The Israeli general election should have given Israelis an opportunity to choose between war and peace. Instead, Israelis will have a choice between war and more war, between occupation and more occupation, even if the candidates avoid using those terms.
AMMAN – A bizarre election campaign is heating up in Israel. The incumbent prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, has become the first candidate in the country’s history to seek reelection while facing criminal indictments. Meanwhile, the most important topic – the occupation of the Palestinian territories – has not been mentioned, with candidates instead competing over who can be tougher on the Palestinians.
The biggest threat comes from Netanyahu. As he fights for his political life amid charges of fraud, bribery, and breach of trust, fears are rising that he will misuse the enormous power he wields (he also serves as defense minister), escalating tensions both within and around Israel in order to strengthen his own position.
Far from quelling these fears, Netanyahu has been stoking them. He has once again ordered the closure of Bab al-Rahmeh in the Al-Haram Al-Sharif/Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem, Islam’s third-holiest site. Part of a UNESCO World Heritage site, the compound has been administered by Muslims for more than 14 centuries.
There is no legal justification for closing Bab al-Rahmeh. The building was sealed off in 2003, because it was being used as a headquarters for the Islamic Heritage Committee, led by a hardline Islamic sheikh (and Israeli citizen), Raed Salah. But that reasoning is no longer relevant: Salah hasn’t set foot in Al-Aqsa for more than a decade, and the Islamic Heritage Committee has long since been disbanded.
For Netanyahu, however, any flimsy excuse will do. His radical supporters want to take Israel one step closer to building a synagogue on the site of Bab al-Rahmeh. Netanyahu is acquiescing to these extremists in an effort to boost his political capital among a key bloc of voters. In the same vein, Netanyahu may find it politically convenient to trigger conflict in other areas, such as Gaza, south Lebanon, or with Iranian or Iran-backed forces in Syria.
Unfortunately, Netanyahu’s main challenger, Lieutenant General Benny Gantz, is not a much more desirable option. The former head of the Israeli Defense Forces, Gantz leads a right-of-center coalition. But he has also touted his anti-Palestinian credentials, such as how in 2014, under his command, the IDF sent parts of Gaza “back to the Stone Age” during a campaign that left thousands of Palestinians dead, injured, or homeless.
At a time of escalating global turmoil, there is an urgent need for incisive, informed analysis of the issues and questions driving the news – just what PS has always provided.
Subscribe to Digital or Digital Plus now to secure your discount.
Subscribe Now
Then there is the recently created Hayamin Hehadash party, co-chaired by the outgoing education and justice ministers, Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked, respectively. Bennett has declared that he wants to annex over 60% of the occupied West Bank. Shaked also wants to annex most of the occupied West Bank. And, in a bizarre attack on supposed judicial activism by Israel’s Supreme Court, she recently released a mock advertisement for “Fascism” perfume, which she declares “smells like democracy to [her].”
All of the main parties running in Israel’s election seem to know what they do not want: an end to the occupation, the division of Jerusalem, Palestinian statehood, and the right of Palestinian refugees to return. But beyond intensifying the occupation and annexing territories, none of them has offered any vision for the region’s future, let alone a road map for peace with the Palestinians.
This plays into the hands of those who never want the conflict to be resolved. After all, while government policy can diverge from campaign promises, winning an election based on hawkish one-upmanship could tie the hands of the eventual prime minister, even if he did decide to pursue peace.
Israeli leaders are not alone in their lack of interest in, let alone vision for, ending the decades-long military occupation of nearly four million Palestinians. The United States under Trump has decided, for the first time in over five decades, to drop the term “occupied” from references to Gaza, the West Bank, and the Golan Heights in its annual human-rights report. These territories are, the US government now claims, simply “controlled” by Israel. This approach will only further weaken Israeli leaders’ motivation to find solutions. By recognizing Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights, Trump even went further and legitimized, for the first time since World War II, the acquisition of land by force.
The Israeli general election should have given Israelis an opportunity to choose between war and peace. Instead, Israelis will have a choice between war and more war, between occupation and more occupation, even if the candidates avoid using those terms. And the fact remains that, without a two-state solution or a power-sharing deal within a single state in which all citizens have equal rights, the region is doomed to remain locked in its cycle of violence.
To have unlimited access to our content including in-depth commentaries, book reviews, exclusive interviews, PS OnPoint and PS The Big Picture, please subscribe
With German voters clearly demanding comprehensive change, the far right has been capitalizing on the public's discontent and benefiting from broader global political trends. If the country's democratic parties cannot deliver, they may soon find that they are no longer the mainstream.
explains why the outcome may decide whether the political “firewall” against the far right can hold.
The Russian and (now) American vision of "peace" in Ukraine would be no peace at all. The immediate task for Europe is not only to navigate Donald’s Trump unilateral pursuit of a settlement, but also to ensure that any deal does not increase the likelihood of an even wider war.
sees a Korea-style armistice with security guarantees as the only viable option in Ukraine.
