What's up with Israel now?

[pecksniff]

Netanyahu's out, so they replace him with Naftali Bennett, who's even further to the right -- but he's going to share power with or take turns with Yair Lapid? It's hard to make sense of all this -- is the country moving left, right, or into some hypothetical 11th dimension?

 

[pecksniff]

According to this analysis:

What, then, is the new government’s agenda? The primary motivation behind this diverse coalition is a common desire to get rid of Netanyahu, less for political reasons—at least among the five Right parties and Ra’am—than merely because he has managed to personally alienate all of the members of the break-away Right parties. The new government will not depart, however, from Netanyahu’s policies. Instead, it will attempt to focus on domestic issues over which there is less disagreement—the economy, infrastructure, health and the like—downplaying, even ignoring as much as possible, issues connected to the occupation and the anyway-moribund “peace process.”

So for people who would think that “the conflict” is uppermost in the minds of Israelis, certainly only a couple weeks after Hamas lobbed 4000 rockets into Israel from Gaza, the very fact that the “government of change” (from Netanyahu) continues to treat the Palestinian issue and occupation as a non-issue demonstrates how little Israel’s policies of apartheid and repression actually matter to the Jewish Israeli public. The settler state has been, in its view, completely normalized. All that needs to be done to complete the Judaization process is some mopping up.

Is this sustainable? While the new government will continue Netanyahu’s policies toward the Palestinians and the ongoing settlement project, it might well mark a turning point in Israel’s ability to fend off accountability for its actions and growing international concern for Palestinian rights. Say what you will about Netanyahu, he is a skillful statesman. Smooth, a native English-speaker and someone with an extensive personal network among world leaders and who knows how the international system works, Netanyahu has managed to keep Israel’s international standing high despite its increasingly unpopular occupation and the political disruption it causes.

 

[Dribble]

Whatever it takes to get rid of their Trumpster

 

[WillJ8787]

Netanyahu's out, so they replace him with Naftali Bennett, who's even further to the right -- but he's going to share power with or take turns with Yair Lapid? It's hard to make sense of all this -- is the country moving left, right, or into some hypothetical 11th dimension?

11th dimension....they need to go through stuff to come out in the other side....much like our Dumpty trauma.

 

[pecksniff]

Whatever it takes to get rid of their Trumpster

Netanyahu has been Israel's longest-serving PM to date. I'd say that makes him a bigger deal, with more long-lasting effects on Israeli politics, than Trump is to America.

 

[CornusKousa]

Whatever it takes to get rid of their Trumpster

LOL..not any time soon they are way more right wing than we are.

Remember, this is a population of people surrounded by other people who want to kill them, 24//7.

Open borders socialist are not winning shit over there any time soon because they aren't suicidal.

 

[pecksniff]

LOL..not any time soon they are way more right wing than we are.

Remember, this is a population of people surrounded by other people who want to kill them, 24//7.

Open borders socialist are not winning shit over there any time soon because they aren't suicidal.

See post #2.

 

[CornusKousa]

See post #2.

Does not address the fact that the country is overwhelmingly (78-80%) right wing of some kind.

With national liberalism absolutely fuckin' dominating. Real liberals too, my kind of liberals, who support liberty, not liberal = DNC/Democrat as so many idiot Americans use it.

Most Democrats would call a solid 60% of Israeli people "alt-reich extremist"....because they support things like capitalism and controlled borders.

And they don't absolutely fucking HATE Israel either, so that's evil nationalism!!

The left is very much a minority in Israel, and they won't be controlling it anytime soon.

 

[pecksniff]

Does not address the fact that the country is overwhelmingly liberal and conservative.

So, what real political change does this change of government represent? Any at all? Or is it only a matter of a sufficient number of pols finding Netanyahu personally odious and been-there-too-long?

 

[CornusKousa]

So, what real political change does this change of government represent? Any at all?

As PM is not 'the government' but the head of state it will have some effects.

But only to a certain degree because they will probably not be replacing him with a blue haired, trans Muslim communist to please the EU, Californians and New Yorkers.

I think the key disconnect here is that your analysis failed to translate "liberals" into US English, liberals and national liberals in Israel are not like US "liberals". Which among the uneducated in the US is just another word for Democrat/DNC and whatever shit they push no matter how illiberal it actually is.

In Israel the national liberals which are the dominating party are more like Trump/Reagan neo-liberal nationalist with a little bit of Ron Paul libertarianism. This is Netanyahu's party. Most Democrats would consider them alt-right/fascist. Their liberals and social liberals for that matter are more JFK/Eisenhower types, with a dash of FDR in there. More centric liberals, understand there is a role for government but also keep it pro-liberty as possible...but still SOLID right wing by current US standards.

Just these groups make up 49% of the Israeli parliament.

Then there are the conservatives/religious conservatives and a few other smaller parties including the only two left wing parties and they make up just 10% of parliament. They're social democracy parties without running everything through the Marxist lens of critical theory.

Quick comparison for fun!!

If the Israeli parliament were the US Congress there would only be only be 10 (D) senators and only 43 representatives in the house.

If the US were Israel (D)'s would would run Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee and Vermont. The entire rest of the country, every office from sheriff to POTUS would be republican.

