-stolen-palestinian-film/>.
Now that we have dealt with the question of moral preference between the
twain (there is none), we can proceed.

The man who undermined Mr Netanyahu is Mr Avigdor Lieberman, the head of
his own small party. Until recently, it was predominantly a "Russian"
party of elderly émigrés from the former Soviet Union. Mr Lieberman is a
hawk, or rather a chicken hawk for he never served in the army. He
demanded bombing Gaza back to the stone age, bomb the Aswan Dam,
executing Arab guerrillas; he never asked anything for his own
electorate, but they did not mind and voted for him, time and again.

Lieberman served under Netanyahu in all his governments, as a Defence
Minister or a Minister of Foreign Affairs, and he was considered a sure
partner in a new government. But after April elections, he rebelled and
demanded drafting observant Jews into the army. Failing that, he is out,
he said. And he was out, for Netanyahu was forced to choose: to part
with Lieberman or to part with Jewish religious parties. He didn't want
to part with his loyal and undemanding observant Jews to please the
troublesome Moldovan politician. Without Lieberman, Netanyahu could not
form a coalition, and the country went to new elections.

Since April, Lieberman upped the ante of his anti-clerical rhetoric. He
said he wouldn't sit in a government comprising Arabs or observant Jews.
He proposed forming a grand secular coalition of Likud, B&W and his own
party. I think it is a misnomer: Likud and B&W can form a coalition
without Lieberman any time they want, and the Jewish religious parties
will eagerly join it. Anti-clericalism has a very limited appeal in
Israel. You can't convincingly claim God Almighty promised you the Holy
Land, if you deny His existence and His faith. You can't vote for the
Jewish State Law declaring Israel is the Jewish state for Jews, and keep
Jewish religious parties out of government.

There are Israelis who dislike the Jewish religion. Some of them
consider themselves "Israelis", but there aren't many of that ilk. Gilad
Atzmon recently argued with a Haaretz journalist
<http://www.unz.com/gatzmon/jews-vs-israelis/> about who won the
elections, Jews or Israelis
<https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/elections/.premium-israelis-vs-the-jews-the-real-voters-who-will-decide-netanyahu-s-fate-1.7836896>.
Pfeffer suggested the majority are Israelis and Jews, not single malt.
Israelis were defeated by Jews, said Gilad. In my view, anti-clerical
Israelis are a rare brand, and not an especially wonderful one. They are
extremely short of compassion. Religious Jews have some modicum of
compassion towards other Jews; irreligious Jews have no compassion to
anybody. That's why I think Lieberman will eventually lose his bet. But
meanwhile he harvested many votes of Israelis who hate the religious Jews.

Jews and Israelis, religious and irreligious Jews are perfectly united
in their rejection of non-Jews. The third party by size, after Likud and
B&W, is the Joint List, the party Israeli Palestinians ("Arabs") vote
for. Israeli Jewish parties swore they would never sit in a government
with the goys. They prefer to have no government rather than have a
government together with Arabs. It does not matter that these "Arabs"
are citizens of Israel – the Jews are not famous for sharing anything,
especially power. Neither Likud nor B&W want to let them into a
government coalition. There is no tangible political difference between
the big parties in this aspect.

Netanyahu claimed he belongs to the Right, while his opponents are the
Left. Bollocks! The Jewish Left does not exist anymore. Once it was
strong; it was the force that created the Jewish state and the mighty
Army of Israel. It ruled for 30 years unopposed, and afterwards
intermittently, but now it is dead. There was fear that the Labour Party
wouldn't even make it to the Knesset; it made it – just. I, for one,
won't regret its demise. They had their chance to sort out the relations
with Palestinians, the most important problem of Israel, but they blew
it. The Israeli Left, like an American or French Left is concerned with
gender problems, with illegal African immigrants, with feminist issues –
their Palestinian neighbours do not interest them.

The Palestinians and their fate haven't been on the agenda in these
elections. The parties did not even bother to propose some treatment to
this terrible state, when millions of human beings are deprived of most
basic rights just because they aren't Jews. Still Palestinians with
Israeli citizenship (Jews call them 'Arabs', while Palestinians of the
West Bank call them Palestinians-[19]48) went to vote and elected 13 MK,
among them one great Jewish communist, Offer Cassif. This fraction could
break the deadlock and save Israel from itself – if a Jewish party will
break self-imposed taboo.

