Israel Teeters on Brink, as Protests erupt against Indicted Netanyahu
forming Gov't, and Supreme Court prepares to Rule on his Eligibility
JUAN COLE
05/03/2020
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) - Thousands of Israelis gathered again at Rabin
Square in Tel Aviv to protest the formation of a new national unity
government by indicted prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his rival,
Benny Gantz. The disciplined protesters maintained social distance from one
another to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. Smaller rallies were
held around the country in other cities, as well.
The government plan is for Netanyahu to serve as PM for 18 months and then
for Gantz to rotate in. As part of the deal, the Israeli government will
annex vast amounts of Palestinian territory in the Israeli-Occupied West
Bank.
Netanyahu is under indictment for corruption, with the trial scheduled to
begin May 24 after being delayed owing to the coronavirus quarantine. Eight
separate complaints have been filed with the courts against the deal, one
arguing that a politician under indictment should not be allowed to serve as
prime minister. The Israeli supreme court will rule on this issue on
Tuesday.
AP says, that the protesters chanted, "Shame! Shame!" and one carried a
placard saying, "We Say No to a Corruption Government." AFP says that
another placard said, "36 cabinet ministers. Shame on you."
If the Supreme Court strikes down the deal, it would throw Israeli politics
into turmoil and probably send Israelis to the polls for a fourth time in 18
months. Three elections all produced hung parliaments. Netanyahu's Likud
Party, which has fascist tendencies, refused to make him step down as leader
after the indictment, which has caused all the turmoil. Many Israeli parties
would go into coalition with the Likud, but several refuse to sit in
government with Netanyahu, who has ruled for 14 years.
A government could have been formed without Netanyahu by Gantz if his and
other parties had been willing to accept the backing of the largely
Palestinian-Israeli "Joint List." Israeli racism, however, does not permit
allowing the 20% of the population that is of Palestinian heritage any role
in Israeli governance. The analogy is to white Alabama politicians in the
Jim Crow era, who did not allow Black state legislators and state cabinet
officers.
I wrote on this issue earlier that Netanyahu is involved in several illegal
scandals:
"Case 1000 which involves allegations that the PM and his wife accepted
illegal gifts from businessmen; Case 2000 which accuses Netanyahu of
attempting to buy favourable newspaper coverage; Case 3000, also known as
the "submarine scandal"; and Case 4000, in which a close associate of
Netanyahu is suspected of providing confidential information to Israel's
largest telecoms company."
I explained in more detail elsewhere that the indictments were on cases
1000, 2000 and 4000.
Case 1000 is the one in which Netanyahu allegedly accepted a couple hundred
thousand dollars in bribes from an Australian businessmen in return for
favorable treatment of his business and attempting to get him a US visa.
(Whether Netanyahu regularly got people visas should be looked into as a
form of corruption on the US side).
In case 2000, Netanyahu is alleged to have offered a deal to Arnon Mozes,
the publisher of Israel's biggest-circulation newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth.
Netanyahu supporter and shady casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson had begun a
free pro-Netanyahu newspaper, Yisrael Ha-Yom, and it obviously was eating
into the profits of the other newspapers in the country. (How this is not
illegal as "dumping" baffles me.) Netanyahu allegedly told Mozes that he
could persuade Adelson to reduce the publication run of Yisrael Ha-Yom,
which would help his bottom line. In return, Mozes should report more
favorably on Netanyahu.
Adelson is also a Trump backer.
That wasn't the only instance of interference in press freedom. In Case
4000, the third on which Netanyahu was indicted, according to BBC
Monitoring, the police issued a statement saying,
"Between the years 2012 and 2017 the prime minister and his aides intervened
blatantly and continuously, and sometimes even daily, in the content
published by the Walla news website. The intervention of the prime minister
and his aides in the content and appointments [of editors and reporters] at
the Walla website was meant to advance his personal interests, through
publication of flattering articles and photos, removal of content critical
of the prime minister and his family members, and so on."
The case concerns the giant media company, Bezeq and the favors and tax
breaks thrown to it by Netanyahu, who kept the Communications portfolio in
his cabinet for himself.
In my view it is the interference with the press that is explosive. In the
first one Netanyahu got champagne and cigars. But cases 2000 and 4000 show
how far right wing nationalist politics is intertwined with shady businesses
like casino-owning and their ability, having bilked millions of poor and
working people out of their money, to turn around and buy influential press
organs to convince the latter to vote for the people who screwed them over.
(Although Netanyahu is notorious in the West for having reneged on the Oslo
Accords and having denied Palestinians their rights, within Israel he has
also led an assault on the old socialist welfare state, throwing workers
under the bus and diverting money to the billionaire class.) It is a perfect
vicious circle.
I pointed out,
The Israeli police and justice system have shown a willingness to punish
corruption in high places. Former prime minister Ehud Olmert was sentenced
to 27 months in 2014, but was released early.
In another development, Israel will allow a limited opening of schools on
Sunday, but the Palestinian-Israeli community leaders won't follow suit in
their schools in the Galilee and Haifa. The coronavirus outbreak is still
going strong in their areas, and has affected them more than Jewish Israelis
because of their greater poverty and their filling of essential service
jobs, including as nurses, medics and physicians at Israeli hospitals.
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