|
|
Israel's crisis is about who gets to play tyrant: the generals or religious thugs
Cook, Jonathan
http://www.jonathan-cook.net/2023-03-29/israel-crisis-generals-religious-thugs/Date Written: 2023-03-29 Publisher: Middle East Eye Year Published: 2023 Resource Type: Article Cx Number: CX24853 Over the years, international human rights groups have slowly come to acknowledge this fundamental lack of democracy, too. They now describe Israel as what it always was: an apartheid state. Abstract: - Excerpt: Over the years, international human rights groups have slowly come to acknowledge this fundamental lack of democracy, too. They now describe Israel as what it always was: an apartheid state. Israel’s political system permits -- by design -- tyrannical rule by government, without decisive checks or balances. Israel has no bill of rights, or second chamber, or provision for equality, and the government can invariably call on a parliamentary majority. The lack of oversight and democratic accountability is a feature, not a bug. The intent was to free Israeli officials to persecute Palestinians and steal their land without needing to justify decisions beyond a claim of 'national security'. Netanyahu has not been trying to destroy 'Israeli democracy'. He has been richly exploiting the lack of it. ... This is really the culmination of a long-festering culture war that is in danger of tipping into a civil war on two related but separate fronts. One concerns who has ultimate authority to manage the occupation and control the terms of the Palestinians’ dispossession. The second relates to who or what a Jewish society should answer to: infallible divine laws, or all-too-human laws. There is a reason the streets are awash with Israeli flags, wielded equally fervently whether by Netanayhu's opponents or his supporters. Each side is fighting over who represents Israel. It is about which set of Jews get to play tyrant: law by the generals, or law by religious street thugs. Subject Headings |