Even AIPAC has condemned Netanyahu's latest craven political move

Submitted by gjohnsit on Thu, 02/28/2019 - 12:56pm

There is literally nothing that Netanyahu won't do to cling to power.
That fact has become immensely important because of today's news.

Israel's attorney general announced Thursday that his office plans to indict Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on corruption charges after a two-year investigation.
The prime minister faces one count of bribery and three counts of breach of trust.
...
Prosecutors would have to go forward with a pre-indictment hearing before Netanyahu is formally charged.

Police have previously recommended indicting Netanyahu for bribery, fraud and breach of trust in three different cases.

Netanyahu doesn't have much of a legal defense (i.e. because he's guilty), so he's decided to use a political defense instead. That means getting into bed with the worst of the worst.

That changed last week, when Netanyahu brokered a deal that will enable a member or two of the Jewish Power Party (Otzma Yehudit in Hebrew) to enter the Knesset and support the coalition Bibi hopes to form. The party is the spawn of Kach, an outlawed movement founded by Meir Kahane in the 1970s. The leaders of the party venerate Baruch Goldstein, who massacred 29 Muslims in a West Bank mosque in 1994. One of the Jewish Power leaders has a portrait of Goldstein hanging in his living room. The party wants a ban on mixed marriages between Jews and non-Jews, an echo of the Nazi Nuremberg laws. It would like to expel Israeli Arabs, although it couches this aspiration in talk of “extremists.” Its ultimate goal is to replace Israeli democracy with a theocratic dictatorship, by force if necessary.
...
He has already said he won’t step down no matter what, and will fight the case in court. That fight will be much easier for him if he is re-elected in April. No judge, no matter how independent, will lightly convict a newly elected prime minister.

Even the right-wing AIPAC couldn't stomach this embrace of a racist terrorist group.
AIPAC's condemnation followed an earlier statement by the American Jewish Committee (AJC).

“The views of Otzma Yehudit are reprehensible. They do not reflect the core values that are the very foundation of the State of Israel,” AJC wrote in its statement.
AIPAC’s tweet simply said it agreed with the AJC and added that it “has a long-standing policy not to meet with members of the racist and reprehensible party.”
...For AIPAC, which is often considered Netanyahu’s support base in the United States, the decision to criticize such a move is even more unusual.

This move is beyond despicable. It's downright scary.
Jewish Power has no respect for democracy, and many on Israel's right feel somewhat similar. Netanyahu's indictment could easily lead to political violence.

“In surveys conducted after the police presented their recommendations to charge him, backing for Netanyahu among his [supporters] only rose and the public’s trust in institutions fell. The significance here is that the law enforcement system investigates Netanyahu, with the possibility of filing indictments, while a large part of the public does not believe in the system. What the government is doing is a violent act and its legitimacy is in doubt as far, as it’s concerned,” Navot said.

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Comments

Submitted by bobswern on Thu, 02/28/2019 - 1:10pm

A "good world war" (with Iran) is precisely what's needed for...

...both Bibi and The Donald (personally, I think the writing's on the wall) to distract their respective citizens from the inconvenient truth that they both belong in jail for a long, long time.

To say the least: Brutally scary times!

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"Freedom is something that dies unless it's used." --Hunter S. Thompson

Submitted by gjohnsit on Thu, 02/28/2019 - 1:21pm

Election time means time to kill some Palestinians

@bobswern link

It is quite typical for Israeli politicians to carry out confrontational measures against Palestinians shortly before general elections are due. The nature of these measures is determined by the kind of political constituency that Israeli leaders aim to appease.
However, a war on Gaza, at least for now, is too risky an option for Netanyahu as it would take place too close to the April 9 elections date. Moreover, a botched Israeli attack on the Strip on November 11 caused Netanyahu a major embarrassment, forcing him to shelve the Gaza option for now.

