Posts Tagged ‘Menachem Begin’
The more elections, the deeper the direction to racism and apartheid policies: Israel.
Posted on: April 4, 2021
Israel election: The triumph of Kahanism
Richard Silverstein 24 March 2021
As Netanyahu looks to cobble together his farthest-right coalition yet, western democratic governments and diaspora Jewish leaders need to take a stand
The biggest winners in Tuesday’s Israeli election appear to be Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the little-known Religious Zionist Party. (Though Netanyahu still lack a few deputies to form a government)
Behind the milquetoast name is an alliance of some of the most extreme Kahanist elements in Israeli politics.
According to the results announced so far, a race that had been predicted as a virtual tie between centrist and rightist parties may offer Netanyahu a narrow path to a renewed term as prime minister.
Far-right and religious parties, likely coalition partners for Netanyahu, were victorious in the election.
An Israeli man walks past an electoral billboard bearing portraits of Netanyahu flanked by extreme-right politicians, including Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, in Jerusalem in 2019 (AFP)
At the time of publication, it remained unclear as to whether this coalition would be able to secure the needed 61-seat majority.
The question is: will the suspicion and hostility with which some of these party leaders, such as Gideon Saar and Naftali Bennett, view Netanyahu outweigh their desire for political power? If history is any judge, they will put aside their personal rancour and play the political game.
Now begins the horse-trading, during which potential partners play hard to get, extracting the maximum in ministerial portfolios and other perquisites before adding their support to the coalition.
Collapse of Blue and White
Election turnout was 67%, down from the most recent election and the lowest percentage since 2013. The initial results would suggest that many of those who elected Not to vote had previously supported the moderate parties that performed better in the last election.
There are two critical factors leading to this outcome.
The first factor was the near-collapse of the centre-right Blue and White coalition, which won 33 seats in the last Knesset. The decision by its then-leader, Benny Gantz, to desert his partners and enter a coalition with Netanyahu led to a drastic decline in its vote share.
With close to 90% of Tuesday’s vote counted, Blue and White picked up only eight seats, while Yesh Atid, which split from Blue and White last year, won 17.
This fracture essentially destroyed the centre-right as a viable alternative to Netanyahu’s far-right Likud-led coalition.
Diaspora Jewish leaders could declare that Netanyahu has gone too far, and refuse to raise funds for Israel or to attend meetings with Israeli government officials
Voters who abandoned Gantz did not necessarily turn to his former partners in Yesh Atid, which represented a moderate option, nor to Likud, which lost several seats compared to the last election. They were likely disenchanted with Netanyahu and the multiple corruption charges he faces, so they turned to newly formed parties generally even farther to the right.
By fleeing to parties likely to join a governing coalition with Likud, however, they might have guaranteed an outcome they did not foresee.
Postponed until after the election, Netanyahu’s corruption trial is scheduled to resume in early April, and Likud sources have pointed to legislative outcomes that could provide him immunity from conviction while in office, including passage of the “French Law”.
A more draconian and controversial method would be for a new justice minister (No appointed minister so far) to fire the current attorney general and appoint one who would dismiss the charges, eliminating the greatest threat to Netanyahu’s continuing on as leader.
Extreme nationalist views
Though there are regular protests against Netanyahu’s corruption, which would likely increase if charges were dropped, it is unlikely they would reach a tipping point and lead to Netanyahu stepping down.
Even if he did, the rivals waiting in the wings are no less extreme in their nationalist views; the country would merely be swapping one Judeo-supremacist autocrat for another.
Voters who turned away from Blue and White appear to have favoured soft-right parties, such as Saar’s New Hope, and some even farther right than Likud, including Bennett’s Yamina and the Kahanist Religious Zionist Party, led by Bezalel Smotrich.
Smotrich was once apprehended by the Shin Bet for allegedly plotting a terror attack to protest Israel’s Gaza withdrawal, although charges were never laid. He once boldly claimed that Jews cannot be terrorists; in other words, one man’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter.
In 2006, to protest the Gay Pride parade, he organised a “parade of beasts”, in which goats and donkeys were marched through the streets of Jerusalem. He has called himself a “proud homophobe”. He has served as an MK with the Yamina alliance and as minister of transportation.
Smotrich is allied with Itamar Ben-Gvir, whose political evolution as a youth led him into the arms of far-right Rabbi Meir Kahane.
According to a Haaretz report: “First, Itamar joined the youth movement affiliated with Moledet, a right-wing political party that advocated ‘transferring’ Israeli Arabs out of the country. But that turned out to be too tame for him. So not long thereafter, he defected to Kach, the eventually outlawed racist party founded by the American-born Rabbi Kahane.
‘I found in this movement a lot of love for the Jewish people, a lot of truth, and a lot of justice,’ says the utra racist Ben-Gvir.
Breaking with precedent
As a teenager, Ben-Gvir gained notoriety in 1995, when he vandalised then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s vehicle and brandished its Cadillac hood ornament, boasting: “We got the car. We’ll get to Rabin too.” Rabin was murdered only weeks later by another Kahanist.
