You deserve Ben Gvir
Jewish supremacy without masks
עליונות יהודית בלי מסיכות: מגיע לכם בן גביר
By Hanin Majadli • (Translated by Sol Salbe)*
Early in the morning, before all the votes were counted, the “Arabs are guilty” choir, conducted by Uri Misgav and with the participation of members of the “Anyone but Bibi”, broke out in its usual song: blaming the Arabs for the election results. This time we are guilty not only of Netanyahu’s return, but also of turning Israel from a democratic, liberal and secular haven into a state Messianic Jewish Halacha. After all, this is what matters to the Arab citizen who is discriminated against in all areas of life, or to the Palestinian under the occupation: who exactly will kill him and dispossess him of his land — secular Zionists from the democratic camp, Zionists in a kippa and tassels or a draft dodger with a Kahanist criminal record.
What preoccupies this bloc is not what the extreme right might do in the territories and Gaza, but how Itamar Ben Gvir and the right-wing bloc will affect the oasis they call Metropolis Tel Aviv. These are the civil matters that are important to them: will they still be able to host the Eurovision Song Contest, will there be transport on Shabbat? Civil marriage? recycling? Feminism, especially women pilots?
The truth is, they are right. They understand that there is no essential difference between them and the right. The last year clearly demonstrated that the ‘Government of Change’, with the support and approval of the leaders of the leftist democratic camp in the Knesset, was more lethal than all its predecessors since the 2000s.
When all the campaigns of the parties of the Jewish center-left camp were a kind of lifestyle advertisement, as if there is no malignant cancer named Occupation in the body of the nation and there is no apartheid regime registered in their name, it is clear that the Arab citizens will not consider them partners. Not only for the vision, nor for their suffering and problems.
The reality is painful: the leftist camp has no chance of ruling without the votes of the Palestinians. Without them it can scream “just not Bibi” and want to replace it with another of the same. On the other hand, there is a problem: it is Jewish. It cannot recognise Israeli Palestinians as equal citizens because it is not interested in that. It does not recognize the possibility of a state of all its citizens. This very demand threatens it.
It is not ready to do the minimum, even to declare. No group equality, no cancellation of the Nation-state law, no real comparison of budgets. Only threats and accusations. Not suitable for you? A great man will come. Then what will you do? Shouldn’t you listen to us and do what we want?
So you deserve a great man. You deserve Bezalel Smotrich — supporters of Jewish supremacy clearly, without twists and turns, without masks.
And the extreme right does not scare you because of what it will do to the Palestinians, but because of what it will do to you. How will he limit your freedom, your customs, your lifestyle. So the Zionist center earned Ben Gvir honestly. Maybe it will force them to face the reality they are so careful to deny.
There is no solution that can skip the most basic things: recognition that a regime of ethnic supremacy is not a legitimate regime. In every sentence about Jewish democratic Kahane is sitting at the end. Even if you imagined him more as a Zehava Galon or Merav Michaeli.
It’s time to understand that this situation is not destiny. Precisely this resounding defeat can be a new beginning of taking responsibility for dismantling the regime of Jewish supremacy. A new beginning of building an alternative. Leftist, egalitarian and democratic.
*NOTE from Sol Salbe, Middle East News Service:
This is an initial tweak of an AI product, not a proper translation.