That said, if the Israeli Prime Minister’s political standing grows too desperate in the coming weeks, a Gaza war may, once again, be placed on the table.
...
In fact, weeks before the Gantz and Lapid union, Netanyahu had taken several measures to show signs of goodwill towards his religious constituency.

One such overture was made on January 28, when Netanyahu ordered the UN unarmed international observers to leave the Occupied Palestinian city of Al-Khalil, where a few hundred armed Jewish settlers have been a constant source of violence. The Jewish settlers of Qiryat Arba’a live under the protection of a massive Israeli army contingent. Both groups have worked together to terrorize the Palestinian inhabitants of the city for many years.

meanwhile

Israeli leaders on Thursday angrily rejected the findings of a UN probe into Israeli soldiers’ actions in Gaza, calling it “hostile, deceitful and biased.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel “rejects outright the report” by a UN commission of inquiry set up by the world body’s Human Rights Council, which alleged soldiers may have committed crimes against humanity in Israel’s response to Palestinian demonstrators in Gaza last year.

“The council is setting new records in hypocrisy and lies, out of obsessive hatred of Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East,” Netanyahu said in a statement.
...
“The Commission found reasonable grounds to believe that Israeli snipers shot at journalists, health workers, children and persons with disabilities, knowing they were clearly recognizable as such,” it said.

The investigators specified that there were reasonable grounds to believe that Israeli troops killed and injured Palestinians “who were neither directly participating in hostilities, nor posing an imminent threat.”

It said more than 6,000 people were shot by military snipers using live ammunition during the period investigated, with 189 killed.

The UN team dismissed claims by Israel that the protests aimed to conceal acts of terrorism that have included shootings, grenade and bomb attacks, Molotov cocktails and breaches of the border fence.

“The demonstrations were civilian in nature, with clearly stated political aims,” the statement said. “Despite some acts of significant violence, the Commission found that the demonstrations did not constitute combat or military campaigns.”

Submitted by bobswern on Thu, 02/28/2019 - 3:16pm

Truly shameful! n/t

@gjohnsit

#1 link It is quite typical for Israeli politicians to carry out confrontational measures against Palestinians shortly before general elections are due. The nature of these measures is determined by the kind of political constituency that Israeli leaders aim to appease. However, a war on Gaza, at least for now, is too risky an option for Netanyahu as it would take place too close to the April 9 elections date. Moreover, a botched Israeli attack on the Strip on November 11 caused Netanyahu a major embarrassment, forcing him to shelve the Gaza option for now. That said, if the Israeli Prime Minister’s political standing grows too desperate in the coming weeks, a Gaza war may, once again, be placed on the table. ... In fact, weeks before the Gantz and Lapid union, Netanyahu had taken several measures to show signs of goodwill towards his religious constituency. One such overture was made on January 28, when Netanyahu ordered the UN unarmed international observers to leave the Occupied Palestinian city of Al-Khalil, where a few hundred armed Jewish settlers have been a constant source of violence. The Jewish settlers of Qiryat Arba’a live under the protection of a massive Israeli army contingent. Both groups have worked together to terrorize the Palestinian inhabitants of the city for many years. meanwhile Israeli leaders on Thursday angrily rejected the findings of a UN probe into Israeli soldiers’ actions in Gaza, calling it “hostile, deceitful and biased.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel “rejects outright the report” by a UN commission of inquiry set up by the world body’s Human Rights Council, which alleged soldiers may have committed crimes against humanity in Israel’s response to Palestinian demonstrators in Gaza last year. “The council is setting new records in hypocrisy and lies, out of obsessive hatred of Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East,” Netanyahu said in a statement. ... “The Commission found reasonable grounds to believe that Israeli snipers shot at journalists, health workers, children and persons with disabilities, knowing they were clearly recognizable as such,” it said. The investigators specified that there were reasonable grounds to believe that Israeli troops killed and injured Palestinians “who were neither directly participating in hostilities, nor posing an imminent threat.” It said more than 6,000 people were shot by military snipers using live ammunition during the period investigated, with 189 killed. The UN team dismissed claims by Israel that the protests aimed to conceal acts of terrorism that have included shootings, grenade and bomb attacks, Molotov cocktails and breaches of the border fence. “The demonstrations were civilian in nature, with clearly stated political aims,” the statement said. “Despite some acts of significant violence, the Commission found that the demonstrations did not constitute combat or military campaigns.”