That's how RW Israel is.

Or is it only a matter of a sufficient number of pols finding Netanyahu personally odious and been-there-too-long?

This seems to be the most plausible situation. He's getting old, people are tired of his shit.

But as right wing as Israel is, they are not going to have a blue haired trans Muslim democratic socialist PM any time soon. "progress" is going pretty much the fuck nowhere in that country, pretty much all of them think it's fucking nuts.

 

[pecksniff]

As PM is not 'the government' but the head of state it will have some effects.

No, it's a parliamentary system -- as with any parliamentary system with no monarch, the head of state is a largely-ceremonial president.

In Israel the national liberals which are the dominating party are more like Trump/Reagan neo-liberal nationalist with a little bit of Ron Paul libertarianism. This is Netanyahu's party. Most Democrats would consider them alt-right/fascist. Their liberals and social liberals for that matter are more JFK/Eisenhower types, with a dash of FDR in there. More centric liberals, understand there is a role for government but also keep it pro-liberty as possible...but still SOLID right wing by current US standards.

Isn't there also a socialist tradition, represented by the Labor Party? (Which is now in a state of decline -- but the original Zionists were heavily socialist, which is where the kibbutzim communes came from.)

 

[CornusKousa]

No, it's a parliamentary system -- as with any parliamentary system with no monarch, the head of state is a largely-ceremonial president.

Largely, but not entirely.

PM is certainly no god king or any sort of powerhouse but he's still got a role and it's as the chief executive and leader.

Which comes with it's own privileges, power and influence.

Isn't there also a socialist tradition, represented by the Labor Party? (Which is now in a state of decline -- but the original Zionists were heavily socialist, which is where the kibbutzim communes came from.)

Yes, the labor party is the 6%....but even they have liberalized and moved right a bit to social democracy, still losing their ass.

The left will be a minority in the extreme for some time there.

The closest thing there to the left that has any real influence is social liberals, they're ok taxing for infrastructure and civil services...enhancing liberty for all.

But all the iidentitarianism, critical theory, contemporary feminism, all the other "Woke" and "progressive" things that are woke and make progressive leftists in the US what they are?? Blue hair included....

Has pretty much been totally rejected by Israel. It's almost universally laughed at there.

 

[pecksniff]

But all the iidentitarianism, critical theory, contemporary feminism, all the other "Woke" and "progressive" things that are woke and make progressive leftists in the US what they are?? Blue hair included....

Has pretty much been totally rejected by Israel.

That should at any rate simplify things somewhat -- in a country where all things political urgently need simplification.

Two Jews were stranded on a desert island. The first thing they did was build three temples -- "You go to yours, I'll go to mine, and we'll both boycott that sonofabitch on the hill."

 

[CornusKousa]

That should at any rate simplify things somewhat -- in a country where all things political urgently need simplification.

Ehh...in a purely political ideologically driven environment yes.

But then you get religion and tradition in the mix...remember the very religiously Jewish Jews essentially control about 1/3 of the government.

They have as many factions and infighting on their right wing as we do.

Our biggest issue is that both sides are using the federal government as a weapon to bull the other side with. That's a terribly dangerous and often destructive way to run a country.

 

[WillJ8787]

Ehh...in a purely political ideologically driven environment yes.

But then you get religion and tradition in the mix...remember the very religiously Jewish Jews essentially control about 1/3 of the government.

They have as many factions and infighting on their right wing as we do.

Our biggest issue is that both sides are using the federal government as a weapon to bull the other side with. That's a terribly dangerous and often destructive way to run a country.

1/3 of the Jewish males don't work.... probably a higher percentage but I'm not sure.

This is part of the problem.

 

[pecksniff]

Our biggest issue is that both sides are using the federal government as a weapon to bull the other side with.

National, not federal -- Israel is a unitary state.

 

[pecksniff]

Bennett is now PM.

Now Bennett will hold the country's top job for two years, before handing over to Lapid.

The two men's partnership is an unlikely one, and Bennett will sit alongside politicians with completely opposing ideologies to his own in government. But as Lapid and Bennett sat next to each other in the government's first cabinet meeting late Sunday night, Lapid said it was based on mutual trust and friendship.
The two formed a political brotherhood in 2013, and it has re-emerged to lead the country into a new era of politics.

Bennett lies to the ideological right of Netanyahu in several crucial areas and carries into office a history of incendiary remarks about Palestinians and a well-documented ambition to annex part of the occupied West Bank.

How much of his agenda Bennett can achieve while constrained in an awkwardly assembled coalition remains to be seen. But the Yamina leader -- for so long a supporting character in Israel's high-stakes political spectacle -- is placed to become a major player on the world scene.

Annex part of the WB? Interesting times!

 

[pecksniff]

1/3 of the Jewish males don't work.... probably a higher percentage but I'm not sure.

This is part of the problem.

Do they have a welfare state vigorous enough to support that many unemployed?

 

[pecksniff]

Everything Israel is, everything Israel has is thanks to the largess of the Christian Zionists of Britain and the United States.

What, the crazy cranks who support Israel because they see it as playing a role in End Times prophecy?! Do they really amount to that much?!