Ben-Gvir is now the go-to defence lawyer for settlers charged with terrorist attacks against Palestinians. He is the Israeli equivalent of US lawyer and politician Rudy Giuliani, except instead of representing sleazy crooks, he represents accused mass murderers.
Itamar lives in Hebron, (a region declared military zone) among the most violent of settler enclaves, where Jews and Palestinians are separated by barbed wire, locked metal gates and thousands of Israeli soldiers, who protect the settlers from the wrath of the indigenous population. (A wrath in reactions to daily settlers violent activities)
Despite several prior attempts, Ben-Gvir has never served in the Knesset. His alliance succeeded this time for one reason only: Netanyahu made clear to far-right voters that if they weren’t voting Likud, he preferred they vote for the Religious Zionists. He also said the party would be a coalition partner in his next government, a striking break with previous precedent.
In 1988, Kahane’s newly founded Kach Party was so far outside the mainstream that the government banned it, and both Israel and the US have declared Kach to be a terrorist organisation.
No Israeli leader has ever promoted an explicitly Kahanist party, let alone agreed to include one in a governing coalition – meaning it’s likely the Religious Zionists will obtain at least one ministerial portfolio representing the interests of their settler constituency. This offers unprecedented access to Israeli protocols and power.
This should not be surprising to anyone aware of the history of the Zionist movement.
At least two former Israeli prime ministers, Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir, were accused terrorists, linked to the King David Hotel bombing, the Deir Yassin massacre and the assassination of UN peace negotiator Count Folke Bernadotte, among other crimes.
Flirting with terrorists
There is one powerful way in which the world could respond to Netanyahu’s flirtation with supporters of Jewish terrorism: the US government, UN and EU could declare this government persona non grata, and refuse to have any dealings with it.
It would be a diplomatic version of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS).
Israel is united in its determination to pursue racist, apartheid policies. The world is not united in opposing them
Diaspora Jewish leaders could declare that Netanyahu has gone too far, and refuse to raise funds for Israel or to attend meetings with Israeli government officials.
Contrary to what some believe, international pressure works.
While Israel may complain grievously about bias towards it, when push comes to shove, such pressure works in modifying Israeli behaviour – though usually not in significant ways, as Israel does the bare minimum to avoid international censure.
Regardless, a united front of western democratic governments and diaspora Jewish leaders would offer a powerful statement, defining a red line that Israel has crossed.
And yet, the likelihood of this happening is almost nil. Israel is united in its determination to pursue racist, apartheid policies. The world is not united in opposing them. It dithers while Rome burns.
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.
Richard Silverstein writes the Tikun Olam blog, devoted to exposing the excesses of the Israeli national security state. His work has appeared in Haaretz, the Forward, the Seattle Times and the Los Angeles Times.
He contributed to the essay collection devoted to the 2006 Lebanon war, A Time to Speak Out (Verso) and has another essay in the collection, Israel and Palestine: Alternate Perspectives on Statehood (Rowman & Littlefield) Photo of RS by: (Erika Schultz/Seattle Times)
From a staunch Zionist since 1920 to: Einstein Warning Of Fascism spreading in Israel
Posted on: January 8, 2020
Einstein Warns Of Zionist Fascism In Israel: Open letter to NYT in 1948
Note: A re-edit of 2014 post
Einstein was a staunch Zionist since 1920 and contributed hugely to the establishment of the State of Israel.
However, before and after the creation of Israel with a single vote majority in the UN, Einstein realized the ideological nature of Zionism and refused to serve in any official status.
Einstein lambasted the terrorist Zionist organizations against the British mandated power and against the civilian Palestinians.
Those terrorist leaders became later Israel Prime Ministers like Menachem Begin, Shamir, Sharon….
Israel refuses to release the documents written by Einstein after the establishment of Israel.
Einstein Letter Warning Of Zionist Fascism In Israel
Letter That Albert Einstein Sent to the New York Times December 4, 1948
Protesting the Visit of Menachem Begin
Among the most disturbing political phenomena of our times is the emergence in the newly created state of Israel of the “Freedom Party” (Tnuat Haherut), a political party closely akin in its organization, methods, political philosophy and social appeal to the Nazi and Fascist parties.
It was formed out of the membership and following of the former Irgun Zvai Leumi, a terrorist, right-wing, chauvinist organization in Palestine. 
The current visit of Menachem Begin, leader of this party, to the United States is obviously calculated to give the impression of American support for his party in the coming Israeli elections, and to cement political ties with conservative Zionist elements in the United States.
Several Americans of national repute have lent their names to welcome his visit. It is inconceivable that those who oppose fascism throughout the world, if correctly informed as to Mr. Begin’s political record and perspectives, could add their names and support to the movement he represents.
Before irreparable damage is done by way of financial contributions, public manifestations in Begin’s behalf, and the creation in Palestine of the impression that a large segment of America supports Fascist elements in Israel, the American public must be informed as to the record and objectives of Mr. Begin and his movement.
The public avowals of Begin’s party are no guide whatever to its actual character.
Today they speak of freedom, democracy and anti-imperialism, whereas until recently they openly preached the doctrine of the Fascist state. It is in its actions that the terrorist party betrays its real character; from its past actions we can judge what it may be expected to do in the future.
