The recent elections in Israel again failed to deliver a clear winner. The third general elections within a year did not comfort Benjamin Netanyahu standing. True, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies secured 58 out of the 120 seats but Mr Benjamin Netanyahu has for the third time been stopped to win power outright. He is three seats off the mark to win a majority.
The campaign led by Mr Benjamin Netanyahu as a sewer-level. Reuven Rivlin the Israeli President, qualified the campaign as “awful and grubby”. Benjamin Netanyahu was hoping that a clear majority will give him much leeway to circumvent the corruption charges which he will have to face in the coming weeks. The Likoud and Benjamin Netanyahu were banking on a high turnout which would have been beneficial to him but he was proved wrong in his analysis and prediction. His failure is due not to a better performance of the blue and white opposition but to the Palestinian citizens of Israel.
According to Yousef Makladeh, head of the statnet Research Institute 87% of Arab-Israelis who cast their votes on Monday voted for the joint-list representing the Palestinian citizens of Israel. The 87% marks an increase in support for the joint list among Arabs compared to the last national elections in September 2019 when an estimated 80 % of Arab voters cast their votes for it. In the September 2019 elections the Arabs won 13 seats and in the present one has won 15 seats which is the best ever representation in the Knesset.
According to researchers many Arabs who voted for Zionist parties (yes there are people who do so for a myriad of reasons) in September 2019 opted to support the joint list after BLUE AND WHITE campaign was lurching the extreme-right and with anti-Palestinian rhetoric. I have written before that there is quasi no difference between the Likoud and the Blue and White Party. They are the two sides of the same coin. Never forget that simple analysis. Never!
For the first time the Arabs in Israel managed through the joint list to include secular nationalists, socialists and islamists and more importantly managed to avoid internal conflicts thus making the party more attractive to Arab voters. The Trump’s plan of “peace” (theft is a better description) and the recent fascist actions of Netanyahu have helped the Arab to unite under one banner.
More interestingly the Times of Israel (of interesting reading if you wish to understand the under currents in the Israel world of politics) reported that around 20,000 Jewish Israelis voted for the joint Arab list. In the September 2019 elections only 10,000 Jewish voters cast their votes for the Arabs.
The Arabs or the Palestinian voters were motivated by the impending dangers. According to the Guardian: “Palestinian voters were motivated by a real sense of urgency. Netanyahu’s racist incitement against them has escalated in recent years. In November he described them as an existential threat for Israel. The Trump “Peace plan”, endorsed by Netanyahu called for the transfer of many Palestinian citizens to the Palestinian “State”. The alarming prospect of being deprived of their citizenship and forcibly removed to a Bantustan-style State let in the West Bank, drove many to the polling booths.”
It is apposite to note that in Israel’s 72 years of existence no Palestinian party has ever been in Government. The only exception is that during YITZHAK RABIN 1992-1995 Government there was a “confidence & supply” agreement with the two Palestinian parties. You will note that Rabin was decried by the right wing at the Knesset as being “illegitimate” as he lacked a “Jewish majority”… Many believed and still believe that his alliance (not overt one ) with Palestinian citizens led him to be murdered by Jewish extremists in 1995.
So chaotic is the situation in Israel that the only option is another general elections… I believe that it will be very difficult for Netanyahu to step down. Once he steps down there will be a united front.
Will the Palestinians (Arabs) Joint List support the Blue & White Party? It seems that Ayman Odeh head of the Joint Arab List is ready to do so but I believe that such action will explode the unity of the Joint List.
Will the BLUE AND WHITE seek the support of the Joint-List? No as it will lead to internal division between BLUE AND WHITE parties. We must never forget that Benny Gantz leader of Blue & White has said that he will bomb “back to the stone age”…
Now with the divisions in the Arab world the Palestinians must be united more than never and must rely on themselves. Getting rid of Netanyahu is a short term victory but beware even Benny Gantz is another Netanyahu. They (all Israeli leaders from Zionist parties) want to get rid of the Palestinians.Deep inside themselves. They want Israel to be “purged”. They want Israel without Palestinians. Luckily there are some Jews in Israel who support the Palestinians.
RAMA VALAYDEN
