Sunday, June 13, 2021

Netanyahu Era Ends




Today is far-right Likudnik Bibi "Bomb Bomb" Netanyahu's last day as Israel's Prime Minister, as an newly elected government forms its cabinet to govern. The new coalition government spans political parties from right to left, with right-wing Naftali Bennett to become the Prime Minister initially, after which centrist Yair Lapid will take over the Prime Minister position. 

As expected, an angry Netanyahu, who faces a corruption trial, spoke to the Knesset, Israel's parliament, sounding much like his close friend sociopath and con man Donald "Loser" Trump:

"'We will go to the opposition with our heads held high until we topple the government,' Netanyahu said. [snip]

'An Israeli prime minister needs to know how to say no to the president of the United States,' Netanyahu said, praising his own speech to Congress against the Iran deal and lamenting that there will be no one left who could stand up for Israel that way."  (our emphasis)

Netanyahu took the opportunity for an egregious slap at former Dem President Franklin D. Roosevelt, tying him to the Holocaust, leaving no doubt as to which U.S. political party he's attached to:

“'In 1944, at the height of the Holocaust, Roosevelt refused to bomb the trains and gas [chambers], which could have saved many of our people. Today we have a voice, we have a country and we have a defensive force,' [Netanyahu] said, in an implicit rebuke of Biden." 

We're certain it's not lost on Netanyahu that Biden reveres FDR and has his portrait displayed in the Oval Office. Far more than any Israeli Prime Minister, Netanyahu has damaged the bipartisan consensus on Israeli policy, turning hard right to embrace the likes of Trump and Christofascists. It won't be repaired any time soon, and that's perhaps Bomb Bomb's most ignominious political legacy.

(photo: Anti-"Crime Minister" Netanyahu protesters. Menahem Kahana / AFP)