.
The Obama administration have met all of Israel’s demands for their security and extra investments for Iron Dome missile defense. Nevertheless, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton provided full cover for Netanyahu’s greed for more settlements on occupied Palestinian land. At the United Nations, Susan Rice has frustrated friend and foe for sole backing by veto of further settlement building no other U.S. administration had allowed. In the meantime, the Israeli electorate gets pushed farther to the right by the political parties and hate mongering against Palestinians and Islamists. So today, Netanyahu explained to the citizens of Israel: “The US and Obama should butt out. Israelis know best what their interests are. ” A fully compliant Congress on that shiny hill will make the extreme Zionist dream come true: Jahweh promised all of Israel’s biblical land to the Jewish people. Judea and Samaria is ours and there is no place for Palestinians. They can establish their Palestinian state elsewhere. Does anyone truly believe the Arab states will accept this argument?
- Livni: PM being led towards end of Zionism and a Wake-up Call
- Likud’s drop in polls raises concerns for next term
US born, Right-wing millionaire is Israel campaign’s surprise star
(Reuters) – A right-wing millionaire who says a Palestinian state would be suicide for Israel has emerged as the surprise success story of the country’s election campaign. So much so that Naftali Bennett, a former aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who is said to have fallen out with his old boss, is now expected to face the Israeli leader across the cabinet table after the January 22 election.
Opinion polls show Bennett’s far-right, and revamped, Bayit Yehudi (Jewish Home) seems to appeal to many voters, predicting the party will finish third in the parliamentary election that Netanyahu is widely forecast to win.
Netanyahu has been jarred by Bennett’s chipping away at his Likud party’s support. This week he gave radio interviews, which he rarely does, and called on his traditional supporters not to be swayed by smaller parties and to vote for him.
Dismissing as a “dead end” efforts to achieve a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Bennett wants to annex more than half of the occupied West Bank and give autonomy to Palestinians.
“Forming a Palestinian state within the Land of Israel would spell eternal strife and war and bloodshed,” Bennett said in American-accented English, reminiscent of that of his former boss, Netanyahu, in an interview.
Former Netanyahu aid and IT entrepeneur captures Israel’s mood ahead of elections
(France24) – Bennett’s meteoric rise in the polls has yet to translate into proper political influence. But with his military background and his success as an IT entrepreneur, the American-born 40-year-old leader has managed to capture the mood of Israel’s growing pro-settlement community.
While Netanyahu continues to pay lip-service to the two-state solution, Bennett has come out in favour of annexing 60% of the West Bank to boost the establishment of Jewish settlements.
“I will do everything in my ability, forever, to prevent a Palestinian state from being founded within the land of Israel,” Bennett said in a campaign speech in late December 2012.
Likud’s rightward drift
But while Bennett’s rise in the polls has been capturing international headlines, several Israeli far-right figures have quietly been gaining crucial influence within Netanyahu’s own Likud party, rising to eligible positions within the party’s list in last November primaries.
Several senior politicians regarded as the party’s moderate voices — Dan Meridor, Michael Eitan, and Benny Begin — were then pushed off the Likud’s list as party members opted to propel several candidates linked to the settlers’ ideology into parliament.
Israel evicts West Bank tent protesters in new settlement block E1
Bennett Reminds Peres: Oslo ‘Peace’ Killed 1,600 Israelis
(Israel National News) – Jewish Home chairman Bennett tells President Peres “enough, already” with “peace process” talk. “Oslo murdered 1,600 Israelis.”
Naftali Bennett, who heads the Bayit Yehudi (merged Jewish Home-National Union) slate of Knesset candidates, reminded President Shimon Peres Monday that the Oslo Accords “brought us more than 1,600 murdered Israelis.”
Responding to the President’s controversial remarks on political issues in the middle of the election campaign, Bennett stated, “Enough, already. The President of the country is supposed to represent all of the country, not just a part of it.”
Peres said on Sunday that PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas wants peace and is the only man with whom Israel can sign an agreement.
“Mr. President, it is clear that your intentions were good, but that does not make any difference. The time has come for some soul searching. Perhaps giving land to our enemies does not work?
“Perhaps you are mistaken? It is reasonable to have a Palestinian Authority country that will rain thousands of missiles on Tel Aviv?”