Trump and Putin gave some cautious support to Bibi Netanyahu. Trump had
promised to present his grand plan after the elections. He did not
object to Netanyahu using his images for the election ads. The fall of
Netanyahu will be a terrible blow to Trump, said a
<https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-trump-just-lost-his-wall-the-one-he-called-bibi-netanyahu-1.7859766>
liberal Israeli journalist, usually hostile to Trump and Netanyahu.
However, even he noted that Trump did not go far enough to help Bibi.

Putin agreed to meet Netanyahu a few days before the elections,
providing him with a good photo opportunity. Still, Putin refused to
give Netanyahu anything more tangible, like a condemnation of Iran or a
promise to observe Israeli interests in Syria. Moreover, Putin condemned
the Israeli bombing of Syria at his meeting with the Turkish and Iranian
presidents in Ankara.

On the other hand, President Putin came in person to meet the main
American supporter of Netanyahu, the casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson
on September 17, the Israeli Election day, at the gathering of Keren
Hayesod, or United Israel Appeal, in Moscow. The United Israel Appeal is
the fundraising arm of the Zionist movement, one of Israel's three
national institutions (along with the government and the Jewish Agency),
raising money for the state. At its biannual sessions (like the one that
took place in Moscow) the world's foremost Jewish philanthropists, the
fattest cats get together and gift millions of dollars to the Jewish state.

President Putin had been the guest of honour at this gathering, and he
referred to his recent meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu. Putin
said, "Prime Minister reminisced of his grandfather the Rabbi frequently
appearing at the Keren Hayesod actions. He was an excellent orator, said
the Prime Minister, and for his eloquence he was compared with the
renowned Jewish poet Hayim N Byalik. Netanyahu cherishes the Keren
Hayesod diploma of his grandfather etc". A Kommersant (an important
Russian daily) journalist who <https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/4095749>
reported on this event, felt that the Russian President went, perhaps,
too far in his lauding of the Israeli Prime Minister.

Putin and Trump hedged their bets. They expressed enough support for
Netanyahu to be seen as his benefactors if he wins, and as friends of
Israel rather than of Bibi personally, if he loses. Probably both
presidents will regret his departure, as the liberals of Israel do hate
Trump and Putin, just like their American brethren. But for Israelis and
Palestinians the change will be small.

Israel Shamir can be reached at adam@israelshamir.net

This article was first published at The Unz Review

(2) Jewishness on show in Israel - Gilad Atzmon

Gilad Atzmon rightly rejects the line of Alan Hart and others, that
Zionism is not Judaism; that Judaism is just a harmless apolitical
religion, and should not be judged by Zionism or by what Israeli do.
Judaism - or Jewishness - is not just an academic matter. To the
contrary, what (Jewish) Israelis do is Judaism - Gilad calls it the more
secular term 'Jewishness' - on display. He's right; but non-Jews who say
so are branded 'nazi'. - Peter M.

http://www.unz.com/gatzmon/jews-vs-israelis/

Jews vs. Israelis

Gilad Atzmon

September 16, 2019

Now would be the correct time for Ali Abunimah, JVP, & CO to form an
orderly queue to issue their deep and sincere apology to me. Since the
early 2000s my detractors within the so called Jewish 'Left' together
with their sometime stooges, have been  harassing me, my publishers and
my readers for pointing out that Zionism is an obsolete concept with
little meaning for Israel, Israelis and their politics let alone the
conflict that has been destroying the Eastern Mediterranean region

In my 2011 book The Wandering Who, I argue that "Since Israel defines
itself openly as the 'Jewish State', we should ask what the notions of
'Judaism', 'Jewishness', 'Jewish culture' and 'Jewish ideology' stand
for." Just before the publication of the book I was urged by both JVP's
leader and Ali Abunimah to drop the J-Word and focus solely on Zionism.
In Britain, a gang of so called 'anti' Zionist Jews relentlessly
terrorised my publisher and promoters. Funny, most of these
authoritarian tribals who worked 24/7 to silence me have been expelled
from the British Labour Party for alleged anti-Semitism. Now, they
promote the ideal of 'freedom of speech.'

In 'The Wandering Who' and in the years preceding its publication, I
realised that the Palestinian solidarity discourse has been suffocated
with misleading and often duplicitous terminology that was set to divert
attention from the root cause of the conflict and that acted to prevent
intelligible discussion of possible solutions.

Let's face it. Israel doesn't see itself as the Zionist State: not one
Israeli party integrated the word 'Zionism' into its name. To Israelis,
Zionism is a dated and clichéd concept that describes the ideology that
promised to erect a Jewish homeland in Palestine. For Israelis, Zionism
fulfilled its purpose in 1948, it is now an archaic term. In 'The
Wandering Who' I presented a so-far unrefuted argument that an
understanding of 'Jewishness', a term familiar to every self-identified
Jew, may provide answers to most questions related to Israel and its
politics. It may also help us to grasp the fake dissent that has
dominated the so- called Jewish 'anti' Zionist campaign for the last two
decades.

