How Palestinians pay with their lives in Netanyahu’s war for survival
Palestinians mourn over the bodies of family members killed in an Israeli airstrike
Meron Rapoport writes in Middle East Eye:
You can connect the dots in a straight line between all of these:
- The alleged decision by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s close advisors to harass Shlomo Filber, a former aide-turned-state witness in one of the corruption cases;
- Justice Minister Amir Ohana’s gag-order-busting speech intimidating another former aide and now testifying in a corruption case, Nir Hefetz;
- escalating violence against protesters in Petah Tikva decrying government corruption;
- Netanyahu’s unremitting efforts to delegitimise any government reliant on the support of the mostly Arab Joint List;
- and finally, the order he gave early Tuesday morning to bomb the residences of Islamic Jihad leaders in Gaza and Damascus, killing Baha Abu al-Atta and his wife in Gaza, and, in Damascus, the son (as well as, in some reports, the granddaughter) of Islamic Jihad activist Akram al-Ajouri.
Mafia-style behaviour, lawless acts, incitement against opponents – both Jewish and Arab – and now a deliberate attempt to ignite a military conflagration posing a mortal danger to the lives of Palestinians and Israelis. And all with one goal: to keep Netanyahu on Balfour Street by whatever means necessary.
This latest “round” left at least 34 Palestinians in Gaza dead – including eight members of the same family – and 111 wounded by the time the ceasefire came into effect early on Thursday. But there may very well be more to come.
It’s easy to say that Netanyahu and his cronies are doing all of these things for personal gain in order to continue enjoying the perks of being in office. Ruling is certainly pleasant, and getting your cigars and champagne free instead of paying full price is even more pleasant. But something deeper is at work here.
Netanyahu believes that being prime minister is about more than political ambition – in the mode of previous prime ministers like Ehud Olmert, Ariel Sharon or Ehud Barak. Netanyahu believes, as his interlocutors have repeatedly explained, that he is nothing less than history’s chosen emissary to save the Jewish people and the Jewish state.