Rather than engage in lengthy discussions to pry concessions from Russia, US President Donald Trump seems committed to giving the Kremlin whatever it wants to end the Ukraine war. But rewarding the aggressor and punishing the victim would amount to setting the stage for the next war.
warns that by punishing the victim, the US is setting up Europe for another war.
Within his first month back in the White House, Donald Trump has upended US foreign policy and launched an all-out assault on the country’s constitutional order. With US institutions bowing or buckling as the administration takes executive power to unprecedented extremes, the establishment of an authoritarian regime cannot be ruled out.
The rapid advance of AI might create the illusion that we have created a form of algorithmic intelligence capable of understanding us as deeply as we understand one another. But these systems will always lack the essential qualities of human intelligence.
explains why even cutting-edge innovations are not immune to the world’s inherent unpredictability.
AMMAN – A bizarre election campaign is heating up in Israel. The incumbent prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, has become the first candidate in the country’s history to seek reelection while facing criminal indictments. Meanwhile, the most important topic – the occupation of the Palestinian territories – has not been mentioned, with candidates instead competing over who can be tougher on the Palestinians.
The biggest threat comes from Netanyahu. As he fights for his political life amid charges of fraud, bribery, and breach of trust, fears are rising that he will misuse the enormous power he wields (he also serves as defense minister), escalating tensions both within and around Israel in order to strengthen his own position.
Far from quelling these fears, Netanyahu has been stoking them. He has once again ordered the closure of Bab al-Rahmeh in the Al-Haram Al-Sharif/Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem, Islam’s third-holiest site. Part of a UNESCO World Heritage site, the compound has been administered by Muslims for more than 14 centuries.
There is no legal justification for closing Bab al-Rahmeh. The building was sealed off in 2003, because it was being used as a headquarters for the Islamic Heritage Committee, led by a hardline Islamic sheikh (and Israeli citizen), Raed Salah. But that reasoning is no longer relevant: Salah hasn’t set foot in Al-Aqsa for more than a decade, and the Islamic Heritage Committee has long since been disbanded.
For Netanyahu, however, any flimsy excuse will do. His radical supporters want to take Israel one step closer to building a synagogue on the site of Bab al-Rahmeh. Netanyahu is acquiescing to these extremists in an effort to boost his political capital among a key bloc of voters. In the same vein, Netanyahu may find it politically convenient to trigger conflict in other areas, such as Gaza, south Lebanon, or with Iranian or Iran-backed forces in Syria.
Unfortunately, Netanyahu’s main challenger, Lieutenant General Benny Gantz, is not a much more desirable option. The former head of the Israeli Defense Forces, Gantz leads a right-of-center coalition. But he has also touted his anti-Palestinian credentials, such as how in 2014, under his command, the IDF sent parts of Gaza “back to the Stone Age” during a campaign that left thousands of Palestinians dead, injured, or homeless.
Winter Sale: Save 40% on a new PS subscription
At a time of escalating global turmoil, there is an urgent need for incisive, informed analysis of the issues and questions driving the news – just what PS has always provided.
Subscribe to Digital or Digital Plus now to secure your discount.
Subscribe Now
Then there is the recently created Hayamin Hehadash party, co-chaired by the outgoing education and justice ministers, Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked, respectively. Bennett has declared that he wants to annex over 60% of the occupied West Bank. Shaked also wants to annex most of the occupied West Bank. And, in a bizarre attack on supposed judicial activism by Israel’s Supreme Court, she recently released a mock advertisement for “Fascism” perfume, which she declares “smells like democracy to [her].”
All of the main parties running in Israel’s election seem to know what they do not want: an end to the occupation, the division of Jerusalem, Palestinian statehood, and the right of Palestinian refugees to return. But beyond intensifying the occupation and annexing territories, none of them has offered any vision for the region’s future, let alone a road map for peace with the Palestinians.
This plays into the hands of those who never want the conflict to be resolved. After all, while government policy can diverge from campaign promises, winning an election based on hawkish one-upmanship could tie the hands of the eventual prime minister, even if he did decide to pursue peace.
Israeli leaders are not alone in their lack of interest in, let alone vision for, ending the decades-long military occupation of nearly four million Palestinians. The United States under Trump has decided, for the first time in over five decades, to drop the term “occupied” from references to Gaza, the West Bank, and the Golan Heights in its annual human-rights report. These territories are, the US government now claims, simply “controlled” by Israel. This approach will only further weaken Israeli leaders’ motivation to find solutions. By recognizing Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights, Trump even went further and legitimized, for the first time since World War II, the acquisition of land by force.
The Israeli general election should have given Israelis an opportunity to choose between war and peace. Instead, Israelis will have a choice between war and more war, between occupation and more occupation, even if the candidates avoid using those terms. And the fact remains that, without a two-state solution or a power-sharing deal within a single state in which all citizens have equal rights, the region is doomed to remain locked in its cycle of violence.