Attack on Arab (Palestinian) Village
A shocking example was their behavior in the Arab village of Deir Yassin.This village, off the main roads and surrounded by Jewish lands, had taken no part in the war, and had even fought off Arab bands who wanted to use the village as their base.
On April 9 (THE NEW YORK TIMES), terrorist bands attacked this peaceful village, which was not a military objective in the fighting, killed most of its inhabitants: 240 men, women, and children – and kept a few of them alive to parade as captives through the streets of Jerusalem.
Most of the Jewish community was horrified at the deed, and the Jewish Agency sent a telegram of apology to King Abdullah of Trans-Jordan.
But the terrorists, far from being ashamed of their act, were proud of this massacre, publicized it widely, and invited all the foreign correspondents present in the country to view the heaped corpses and the general havoc at Deir Yassin.
The Deir Yassin incident exemplifies the character and actions of the Freedom Party. Within the Jewish community they have preached an admixture of ultranationalism, religious mysticism, and racial superiority.
Like other Fascist parties they have been used to break strikes, and have themselves pressed for the destruction of free trade unions. In their stead they have proposed corporate unions on the Italian Fascist model.
During the last years of sporadic anti-British violence, the IZL and Stern groups inaugurated a reign of terror in the Palestine Jewish community.
Teachers were beaten up for speaking against them, adults were shot for not letting their children join them.
By gangster methods, beatings, window-smashing, and wide-spread robberies, the terrorists intimidated the population and exacted a heavy tribute.
The people of the Freedom Party have had no part in the constructive achievements in Palestine. They have reclaimed no land, built no settlements, and only detracted from the Jewish defense activity.
Their much-publicized immigration endeavors were minute, and devoted mainly to bringing in Fascist compatriots.
Discrepancies Seen
The discrepancies between the bold claims now being made by Begin and his party, and their record of past performance in Palestine bear the imprint of no ordinary political party.
This is the unmistakable stamp of a Fascist party for whom terrorism (against Jews, Arabs, and British alike), and misrepresentation are means, and a “Leader State” is the goal.
In the light of the foregoing considerations, it is imperative that the truth about Mr. Begin and his movement be made known in this country. It is all the more tragic that the top leadership of American Zionism has refused to campaign against Begin’s efforts, or even to expose to its own constituents the dangers to Israel from support to Begin.
The undersigned therefore take this means of publicly presenting a few salient facts concerning Begin and his party; and of urging all concerned not to support this latest manifestation of fascism
.ISIDORE ABRAMOWITZ,, HANNAH ARENDT, ABRAHAM BRICKRABBI ,JESSURUN CARDOZO,ALBERT EINSTEIN, HERMAN EISEN, M.D.HAYIM FINEMANM. GALLEN, M.D.H.H. HARRIS ZELIG S. HARRIS, SIDNEY HOOK, FRED KARUSH, BRURIA KAUFMAN, IRMA L. LINDHEIM, NACHMAN MAISEL, SEYMOUR MELMAN, MYER D. MENDELSON, M.D., HARRY M. OSLINSKY, SAMUEL PITLICKFRITZ ROHRLICH, LOUIS P. ROCKER, RUTH SAGIS, ITZHAK SANKOWSKY, I.J. SHOENBERG, SAMUEL SHUMAN, M. SINGER, IRMA WOLF, ESTEFAN WOLF.
Note: All the massacres against the Palestinians in villages and towns immediately after the declaration of Israel, as an independent state, were planned, agreed upon and with the blessings of Ben Gurion, first PM and leader of Hagana.
Actually the genocide rampages were planned since 1937 in its minute details, the specific villages, the zones and the timing..And with the cooperation of the British mandated power.
More than 400 villages were erased from the map and new names given to them after rebuilding with Jewish settlers. All the Palestinian refugees to Lebanon and Jordan were promised to Return by the UN. They still refugees around the world.
Gaza people is marching every Friday, March for Return, to the borders and Israel snipers kill and maim them with live bullets and the world community is refusing to broadcast these events.
Einstein Warns Of Zionist Facism In Israel: Open letter to NYT in 1948
Einstein was a staunched Zionist since 1920 and contributed hugely to the establishment of the State of Israel.
However, before and after the establishment of Israel, Einstein realized the ideological nature of Zionism and refused to serve in any official status.
Einstein lambasted the terrorist Zionist organizations against the British mandated power and against the civilian Palestinians. Those terrorist leaders became later Israel Prime Ministers like Menachem Begin, Shamir, Sharon….
Israel refuses to release the documents written by Einstein after the establishment of Israel.
Einstein Letter Warning Of
Zionist Facism In Israel
Letter That Albert Einstein Sent to the New York Times
1948, Protesting the Visit of Menachem Begin
11-1-4
Note: All the massacres against the Palestinians in villages and towns immediately after the declaration if Israel as an independent state were agreed upon and with the blessings of Ben Gurion, first PM and leader of Hagana. Actually the genocide rampages were planned since 1937 in its minute details, the specific villages, the zones and the timing.. |
Adonis Diaries 