Weeks after Israeli’s March 17 elections, Netanyahu and four other extremist political parties formed a new coalition government – barely with 61 of 120 Knesset seats.
Bar-Ilan University Professor Eytan Gilboa calls it “a big political mess…Nobody in his right mind believes that this will hold for even a short time.”
Coalition partners include:
- Netanyahu’s hard-right Likud (30 MKs)
- Naftali Bennett’s pro-settler Habayit Hayehudi (8MKs);
- two far-right religious parties – Shas (7 MKs) and United Torah Judaism (6 MKs); and
- Moshe Kahlon’s right-wing Kulanu party (10 MKs).
Yisrael Beiteinu party head Avigdor Lieberman refused to join Netanyahu’s coalition. It’s not extremist enough for him. It didn’t annihilate Hamas.
It didn’t enact a racist nationality law officially making non-Jewish Israelis second-class citizens.
Days earlier, Lieberman resigned as foreign minister saying:
“This is certainly a coalition that, to my regret, does not reflect the positions of the nationalist camp and is not to our liking, to put it mildly.”
He and Netanyahu are world class thugs. They spurn rule of law principles. The abhor democratic values.
They prioritize stealing all valued Palestinian land. They deplore peace. Netanyahu calls pursuing it a waste of time.
He opposes Palestinian statehood – publicly announced while campaigning.
Bennett will become education minister. He’s militantly hardline. He’s anti-democratic. He opposes press freedom. He deplores progressive activism. He wants non-Jews excluded from Israel.
He opposes hiring “foreigners.” He calls them “infiltrators,” a “time bomb.” He reflects the worst of racist hate-mongering.
He’s against what he calls “excessive legalism.” He calls it “judicial activism.” He “killed lots of Arabs in (his) life,” he said – “and there is no problem with that.”
Ultra-orthodox Shas and United Torah represent the worst of religious fundamentalism in Israel. They want Halakha, Jewish religious law principles, enforced.
Netanyahu announced formation of a new government shortly before a Tuesday midnight deadline. He informed President Reuven Rivlin saying:
“I am honored to inform you that I have been successful in forming a government, which I will request is brought before the Knesset for its approval as soon as possible.”
Both men spoke by phone. Rivlin “congratulated (Netanyahu) on completing the formation of the government.”
“I have received your letter of confirmation, and look forward to the convening of the Knesset as soon as possible, to approve the government,” he said.
Bennett said he and Netanyahu “work(ed) all night” to finalize coalition governance terms.
Netanyahu will serve both as prime minister and foreign minister. Reports indicate he wants the latter portfolio as bait to entice Zionist Union leader Isaac Herzog to become a coalition partner.
Don’t bet on it based on his harsh words – calling Netanyahu’s new government a “national failure, lack(ing) responsibility, stability and governance.”
It’s “susceptible to blackmail. (It’ll) advance nothing and will quickly be replaced by a responsible and hopeful alternative.”
According to Likud’s public relations head Nir Hefetz, Netanyahu wants the foreign ministry position “to leave room for the government to expand in the future.”
When asked if he wants Herzog to join, he responded “yes.” Netanyahu appointments so far include Habayit Hayehudi MP Ayelet Shaket as justice minister.
She’s one of many extremist lunatics influencing policy – officials waging war on Palestine, threatening the entire region.
During last summer’s aggression on Gaza, she called for genocidal slaughter – declaring “the entire Palestinian people…the enemy, including its elderly and its women, its cities and its villages, its property and its infrastructure.”
She said Palestinian mothers give birth to “little snakes.”
“The Palestinian people have declared war on us, and we must respond with war. Not an operation, not a slow-moving one, not low-intensity, not controlled escalation, no destruction of terror infrastructure, no targeted killings.”
“Enough with the oblique references. This is a war. Words have meanings. This is a war.”
“It is not a war against terror, and not a war against extremists, and not even a war against the Palestinian Authority.”
“These too are forms of avoiding reality. This is a war between two people. Who is the enemy? The Palestinian people. Why? Ask them, they started.”
She called genocidal Israeli wars morally right. She wants Palestinians entirely exterminated. As justice minister, Palestinians will get none.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan compared her to Hitler. “If (her) words had been said by a Palestinian, the whole would have denounced it,” he said.
Zionist Union MK Nachman Shai said her appointment “is like giving the fire and rescue services to a pyromaniac.”
Netanyahu’s new government appears worse than his previous one. Shas party deputy finance minister Aryeh Deri served prison time for corruption.
Likudnik deputy Knesset speaker Moshe Feiglin urges “exterminat(ing) Palestinians in Gaza.”
Notorious racist/outgoing construction minister Uri Ariel becomes new agriculture minister.
He wants Palestine entirely colonized. Earlier he said “(t)here will be just one state between the Jordan River and the sea, and that is the State of Israel.”
Besides education, justice and agriculture, Bennett will control the Settlement Division and Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee.
One of his Habayit Hayehudi party MKs will be appointed deputy defense minister. Kulanu’s Moshe Kahlon will become new finance minister. Likud’s Moshe Ya’alon will likely remain defense minister.
Institute for Palestine Studies senior fellow Mouin Rabbani calls Israel’s new government “the most extremist in its history.”
It includes a rogue’s gallery of hate-mongering racists.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at [email protected]. His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.” http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network. It airs three times weekly: live on Sundays at 1PM Central time plus two prerecorded archived programs.
