© REUTERS/Gali Tibbon/Pool

The Israeli legislature’s vote on February 6 to legitimize, post factum, pure land grabbing is a disgrace on many levels. Land grabs are nothing new in the West Bank, but the sanctioning of the theft of private land from Palestinians, only a few days after the evacuation of the illegal settlement at Amona (as if there were “legal” settlements…), shows new chutzpah from those right-wing extremist politicians who believe that anything is possible with Donald Trump in the White House.

Since Trump has taken office, Israel has announced plans to build more than 2,500 new housing units. The most right-wing government in Israeli history is no longer even subtle about pursuing the plans of settler party leader Naftali Bennett, who wants to annex Area C, including 60 percent of the West Bank. With that step, the two-state-solution would go down the drain.

But there’s more: Last week’s vote showed frightening weakness from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He wasn’t a fan of this new law – not out of ethical conviction, but rather because of a deeper understanding of the consequences this law could entail. Palestinians would have a good case to bring Israel to trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC). The fact that Bibi hopes for the Israeli Supreme Court to annul this law is yet more proof that the prime minister can no longer contain his coalition himself. And it’s not even his coalition partners that are the problem; members of his own party voted in favor of the bill. It is already well known that Bibi is a “leftist” within Likud, but up until now he has known how to tame “his” extremists. This no longer seems to be the case.

The White House, meanwhile, has decided not to comment on the new law, but rather wait for the outcome of the appeal at the Supreme Court. This is, indeed, a mixed message. A few days ago, Trump, to Netanyahu’s surprise, criticized Israel’s intense expansion plans. Now, it seems the US is against the latest settlement enterprise, but waiting for Israel’s “checks and balances” to resolve the problem, as if this would lead Israel to make a U-turn in its settlement policy in its entirety.

In a way, Netanyahu needs some kind of opposition from the White House. The advantage with Obama was that Israel’s strong man could always counter his coalition partners by saying, “We can’t do that, Obama won’t accept it,” thus reining in the most extreme plans of his political “friends.” Now everything is in limbo. What will Trump finally tolerate, and what not? Where will he set the borders for Bibi? And will they be enough to stop Israel’s extremists from going off the leash completely?

At some point, Netanyahu will have to decide whether he will follow his heart and ideology, or at least try to keep Israel somewhat sane, without relying on direction from the White House. In any case, the Trump administration may prove to be Bibi’s greatest test case ever.

The post Bibi’s Test Case appeared first on Berlin Policy Journal - Blog.

© REUTERS/Baz Ratner

May 18, 2016 might become one of those dates later defined as a turning point in history. On that day – Wednesday – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that right-wing politician Avigdor Lieberman will join his coalition, getting the Defense Ministry as his portfolio. Apart from the very serious question of whether Lieberman is even suitable for the job, the announcement is something of a declaration of war against the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) officers who time and again have disagreed with “Bibi” Netanyahu and been unwilling to pursue his wishes – including his desire to attack Iran a few years ago.

Lieberman’s nomination as defense minister is the latest of Netanyahu’s attacks against the established bastion of generals, who in the past have shown more rationality in questions of war and terror than the Prime Minister and his coalition partners. The latest battle began on Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. At Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust Memorial, Deputy Chief of Staff Yair Golan spoke of Germany during the 1930s, discussing how German history shows how fast people, states, and cultures can lose their human values. He went on to speak of the dangers of growing racism and inhumanity within Israeli society today, and made clear that he feels it is the IDF’s responsibility to act according to ethical values and teach its soldiers to fight these tendencies.

Within the blink of an eye, right-wing politicians, Netanyahu included, cynically (and unfairly) attacked Golan, accusing him of comparing Israel to Nazi Germany, comparing the Holocaust to the Palestinian issue, and so on. None of this is true – Golan did not say any of this. But it was a welcome opportunity to once again promote Israel’s case, namely that Israel is morally untouchable. In other words, right-wing Israeli ideology cannot be unjust or cruel, or – God forbid – fascist.

Changing Israel’s Identity

It was Defense Minister Moshe “Bogie” Ya’alon, himself a hardcore right-winger, who agreed with Golan, making it clear that Golan was defending ethical values which were not only important to the IDF, but to Israel as a society. And he said he welcomed generals who speak their minds – even in public – to defend democracy.

Bibi wasn’t amused, calling in his Defense Minister to speak privately. What they discussed behind closed doors can only be assumed, but it was obvious that Bogie’s days in office might be numbered.

And now here is Lieberman, Bibi’s favorite enemy. Both politicians know each other very well, and each is equally disgusted by the other. But Bibi needed Lieberman to teach Ya’alon, and the generals even more so, a lesson. It is not totally clear yet whether Lieberman and his party, Yisrale Beiteinu (“Israel is Our Home”), will really join Bibi’s governing coalition. But even if they do not, the message remains the same: Bibi is trying to set fire to the IDF. He’s had enough. And just as he is trying to shut up journalists who are too critical, just as he is trying to bring down leftist NGOs (first and foremost Justice Minister Ayalet Shaked’s project, but one Netanyahu will not stop), he’s now trying to make the army leadership tremble.

The latter is astonishing, as the IDF is the last real source of pride for Israelis, an almost untouchable and strongly admired institution. Since everybody, or almost everybody, has been part of the army, or has children in the army, it’s the core of a shared identity, the glue that holds almost all levels of society together. And most generals are deeply admired in Israel.

In 2012, TIME magazine ran a cover story about Netanyahu titled “King Bibi”. It seems now that King Bibi wants to rename his state – frustrated Israelis joke that maybe in a few years it won’t be called “Israel”, but rather “Bibisrael”. May 18 might be remembered as the day when Bibi changed Israel’s identity in the most destructive way, possibly forever.

The post King Bibi appeared first on Berlin Policy Journal - Blog.