Last edited Tue Jun 10, 2014, 10:07 AM - Edit history (1)
I can't think of this as anything but another Israeli reaction against a real Palestinian state. The fact that over half of the Knesset voted for him is troubling. There are 120 members. It does mean - I think - that Netanyahu can comfortably move to the right.
One huge concern for the future is that one of the few non ceremonial jobs of the President is to pick the member of Knesset to first try to form a government. It does not have to be the person with the most votes or whose party has the most seats - ie Livni had more votes than Netanyahu, but given the Knesset makeup, it was thought Netanyahu had the better chance of creating a coalition.
This really could move Israel further to the right. This is not the version of Israel my kids learned about in Hebrew school. In his recent book, Ari Shavit listed 4 possible futures for Israel - 1) Getting rid of Palestinians from Greater Israel - which is ethnic cleansing even if they are simply expelled. 2) An apartheid state 3) Two states or 4) what he called a bi national state where everyone has the same rights. With this vote, it looks like the current government never was honestly working for a two state solution. They certainly aren't considering a binational state. They and many American politicians and American Jews need to reconsider Kerry's honest words that Israel risks becoming an apartheid state. The Israeli reaction to that showed it hit a nerve - which could happen only if they know apartheid is wrong and they know the charge has some merit. (In fact, it was likely only diplomacy that keeps Americans from speaking of the present rather than a possible future.
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