The chain of immunities Netanyahu has strung up for himself
Netanyahu only cares about his own political survival. Elections are clearly contrary to his personal interest, because he will lose them ■ If Netanyahu calls elections, they will be Putin-style and there would be only one possible result: a resounding victory for Netanyahu
By Rogel Alpher • Translated by Sol Salbe
Let’s thread the string through the beads. Gaza: There is no end in sight and no end to war crimes, the regime is carrying out operations to occupy the entire Strip, to completely and pointlessly destroy every structure that stands there, to wholesale kill civilians and establish a military regime over the Palestinian — against the will of the majority of the Israeli people. The captives: No deal, the regime has ordered fighting in the central camps for the first time, which endangers their lives — against the will of the majority. The draft law: The regime will fire Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee Chair Edelstein and pass a draft dodging law that will exempt the ultra-Orthodox from conscription — against the will of the majority.
The Judicial Coup: The regime normalises the ending of obedience to the High Court of Justice, the regime servant Zini will be appointed head of the Shin Bet and turn it into a secret police, the Attorney-General will be dismissed or treated like she was as invisible as the air — getting away with this by dividing the people and tearing them apart. The West Bank: The expansion of the settlement enterprise, further annexation steps, and the encouragement of violence by the settler militia without an explicit mandate from the public. Netanyahu’s trial: There really is no such thing anymore. A State Commission of Inquiry into October 7: There will be no such thing, contrary to the demand of the majority of the people. The other arenas of war: The regime is rampaging throughout the Middle East, bombing Syria, promising another round in Iran, fighting the Houthis. For now Trump is having a hard time restraining it. Consequently, the war burden falls on those who serve in the military, thereby is crushing entire layers of society — contrary to the opinion of the majority of the public and its needs. What kind of chain did you get? Because I’ll tell you what I got: a chain of immunities from elections.
The expert commentators and analysts in mainstream TV studios never cease to be surprised by Netanyahu. “We don’t understand… what is he thinking to himself, that the public will forget all this? After all, there are elections coming up soon, within a year and a half at most… It’s not his usual style… If he’s counting on our short memory…” And so on and so forth, stupid expressions of astonishment that stem from blindness and difficulty coming to terms with what is screaming at them in the face: Why do they think Netanyahu will let the elections happen? What aspect of his conduct throughout the entire current term, from the moment he took office, makes them believe that he will stick to the norm of elections and obey the law in this regard? In other words, why in this matter in particular?
Netanyahu only cares about his own political survival. Elections are clearly contrary to his personal interest, because he will lose them. And therefore, he will not allow them to happen. It’s not complicated. He doesn’t care what the public thinks, because he doesn’t need legitimacy from it. He only cares about what his base thinks, and he is the prime minister only of his devout supporters. He cares about all the other citizens of Israel about as much as he does about the denizens of Gaza. He is willing to sacrifice them
If Netanyahu calls elections, they will be Putin-style and there would be only one possible result: a resounding victory for Netanyahu. If by chance a different result is obtained, the elections will be deemed to be fraudulent, and their results will be annulled. Anyone who does not understand this is providing commentary of a false reality.
Translated from Hebrew by Sol Salbe, Middle East News Service
Haaretz Hebrew original:
