Israeli elections: with left-of-center Zionist Union pulling ahead in polls, is a new chance at Palestinian peace coming?

[semiopen]

...the only tunnels going into Israel are for invasion. Just because they are both "tunnels" doesn't make them the same thing.

One of my dream jobs is being the IDF general in charge of tunnel detection.

Who could have guessed that the Pals would dig tunnels from Gaza into Israel? Not the IDF.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

From that link:

The first such public indication of this was the arrest this week of three Israelis — two businessmen and a resident of a community on the Gaza periphery. The three men are suspected of having supplied Hamas with metal bars and sheet metal for construction, electric and electronic devices, communications equipment and various other industrial materials that were smuggled clandestinely into Gaza.

I'd be focused on rebuilding the tunnels as well if the only way to obtain basic construction materials was through smuggling. If basic necessities like construction materials aren't allowed to be freely traded for, it sounds like their survival depends on these tunnels.

You're usually more sensible than this. Smuggling tunnels go to Egypt (and have pretty much been destroyed by Egypt at this point), the only tunnels going into Israel are for invasion. Just because they are both "tunnels" doesn't make them the same thing.

You know damned good and well Israel does everything it can to stop building supplies entering gaza. This Hamas hating idea is really quite catchy and too many people have forgotten that Hamas' leadership are human beings too. I might grant an arguer that they too are terrorists alongside the Likud government. Both sides are undeserving of material support for the purposes of war. But Israel has shown its true racist colors in stopping more than one boatlift of humanitarian aid to Gaza and it would do so today, despite the devastation they have brought to the people of Gaza. Loren reads a huge amount of right wing Israeli propaganda that always insinuates there is absolutely no reason to treat Gazan...any Gazans as human beings. He really should stop. This has gone on long enough and the inhumanity of the IDF actions is all too obvious. It is time to stop making excuses for making war on civilians.

Whatever hardship Netanyahu faces getting further green lights from his public are fine with me. He should be tried as a war criminal.

Israel has been allowing building supplies in under NGO supervision to ensure they go to houses, not tunnels. The NGOs were asleep at the job, so long as they were sold to someone who had a damaged house they were fine with it--never mind that this was just a front, they would just resell the stuff to Hamas. That's why Israel doesn't allow them in--building supplies to go Hamas, not to the people.

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...the only tunnels going into Israel are for invasion. Just because they are both "tunnels" doesn't make them the same thing.

One of my dream jobs is being the IDF general in charge of tunnel detection.

Who could have guessed that the Pals would dig tunnels from Gaza into Israel? Not the IDF.

They've done it before, Israel just didn't realize the scale they were doing it on.

 

[Sarpedon]

Well, here we have it, with his re election in doubt, Netanyahu finally admits that he is against a Palestinian state, and has been lying this whole time.

So, are our resident Likudniks going to get behind this potential war-crime?

 

[Axulus]

Netanyahu Expresses Alarm Over Strong Arab Voter Turnout

JERUSALEM — Increasingly worried that he could lose Tuesday’s elections, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel lashed out at the country’s Arab voters, expressing alarm that a large turnout by them could determine the outcome.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/18/world/middleeast/netanyahu-israel-elections-arabs.html?_r=0

Expressing alarm that democracy could determine the outcome of an election when too many people of the wrong race are turning up to vote? I had no idea Israel had turned this extreme to the right in recent years where a statement like this would be considered something the leader of the country would be confident enough to make it in public.

Netanyahu is sounding more and more like a desperate lunatic.

 

[Sarpedon]

Yes, I've been saying for years that he is a racist. I am glad the mask has finally come off. Maybe our congress will stop sucking his dick, or at least start charging more for it.

 

[Warpoet]

Yes, I've been saying for years that he is a racist. I am glad the mask has finally come off. Maybe our congress will stop sucking his dick, or at least start charging more for it.

Charging? They're paying him billions of dollars just for the privilege of it. It's the most grotesque and one-sided diplomatic arrangement in American history.

And I notice that our resident Israel apologists have yet to say one word about Bibi's admission of what we've all known for years anyway -- but is nonetheless proof positive that the Israeli right is not committed to any sort of serious peace process. And ditto his incontrovertibly racist remark about Arabs, which would be fucking political suicide anywhere else in the Western world.

But, I'm sure they're just taking their time to figure out how best to spin this to make it sound like it's all the Arabs' fault. Like always.

 

[Sarpedon]

Yup, thirty hours since I posted to ask what they thought and not a peep.

 

[Ford]

So apparently, the party of "don't let the dirty Arabs vote" has won.

The settlements will not stop.

There will be no peace.

There will be no Palestinian state.

Congratulations Israel. Enjoy your war with Iran.

 

[angelo]

Well, here we have it, with his re election in doubt, Netanyahu finally admits that he is against a Palestinian state, and has been lying this whole time.

So, are our resident Likudniks going to get behind this potential war-crime?

The only war crimes committed are by Hamas and other cowardly terrorist who hide behind civilians and their infrastructure to fire their rockets indiscriminately into Israel.

 

[Ford]

Well, here we have it, with his re election in doubt, Netanyahu finally admits that he is against a Palestinian state, and has been lying this whole time.

So, are our resident Likudniks going to get behind this potential war-crime?

The only war crimes committed are by Hamas and other cowardly terrorist who hide behind civilians and their infrastructure to fire their rockets indiscriminately into Israel.

Well then I guess the solution is to wipe out the Palestinians. I mean, they're all terrorists, right? Greater Israel is only a few million dead Arabs away!

 

[angelo]

So apparently, the party of "don't let the dirty Arabs vote" has won.

The settlements will not stop.

There will be no peace.

There will be no Palestinian state.

Congratulations Israel. Enjoy your war with Iran.

Not letting the Arabs vote? Are you fucking kidding? There are over 1.5 million Arabs living in Israel who can vote in the Isreali elections. How many Arabs get to vote in most islamic countries?

 

[Ford]

So apparently, the party of "don't let the dirty Arabs vote" has won.

The settlements will not stop.

There will be no peace.

There will be no Palestinian state.

Congratulations Israel. Enjoy your war with Iran.

Not letting the Arabs vote? Are you fucking kidding? There are over 1.5 million Arabs living in Israel who can vote in the Isreali elections. How many Arabs get to vote in most islamic countries?

Did you miss the part where Bibi complained about the Arabs voting?

 

[angelo]

The only war crimes committed are by Hamas and other cowardly terrorist who hide behind civilians and their infrastructure to fire their rockets indiscriminately into Israel.

Well then I guess the solution is to wipe out the Palestinians. I mean, they're all terrorists, right? Greater Israel is only a few million dead Arabs away!

The latest polls sugest that up to 80% of Palestinians want Hamas out!

 

[Ford]

Well then I guess the solution is to wipe out the Palestinians. I mean, they're all terrorists, right? Greater Israel is only a few million dead Arabs away!

The latest polls sugest that up to 80% of Palestinians want Hamas out!

And the latest election suggests that a majority of Israelis want Arabs pushed out of any land Israel claims.

 

[Frikki]

Yes, I've been saying for years that he is a racist. I am glad the mask has finally come off. Maybe our congress will stop sucking his dick, or at least start charging more for it.

And are you surprised by the totally not racist people that support him on these forums?

 

[arkirk]

Yes, I've been saying for years that he is a racist. I am glad the mask has finally come off. Maybe our congress will stop sucking his dick, or at least start charging more for it.

And are you surprised by the totally not racist people that support him on these forums?

I think Netanyahu is playing a violin that has fallen out of tune with reality and he hasn't a clue how to tune it. He really is a pathetic entity...totally racist, totally believing in force, and more and more people will question him. I only hope we can see an end to all these slaughters in the ME at the hands of IDF. They already have a full plate with their own internal Muslim problems. Netanyahu has clearly stated as long as he is in power there will never be a Palestinian state.

 

[Draconis]

And thus nothing changes thereabouts.

 

[Sarpedon]

Well, this election certainly answered some questions.

Netenyahu took off his mask and appealed to racism in the rankest way imaginable, and was rewarded with a victory as voters flocked to him in larger numbers than before.

Much has been revealed about Netanyahu (confirming what I long suspected) and about Israeli voters. (which I had hoped wasn't true)

So be it.

I am sad, I wanted very much for Israel to succeed. But unless this government falls quickly, I will not reconsider. Israel has chosen the path of racism, fanaticism, and isolation, and I fear the choice may be irreversible. With the stagnant economy, dominated by a handful of rich families, inevitably increased violence as annexation moves forward, and likely sanctions, young, moderate israelis will increasingly leave Israel, as they have been. This will cement the right wing domination, and prevent a necessary turn around.

It is time for the alliance to end. It will take some time to accomplish, but I am hopeful that American public opinion can change quickly, as we've seen on other issues. (other issues, remain persistently in the wrong.)

 

[Warpoet]

This election should be Exhibit A every time Israeli apologists try to argue that the problem is that Palestinians don't want peace. Bibi stated plainly that he won't support a two-state solution, which every halfway intelligent person recognizes as the only solution. And the next day his coalition wins a "resounding victory" while he says racist shit in public.

Yeah, go ahead and preach to us some more about how it's all the Arabs' fault for electing Hamas.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

This election should be Exhibit A every time Israeli apologists try to argue that the problem is that Palestinians don't want peace. Bibi stated plainly that he won't support a two-state solution, which every halfway intelligent person recognizes as the only solution. And the next day his coalition wins a "resounding victory" while he says racist shit in public.

Yeah, go ahead and preach to us some more about how it's all the Arabs' fault for electing Hamas.

You assume a two-state solution will bring peace. The reason Bibi doesn't support it is that he knows it's just a step towards more violent war. The Palestinians have made it very clear they view a two-state "solution" as a step in the conquest of Israel.