Though I was probably the first to write about the crucial shift in
Israeli society in favour of Judeo-centrism, this shift is now
mainstream news. Haaretz's lead writer, Anshel Pfeffer, just wrote a
spectacular analysis of this transformation. Pfeffer's view is that
Israelis are going to the polls this Tuesday to decide whether they are
"Jews" or "Israelis."

According to Pfeffer, in the mid 1990s it was Netanyahu's American
campaign guru, Arthur Finkelstein, who promoted "a message that could
reach secular and religious voters alike. In his polling, he had asked
voters whether they considered themselves 'more Jewish' or 'more
Israeli.' The results convinced him there was a much larger constituency
of voters, not just religious ones, who emphasized their Jewish identity
over their Israeli one."

In light of Finkelstein's observation, Likud focused its message on
Jerusalem. Its campaign slogan was: "Peres will divide Jerusalem." In
the final 48 hours before Election Day there was also "an unofficial
slogan, emblazoned on millions of posters and bumper stickers
distributed by Chabad Hasidim: "Netanyahu is good for the Jews."

In a Haaretz interview after his narrow 1996 defeat, Peres lamented that
"the Israelis lost the election." When asked then who had won, he
answered, "The Jews won."

Pfeffer points out that Netanyahu learned from Finkelstein that the
"Jew" is the primary unifier for Israelis. This certainly applies to
religious Jews but also to those who regard themselves as secular. After
all, Israel has really been the "Jewish State" for a while.

This is probably the right place to point out that Netanyahu's move of
locating Jewishness at the heart of Israel is a reversal of the original
Zionist promise. While early Zionism was a desperate attempt to divorce
the Jews from the ghetto and their tribal obsession and make them
"people like all other people," the present adherence to Jewishness and
kinship induces a return to Judeo-centric chauvinism. As odd as this may
sound, Netanyahu's transformation of Israel into a 'Jewish realm' makes
him an ardent anti Zionist probably more anti Zionist than JVP,
Mondoweiss and the BDS together.

Pfeffer points out that when Netanyahu returned to power in 2009 and
formed a right-wing/ religious coalition, was when "the Jews prevailed —
and have done so ever since in four consecutive elections, including the
last one in April 2019."

To illustrate this Pfeffer cites the 2012 Israeli High Court of Justice
decision to deny a petition by writer Yoram Kaniuk and others to allow
themselves to be registered solely as 'Israelis' as opposed to 'Jews.'

Every so often we hear from one Torah rabbi or another that "Zionism is
not Judaism." Those who have reached this point surely grasp that
'Zionism vs. Judaism' is a fake dichotomy. It serves to confuse and to
divert questioning minds from the path toward an understanding of the
conflict: In Israel Zionism is an empty concept, politically,
ideologically and spiritually. Israel defines itself as 'The Jewish
state' and orthodox rabbis are at the centre of this transition in
Israeli politics and life.

I guess that Abunimah and JVP were desperate to silence me at the time
as they foolishly believed that shooting the messenger or alternatively
burning books was the way forward for human rights activism. I stood
firm. The observations I produced in 'The Wandering Who' were endorsed
by the most profound thinkers associated with the conflict and the anti
war movement. My observations are more relevant than ever and in Israel
they have entered mainstream analysis. When it comes to Palestine
solidarity we have managed to waste a good two decades of intellectual
progress thanks to authoritarian lobbies operating in our midst. For
truth and justice to prevail, we have to learn to speak the truth as we
see it, and to accept JVP and Abumimah's apologies when they are mature
enough to come clean.

(3) Economist: Netanyahu has yet to realise he is no longer the magician

Lord Rothschild and George Soros have been trying to get Netanyahu out -
Peter M.

https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2019/09/18/israels-prime-minister-will-desperately-struggle-to-stay-in-office

Second time unlucky

Israel’s prime minister will desperately struggle to stay in office

Binyamin Netanyahu is down but not out

Sep 18th 2019

BINYAMIN NETANYAHU spent the last two hours of voting in Israel’s
general election on September 17th speaking through a camera to an
online audience, begging people to come out and vote for Likud, his
ruling party, before it was too late. "All the battles I fought as a
soldier in an elite unit, all the battles I fought against a president
of the United States [Barack Obama], all my other battles in Congress
and at the United Nations—I did it for you. And now I’m asking you for
something small. Go the polling station. It’s only a five-minute walk."

