On the recent elections in Israel

 

 

Statement of the Internationalist Socialist League (RCIT Section in Israel / Occupied Palestine), 30.03.2021,

http://the-isleague.com

 

 

 

The results of the fourth round of the general elections in the last two years show that Israel has moved further to the right. There are basically two camps. The one which is led by Netanyahu, a coalition made of Shas, United Torah Judaism, the Religious Zionist Party and maybe Yamina (The Right). The other camp is made of New Hope leader Gideon Sa'ar, maybe Yamina led by Naftali Bennett, Israel Beiteinu led by Liberman, Yesh Atid led by Lapid, the Zionist “Labor” party led by the bourgeois feminist Merhav Michaeli, the left petit-bourgeois Meretz, and the Joined List mostly of Palestinians. And then, there is a recent split from the Joined List by the name of Raam that is willing to join a coalition but it is not likely that Netanyahu will be able to convince his very far right partners to allow a conservative Arab party to join any Zionist government. Without Yamina and Raam, Netanyahu will not be able to form a government.

 

If Netanyahu will be able to form a government, it will include Kahanist Itamar Ben-Gvir – a fascist and the extreme right-winger; Bezalel Smotrich who tweeted in support of segregating Jewish and Arab women in maternity wards and has organized anti-gay protests and recently compared gay marriage to incest; and Avi Maoz – the homophobic leader of the Noam faction. It will be the most right-wing government in the history of the Zionist state.

 

New Hope, Yamina and Israel Beiteinu are extremely right-wing parties, yet the Zionist “Labor” party and the left petit-bourgeois Meretz have expressed their willingness to join these right-wing parties and it is possible that even the Joined List will join them or support that coalition as a minority government from outside. It is far from clear if such a government will be formed because they may not agree who will be the Prime Minister.

 

It is also possible that the two coalitions will not be able to form the government and a fifth round of elections will be called. Thus Israel is in a very deep political crisis. In such a case, Netanyahu will remain the Prime Minister of Israel until the new round of elections.

 

The Joined List that we gave critical support to, as a list of the oppressed Palestinians is an alliance composed by Balad, Hadash (the Stalinist front) and Ta'al, that has suffered a bad defeat. It lost 250,000 voters and won only six mandates. This is result of the fact that on 22 September 2019, following the September 2019 election, Odeh the leader of the list and most MK of the Joint List agreed to endorsed Benny Gantz the former head of the Zionist army for prime minister. It was the first time that an Arab party endorsed anyone for prime minister since Yitzhak Rabin in 1992. In 2015, the Joint List won 13 seats with 10.6% of the total vote.

 

The Palestinians in Israel are very demoralized and mistrust this leadership. In addition, they are demoralized because of the failure so far of the Arab revolution.

 

If the Joined List endorses once again a Zionist government we will not support it not even critically. It is also possible that Balad will refuse to endorse a Zionist coalition and in this case, we will give it critical support. We should keep in mind three members of Balad MK did not recommend Gantz to be a prime minister.

 

It is clear that there are no political parties in the Israeli settler colonialism movement that can lead a progressive change in Israel. The only solution is a red democratic Palestine as part of the Arab revolution, that will open the gates for the Palestinian refugees and form a red democratic Palestine from the river to the sea. The Israeli Jews who will join such a state or at least accept it will have equal civil rights, and the rest probably will leave.

 

No support for the two right wing Zionist blocks!

 

For a Red democratic Palestine!

 

For the right of return of the Palestinian refugees!

 

 

 

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We refer reader for more information on the ISL’s and the RCIT’s stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people to our websites http://www.the-isleague.com and https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/.

 

The ISL’s program can be read here: http://www.the-isleague.com/our-platform/ and https://www.thecommunists.net/theory/summary-of-isl-program/

 

See also Yossi Schwartz: Israel's War of 1948 and the Degeneration of the Fourth International, http://the-isleague.com/1948-war-5-2013/ and https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/israel-s-war-of-1948/

 

Michael Pröbsting: On some Questions of the Zionist Oppression and the Permanent Revolution in Palestine, http://the-isleague.com/zionist-oppression-and-permanent-revolution/ and https://www.thecommunists.net/theory/permanent-revolution-in-palestine/