—

"Freedom is something that dies unless it's used." --Hunter S. Thompson

Submitted by HenryAWallace on Thu, 02/28/2019 - 1:43pm

Good on the AG.

Submitted by Snode on Thu, 02/28/2019 - 2:35pm

Not to worry

when the chips are down, AIPAC will come through for Bibi.

Submitted by joe shikspack on Thu, 02/28/2019 - 3:17pm

while aipac criticised bibi...

two days later it announced that it was honored that bibi would be addressing its annual convention in washington.

aipac's criticism was more to get ahead of critics than to condemn bibi or cause him to change political course.

still, it is quite telling that they felt the need to go on the record as being against working with terrorists.

Submitted by Alligator Ed on Thu, 02/28/2019 - 4:29pm

Echoes of U.S. "democracy"

@joe shikspack Time for another war, just when Bibi's political fortunes lag. Sound like LBJ for intensifying the Viet Nam war to escape pending indictments for murder and fraud (electoral, etc.) Ilan Omar, whom I don't think is a consistent arbiter of reasonableness of policy was certainly correct in calling AIPAC for what it is--the most influential briber of congress since possibly its inception. She may or may not have made anti-Semitic statements at other times, although I haven't researched this, condemning AIPAC is not the same as condemning Jews. WTF, John Bolton isn't Jewish, he is a Zionist. Zionists are a plague on this nation--and other nations. You don't have to Jewish to like rye bread nor love wars. The current evolving Israeli governmental fiasco is so much akin with the Hillary/Billary protectionism by the Dem. establishment, with judiciary being responsible for the prolongation of Netanyahu's time in office. Hopefully, the Israeli AG will not be like Jeff Sessions.

Submitted by Nastarana on Fri, 03/01/2019 - 11:38am

Bolton is nominally Lutheran.

@Alligator Ed I consider him a war mongering neo-Nazi, a creep who found a pose and line that lets him be Somebody Important, a bit like Gingrich in that respect, both slimy egotists out for whatever they can get.

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Mary Bennett

Submitted by MinuteMan on Thu, 02/28/2019 - 7:57pm

Good for the Gander?

I really surprised that the AJC and AIPAC have gotten into bed with the anti-Semites; I think it was established this month that any criticism of Israel or the Israeli government is inherently anti-Semitic. Maybe I've missed where they've tweeted out an apology and I've just missed it?

Submitted by Nastarana on Fri, 03/01/2019 - 11:35am

AIPAC has a lot to lose

if Israel becomes a full blown theocracy which can't be plausibly described as a "democracy". AIPAC has gotten a LOT of mileage over the years with its' "only democracy in the Mid-East" theme (never mind Syria, Iran and Egypt). It is already losing support, even among Americans of Jewish faith, and is increasingly despised by non-Jews of every possible stripe. Meanwhile revelations of its' illegalities and intrigues keep coming with no end in sight.

I read somewhere that Sheldon Adelson promised Trump he would pitch in enough money to enable the republicans to hold both houses of Congress in 2018. Literally millions were poured into Republican races, with the results we all know, although, arguably, his intervention did save the Senate for the Rs, and we also all know Trump's lack of patience with people who don't do what he wants them to do. Sorry, I don't remember the source, but according to that commentator, much of what Trump has been up to since the election has been pay back. Notice how he is not quietly intervening in Israeli politics to help his buddy Bennie. No wonder AIPAC is panicking. The Wall figures in here as well, because when AIPAC is not representing Israel, they are hysterically agitating for open immigration.

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Mary Bennett