In Israel, another new “most far right government ever.”

To return to power, Netanyahu needed 61 seats in Israeli Parliament. It now looks like he’ll have 65. 

A Jewish nationalist coalition led by Netanyahu’s Likud and Itamar Ben-Gvir’s Religious Zionism, would, as CNN reports, “be the most right-wing government in Israel’s history.”

As Israelis elected their most far right government ever, Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip were placed under military lockdown. The stated reason? So that Israelis could express their democratic freedoms. 

These election results reveal the truth: The Israeli state has always depended on Jewish supremacy. Now there will be an Israeli government that doesn’t hide the racism and violence at its core. 

For years, Palestinian citizens of Israel were told that voting for a better government would lead to improved conditions. But despite Palestinians’ efforts to make their voices heard at the polls, the government has continued its steady slide to the right. And all Palestinians bear the brunt of the rightward slide: This past year is the deadliest in the West Bank since 2014, and Israeli ethnic cleansing intensifies every day. 

The U.S. response

Meanwhile, U.S. hypocrisy toward its “trusted ally” is in full effect. The Biden administration seems to have forgotten its interest in fighting the rise of right-wing extremism. Their statement on the Israeli elections: “Pleased to see such strong voter turnout.”

But if Religious Zionism does become part of the governing coalition, the U.S. will not be able to maintain this delusion for long. “This is now a political crisis for the United States [and] everyone who has been lying to us about apartheid and democracy and telling us Israel is an idealistic fulfillment of Jewish sovereignty and shares American values,” writes Mondoweiss.

When donor pressure threatens to erase Palestine from academia

In Washington, donor efforts to stifle scholarly work critical of Israel raises serious questions about the role of money in academia.

By Alice Rothchild, of JVP’s Health Advisory Committee

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