This New York Times article was removed within an hour or two and completely rewritten … only available in cached memory, thanking Internet Archive WayBack Machine.
Netanyahu Expresses Alarm That Arab Voter Turnout Could Help Unseat Him
JERUSALEM — Increasingly worried that he could lose Tuesday’s elections, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel lashed out at the country’s Arab voters, expressing alarm that a large turnout by them could determine the outcome. Opponents accused him of baldfaced racism.
Mr. Netanyahu’s remarks, in a video posted on social media, were seen by critics as the most strident in a series of assertions he has made in recent days to rally right-wing supporters to his argument that he is the only Israeli leader who will save the country from its enemies.
On Monday, Mr. Netanyahu said if his Likud faction was returned to power, he would never allow the creation of a Palestinian state, reversing a stance he had taken six years earlier. His statement was seen not only as validating Palestinian suspicions, but also risking further alienation between Mr. Netanyahu and the Obama administration, which supports a two-state solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Mr. Netanyahu also openly acknowledged having promoted a settlement over the 1967 lines in southeast Jerusalem in order to block the expansion of the West Bank city of Bethlehem and its connection with Jerusalem, something that critics said harmed the contiguity of any future Palestinian state.
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The Arab parties have maintained that they will honor their tradition of refusing to join any governing coalition. But their leader, Ayman Odeh, has indicated he would support Isaac Herzog — the leader of the center-left Zionist Union alliance, Mr. Netanyahu’s most important adversary — if Mr. Netanyahu is defeated.“Right-wing rule is in danger. Arab voters are streaming in huge quantities to the polling stations,” Mr. Netanyahu said in the video. “The left-wing nonprofit organizations are bringing them in buses.”
He exhorted supporters of Likud to vote. “With your help and God’s help we will form a national government and protect the state of Israel,” he said.
The Zionist Union alliance denounced Mr. Netanyahu’s language as racial fearmongering.
h/t Mondoweiss New York Times published piece about Netanyahu’s racism, then rewrote all of it
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Obama snubs Netanyahu and criticises Israeli PM’s ‘divisive rhetoric’
More below the fold …
Obama snubs Netanyahu and criticises Israeli PM’s ‘divisive rhetoric’ | The Guardian |
The White House has made clear its dismay at Binyamin Netanyahu’s sweeping victory in the Israeli elections with a stinging rebuke of the “divisive rhetoric” used by the Israeli leader in the closing stages of the election.
President Obama has not called to congratulate Netanyahu, who is now attempting to build a coalition between rightwing parties and his own Likud, which won decisively in parliamentary elections on Tuesday.
But the White House said it would be forced to re-evaluate its policy on the Middle East peace process after Netanyahu abandoned a prior commitment to an independent Palestinian state, apparently to shore up support among conservatives in Israel.
Obama’s press secretary, Josh Earnest, reaffirmed the president’s belief in the two-state solution, and strongly condemned Netanyahu’s decision to rally support with incendiary remarks about a high turnout among Israeli Arab voters. Netanyahu used a 28-second video on election day to warn that Israeli Arabs were being bussed to the polls “in droves”.
“The United States and this administration is deeply concerned about rhetoric that seeks to marginalise Arab Israeli citizens,” Earnest said. “It undermines the values and democratic ideals that have been important to our democracy and an important part of what binds the United States and Israel together.”
He added: “Rhetoric that seeks to marginalise one segment of their population is deeply concerning, it is divisive, and I can tell you that these are views the administration intends to communicate directly to the Israelis.”
Israeli Election I: Likud Victory
Common wisdom says your first impression is always best. This holds true about the Israeli election. A week ago I wrote a post predicting that whatever the result, the Likud and Israeli far-right would win the election, cobble together a governing coalition, and things would go from bad to worse in terms of Israel’s relations with the Arab world, U.S., and rest of the world.
Then earlier today, just a few hours ago, I began hearing about desperate speeches Bibi was making via social media and the press, in which he was pulling out all the racist stops in a last-ditch effort to appeal to the nationalist base and stave off a disaster. My mistake was to believe the polls saying Bibi was finished. I thought his last-minute effort would fail and Bibi would be history.
But the old battle-axe fooled all the analysts and pollsters, who predicted as recently as last Friday a centrist victory and Likud disaster. As usual, Bibi knew his constituency better than the liberals and leftists who hoped for something different. He knew what motivated the average voter. He knew the red-meat phrases that set them salivating. He knew, in short, that fear and racism trumped the public’s growing impatience with his rule.
Bibi’s closing message was, modeled on Louis XIV, “Apres moi, les Arabes!” And it worked.
