On the cusp of being replaced as Israeli prime minister, Netanyahu isn’t going quietly into that good night — far from it.
After extremist settlers and other far-right elements were denied permission for an unacceptable march through Occupied East Jerusalem’s Old City, Netanyahu OK’d what’s virtually sure to heighten tensions more than already.
His aim is all-about inciting clashes between Occupied Palestinians and Israeli extremists who want the city for exclusive Jewish use.
After senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya warned on Monday “against letting the march approach East Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound,” a Tuesday statement by the Netanyahu regime said the following:
“The parade will take place (on June 15) in a format to be agreed between police and the parade’s organizers.”
By aiming to incite violence in Occupied East Jerusalem, Netanyahu likely seeks to involve Hamas as a way to resume war on the Strip that unnamed senior IDF officials said left unfinished business after 11 days of Israeli aggression ended.
Netanyahu likely hopes that resumed conflict throughout the Occupied Territories is his best chance to halt transition of power by aiming to shift support of one or more 8-party opposition bloc members — at the 11th hour — from a Lapid/Bennett government to him.
At this time, Knesset members will vote up or down on transition of power this Sunday.
With a one-seat majority advantage, the opposition bloc is set to end Netanyahu’s 12-year reign of terror if he’s unable to stop what appears inevitable.
While a new government — if Sunday’s swearing in goes as planned — can reverse Netanyahu’s permitted March, opposition bloc member Gilad Kariv denounced his disruptive move, saying:
It’s “another chapter in (his) attempt to leave a scorched earth.”
Because prime minister-designate Naftali Bennett is heavily pressured by ultranationalist hardliners, he may permit the march to avoid a tumultuous start to his tenure.
With heightened tensions in Occupied East Jerusalem, a spark or threatened one could ignite violence in the city that could spread throughout the Occupied Territories.
If held, the so-called Flag March was scheduled to pass through Damascus Gate into the Muslim quarter of East Jerusalem’s Old City.
While likely to be along an alternate route at this time, the risk of inciting conflict is high if the unacceptable march takes place.
According to Haaretz, Netanyahu and supportive “Religious Zionism racists Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir are trying to set the region aflame” in attempt to block transition of power or disrupt it straightaway if he’s unseated.
Since a 61-seat opposition bloc was formed to replace Netanyahu-led Likud, he’s gone all-out to undermine transition of power.
Last Sunday, he told Likudniks that “journalists are taking part in (what he called a) propaganda machine enlisted in favor of the left (sic), but you don’t have to be afraid of laying into” its elements (sic), adding:
Israelis are “witnessing the biggest election fraud in the history of the country (sic)…”
He condemned what he called “violence from every side (sic), even as others are silent as incitement rages against us (sic).”
“You cannot consider criticism from the right as incitement (sic) and criticism from the left as a legitimate act of freedom of expression (sic).”
“This is an attempt to frame the right as something violent and dangerous to democracy (sic)” — that’s nonexistent in Israel and throughout the West.
It’s “not too late” to vote against what he falsely called a “dangerous left-wing government (backed by) terror-supporters (sic).”
If Lapid/Bennett replace him on Sunday, he vowed to “bring (the new government) down very quickly,” adding:
“This is a government that will not be able to resist the return of the US to the dangerous nuclear agreement with Iran (sic), which will allow it to develop an arsenal of nuclear bombs that will threaten our very existence (sic).”
A “government that depends on supporters of terrorism (sic) will also not be able to act in a systematic and consistent manner against the terrorist organizations in Gaza (sic).”
Inflammatory rhetoric by him and his extremist supporters is likely to continue through Sunday’s swearing in ceremony and after a new government replaces him.
Hardline extremists like Netanyahu never quit, express regret for their unacceptable actions, or comply with the rule of law they disdain.
VISIT MY WEBSITE: stephenlendman.org (Home – Stephen Lendman). Contact at [email protected].
My two Wall Street books are timely reading:
“How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized Banking, Government Collusion, and Class War”
www.claritypress.com/product/how-wall-street-fleeces-america/
Stephen Lendman is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization
