padraig (u.s.)
a monkey that will go ape
[btw if you don't want to read these long posts, don't. they're basically me working thru a synthesis what you could find in greater detail elsewhere for my own benefit, so that I can have a better understanding.]
I don't want to endlessly hammer this point, but that sickness of the occupations also tracks alongside the rightward drift of Israeli politics since Begin's first election in 1977. for people unfamiliar - warning, facts incoming - Begin ended 30 uninterrupted years of Labor rule by playing on the serious and justified resentment that Mizrahi Jews felt toward their decades-long racist treatment at the hands of the traditional Ashkenazim elite. it's a generalization, but that divide between Askhenazi/secular/more affluent/liberal and Mizrahi/religious/working-class/conservative still persists.
Netanyahu's base is Mizrahi and more recently Russian-speaking immigrants, who tend to be secular but very hawkish as personified by Avigdor Liebrman. It's the Israeli equivalent of the Democrats losing white working-class voters by largely abandoning class issues under Clinton. In that sense Netanyahu was Trump before Trump. he, and his equally terrible wife, have been playing the "elites hate us but the people love us" card since the late 90s. The only difference is that in Israel the racial element is reversed. and just like Trump, Netanyahu is a secular politician (or rather in each case their religion is self-worship) happy to ally that populist base with religious fundamentalists, in this case the various settler and Haredi parties.
that's why if you look at his Cabinet ministers, they're basically all Mizrahi, Kahanist/settler militants, Haredi rabbis, or some combination thereof. Yoav Gallant and Netanyahu himself are the only prominent traditional Ashkenazi soldier-politician figures. the traditional Ashkenazi secular left is basically defunct, as shown by the decline of the Labor Party into total irrelevance over the last 20 years, as well as traditional liberal peace groups like Peace Now etc.
I'm probably to going to stop making these disclaimers bc they're stupid, but the point here isn't that the people who make up the current Israeli govt are inherently bad and the traditional Ashkenazi elite were good, it's that they reflect an Israel that is more hardline, less tolerant, more triumphalist, less pragmatic. They didn't begin the sickness of the occupations but they are I think mutually reinforcing processes. the cruelty and devaluation of human life which the occupations entail bleed back into Israeli society. settler extremism is supported and encouraged by Sharon and Netanyahu govts bc they share the same goal of Greater Israel. and so on.
there isn't even room for loyal opposition anymore. so you get the op-ed in the Jersualem Post saying if you're not with us, you're not a Jew. you get the top Israeli police official banning protests against the war and threatening to bus protestors into Gaza. That's always been Netanyahu's policy, like Trump's, viciously attack any critics - it's how he winds up doing things like allying with a true antisemite like Viktor Orban against George Soros - but it's basically the default position of Israeli society now. the big protest movement earlier this year against Netanyahu trying to overthrow the Supreme Court and make himself a dictator studiously avoided Palestinian issues. the occupation has become almost untouchable.
all of that is to say I'm extremely unhopeful about any kind of real peace deal going forward, I guess. the dominant forces in Israel want a Greater Israel and the final expulsion of the Palestinians to Egypt or Jordan. they and Hamas have also combined to ensure that there is also no credible Palestinian negotiating partner even if there was Israeli willingness. very depressing, very grim.
I don't want to endlessly hammer this point, but that sickness of the occupations also tracks alongside the rightward drift of Israeli politics since Begin's first election in 1977. for people unfamiliar - warning, facts incoming - Begin ended 30 uninterrupted years of Labor rule by playing on the serious and justified resentment that Mizrahi Jews felt toward their decades-long racist treatment at the hands of the traditional Ashkenazim elite. it's a generalization, but that divide between Askhenazi/secular/more affluent/liberal and Mizrahi/religious/working-class/conservative still persists.
Netanyahu's base is Mizrahi and more recently Russian-speaking immigrants, who tend to be secular but very hawkish as personified by Avigdor Liebrman. It's the Israeli equivalent of the Democrats losing white working-class voters by largely abandoning class issues under Clinton. In that sense Netanyahu was Trump before Trump. he, and his equally terrible wife, have been playing the "elites hate us but the people love us" card since the late 90s. The only difference is that in Israel the racial element is reversed. and just like Trump, Netanyahu is a secular politician (or rather in each case their religion is self-worship) happy to ally that populist base with religious fundamentalists, in this case the various settler and Haredi parties.
that's why if you look at his Cabinet ministers, they're basically all Mizrahi, Kahanist/settler militants, Haredi rabbis, or some combination thereof. Yoav Gallant and Netanyahu himself are the only prominent traditional Ashkenazi soldier-politician figures. the traditional Ashkenazi secular left is basically defunct, as shown by the decline of the Labor Party into total irrelevance over the last 20 years, as well as traditional liberal peace groups like Peace Now etc.
I'm probably to going to stop making these disclaimers bc they're stupid, but the point here isn't that the people who make up the current Israeli govt are inherently bad and the traditional Ashkenazi elite were good, it's that they reflect an Israel that is more hardline, less tolerant, more triumphalist, less pragmatic. They didn't begin the sickness of the occupations but they are I think mutually reinforcing processes. the cruelty and devaluation of human life which the occupations entail bleed back into Israeli society. settler extremism is supported and encouraged by Sharon and Netanyahu govts bc they share the same goal of Greater Israel. and so on.
there isn't even room for loyal opposition anymore. so you get the op-ed in the Jersualem Post saying if you're not with us, you're not a Jew. you get the top Israeli police official banning protests against the war and threatening to bus protestors into Gaza. That's always been Netanyahu's policy, like Trump's, viciously attack any critics - it's how he winds up doing things like allying with a true antisemite like Viktor Orban against George Soros - but it's basically the default position of Israeli society now. the big protest movement earlier this year against Netanyahu trying to overthrow the Supreme Court and make himself a dictator studiously avoided Palestinian issues. the occupation has become almost untouchable.
all of that is to say I'm extremely unhopeful about any kind of real peace deal going forward, I guess. the dominant forces in Israel want a Greater Israel and the final expulsion of the Palestinians to Egypt or Jordan. they and Hamas have also combined to ensure that there is also no credible Palestinian negotiating partner even if there was Israeli willingness. very depressing, very grim.