As he wheedled and begged his voice grew hoarser. He took phone-calls
from fans. Occasionally he stood up to gesture at a map of the Middle
East on the wall, pointing to the menace of Iran. At one point, he
mockingly showed puppets of his rivals. It was a bravura and sometimes
bizarre performance of an embattled prime minister, frantic for every
last vote. For the first time in over a decade he was staring at defeat.
As the results came in, they confirmed that he had failed. Likud and the
clutch of right-wing and religious parties backing him would lack a
majority in the new Knesset.

On May 30th, seven weeks after the previous election, Mr Netanyahu took
the unprecedented step of dissolving the Knesset to call for a second
election, since he was just one seat short of a majority in the
120-strong parliament. Now he is short by six.

He had thrown everything at his foes. He had accused them of treasonous
behaviour. He smeared Israel’s Arab citizens with allegations of
voter-fraud (Facebook briefly suspended a chatbot on his page after a
message accused Arabs of wanting "to destroy us all"). He promised his
right-wing base that he would annex chunks of the occupied West Bank.
And he tried to enlist other world leaders, including Donald Trump and
Vladimir Putin, to endorse him. But this time it wasn’t enough. The man
dubbed "the magician" for defying the odds to pull off improbable
election victories had run out of tricks.

About 54% of Israel’s voters, spanning the spectrum from Arab communists
to Jewish nationalists, voted for parties opposed to Mr Netanyahu. Some
are right-wingers who back many of Mr Netanyahu’s policies yet refused
to vote for Likud or any of its allies. This was a personal rebuff.

Ironically, a key constituency that helped bring him down was the Arab
one, which he had tried to deter from voting with a law, which failed to
pass, that would have let party officials film voters in
polling-stations. The turnout of Arab voters rose by around ten
percentage points. Their Joint List won three extra seats.

Mr Netanyahu has not yet had to concede. He will remain in office as a
caretaker prime minister until a new government is sworn in. That can
take up to six weeks. Benny Gantz, a former general who leads the
centrist Blue and White party, which is now narrowly the largest in the
Knesset, lacks a majority too. Mr Netanyahu’s assorted opponents do not
share enough common ground to form their own coalition government. Many
Israelis refuse to consider the Arab parties as legitimate coalition
partners, though a growing number of Arab voters want to play a bigger role.

So Israeli politics looks deadlocked all over again. But there is a
precedent for solving the conundrum. In 1984 neither Likud nor its main
rival, the Labour party, could form a ruling coalition. Instead they
agreed to a national-unity government with a "rotation" between Labour’s
leader, Shimon Peres, and Likud’s Yitzhak Shamir, with each agreeing to
serve two years of the prime minister’s term.

This just might work again. Likud and Blue and White are nearly even in
their tally of seats. Together they command a majority, which could be
strengthened by a couple of other parties joining such a coalition. Mr
Gantz is experienced in military matters, having commanded Israel’s
army, but is a political novice. He could benefit from working with Mr
Netanyahu.

But big obstacles remain. On October 2nd Mr Netanyahu faces a pre-trial
hearing before the attorney-general, which may herald criminal charges
for bribery and fraud. Mr Gantz has promised not to serve under an
indicted prime minister. Mr Netanyahu, however, hopes that by clinging
to office he will be shielded from prosecution. Had he won even a narrow
majority, he could have tried to pass a law granting immunity. That
prospect is now fading.

A third obstacle to forming a national-unity government is the former
defence minister, Avigdor Lieberman, a hardliner whose party, Yisrael
Beitenu, broke last year with Mr Netanyahu’s coalition. He is now
refusing to back either candidate for prime minister without a promise
to pass a bunch of laws that would enrage the religious parties, who are
Mr Netanyahu’s closest allies. Among these is a law that would conscript
religious seminary students into the army. Another would force
ultra-Orthodox schools to teach a national curriculum or lose state
funding. And another would cancel a prohibition on shops from opening on
the Sabbath, the sacred day of rest. Once notorious for vilifying
Israeli-Arab citizens, Mr Lieberman can now be credited with bringing Mr
Netanyahu down. As well as acting as kingmaker, he wants to establish
himself as the champion of secular Israelis, who complain of the rabbis’
excessive influence in politics.

But Mr Netanyahu is not going anywhere yet. Despite losing his majority
twice this year and still facing indictments, he will try to stymie any
attempt to form a coalition without him. He has yet to realise he is no
longer the magician.