Morning Reading - Giving "Winning Ugly" A Bad Name

We don't intend to dwell much longer on the impacts of the recent Israeli elections;  those impacts will play out in the months and years ahead, and not (in our view) in a way that enhances the security or prosperity of Israel.  Two op/eds in today's once great Washington Post Bezos Bugle are likely all that needs to be said at this point.

First, E.J. Dionne, Jr., on what Bibi "Bomb Bomb" Netanyahu's victory means as far as the formerly bipartisan policy on the two-state solution:

Liberal friends of Israel are not going to abandon their commitment to the survival of a democratic Jewish state because of one extremely troubling election campaign. Yet neither will they give up on the idea that recognizing the right of Palestinians to their own state — a view advanced by George W. Bush no less than by Barack Obama — is in the interest both of justice and, over the long run, of Israel itself. 

Netanyahu has played fast and loose not only with those loyalties but also with the moral commitments of a large share of his own people. He will not easily live down the way he chose to win.  (our emphasis)

Harold Meyerson writes about Netanyahu's "fear and loathing" campaign and its echoes of Republican race-baiting and voter suppression:

Until the final days of the Israeli campaign, there were leaders of parties to Likud’s right — Avigdor Lieberman, Naftali Bennett — who, when it came to their pronouncements on Palestinians, clearly out-race-baited Netanyahu. But in a closing rush, Bibi — henceforth, the Jewish George Wallace — closed the gap. His success in wooing the fearful and the bigoted to Likud was such that all the other far-right parties saw their results drop from their previous levels. Netanyahu’s apprehensions about high levels of Arab voting echoed not only such old-guard segregationists as Wallace but also our present-day Republican Party. The GOP’s war on minority voting, waged through voter ID laws and other obstacles to expanding the franchise, could offer Netanyahu lessons in winnowing the electorate in future contests. Perhaps Likud and the Republicans can open an Institute for the Prevention of Dark-Skinned People Voting. [snip] 

It’s hard to think of a campaign that has done so much damage, or brought such disgrace upon the victor, as Netanyahu’s. He’s given “winning ugly” a bad name. (our emphasis)

It's always good to remember: right-wingers share the same paranoid tribalism and ugly prejudice no matter where they live.  The stakes in this election were great, as will be the fallout.

The Cloud Over Bibi "Bomb Bomb" Netanyahu's Apparent Victory

It seems the last-minute demagoguery saved Israeli Prime Minister and Republican Senator from West Jerusalem, the odious Bibi "Bomb Bomb" Netanyahu's tuchas:

Benjamin Netanyahu was poised to return to power. But there was a cloud over his apparent turnaround, the result of an increasingly shrill campaign that raised questions about his ability to heal Israel’s internal wounds or better its standing in the world. 

He said there would be no Palestinian state under his watch. 

He railed against Israeli Arabs — because they had gone out to vote. 

From the capitals of Europe, to Washington, to the West Bank, to the streets of Israel, even while his critics said Mr. Netanyahu had reaffirmed his reputation as a cynical, calculating politician, it appeared that his approach succeeded in drawing votes from other right-leaning parties. 

But along the way he angered the president of the United States with a speech to Congress and infuriated European leaders eager to see the peace process move ahead to create a Palestinian state.

Proving the United States doesn't have a monopoly on Nixonian politicians or on intemperate, foolish voters.  Please refer to Galatians 6: 7-9.

BONUS:  Jonathan Alter says it all: "Netanyahu wins, Israel loses":

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu won a big election Tuesday, but he won ugly by staking out a new position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that is likely to harm his nation in the months ahead.  

A reckoning is coming—faster than expected—for Netanyahu, his Likud Party and maybe even for the State of Israel itself.

BONUS II:  Bibi Bomb Bomb sent this message out on election day: "Right-wing rule is in danger. Arab voters are streaming in huge quantities to the polling stations." Jeffrey Goldberg in The Atlantic has this to say about Bibi Bomb Bomb's demagoguery (emphasis added):

"In the past, I imagined him fitting in with the fiscally conservative, rhetorically responsible, socially tolerant, foreign-policy hawkish wing of the [Republican] party. What I didn't fully understand was just how much of Lee Atwater he had in him. Atwater, you'll remember, was the South Carolina Republican operative who was one of the prime innovators of racial dog-whistling, an approach used by a good number of Republicans to instill fear in white voters."

Israel Goes To The Polls

Today is election day in Israel, when Israelis decide whether a fourth term of Likudnik Bibi "Bomb Bomb" Netanyahu is in their country's best interest.  Netanyahu has pulled out all of the stops in encouraging the most rabid elements of Israel's right to turn out, including a pledge that there won't be progress toward a Palestinian state on his watch.

Interestingly -- and ominously for Bibi Bomb Bomb -- we have this report in Haaretz indicating that Arab Israelis (who make up 21% of Israel's population) are turning out in large numbers, and are likely voting for the opposition Zionist Union or other center/left parties.  However, given the horse-trading nature of parliamentary government, where governing coalitions are often made up of strange bedfellows, Bibi Bomb Bomb's ouster isn't certain, even if the Likud Party loses seats.  Stay tuned.