Netanyahu lashes out at moves to recognize an independent Palestine
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu called the European initiatives a 'big mistake for peace.' Meanwhile, a bill to codify Israel's identity as a 'Jewish state' is drawing fire.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu called the European initiatives a 'big mistake for peace.' Meanwhile, a bill to codify Israel's identity as a 'Jewish state' is drawing fire.
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For years, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has paid lip service to the idea of two states for two peoples in the Holy Land. But recently, he and members of his government have been lashing out at recognition of independent Palestine, with one senior diplomat saying that a Palestinian state would be a "terror-ocracy."
In October, Sweden recognized an independent Palestine, and the European Union postponed a vote on the question yesterday. MPs in the UK, Ireland, and Spain have also voted for recognition of Palestine in the past six weeks, and it appears that the rest of Western Europe is not far behind.
Mr. Netanyahu lobbied hard for the EU postponement, saying yesterday that recognizing a Palestinian state is a "big mistake for peace."
Israel's ambassador to the UN, Ron Prosor,聽likewise suggested that an independent Palestinian state would be an intolerable menace to Israel on Nov. 24. In a speech at the UN, he said the fact that some Palestinians celebrate attacks on Israel is evidence that there should not be a Palestinian state, and that anyone who advocates for an independent Palestine is advocating for the destruction of Israel.
Prosor's speech captures the flavor of isolation and paranoia that comes from Netanyahu's government when discussing a Palestinian state. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has probably done more for Israeli security than any Palestinian leader ever, and has repeatedly denounced armed struggle as a tool for achieving Palestinian national aspirations, despite more than a decade of failure at achieving a state through negotiations. Yet he's become one of Netanyahu's favorite punching bags of late. A Nov. 19 cartoon in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz captured the mood: Netanyahu is looking at a poster he's having made of the Palestinian leader, disappointed: "Can you lengthen his fangs a tad?"
Reuters reports that Netanyahu's more bellicose rhetoric is tied to looming elections, in which he'll rely on the Israeli far right for support.
The destruction of the family homes of Palestinians alleged to have been involved in attacks resumed this summer after a nine-year hiatus, following the kidnapping and murder of an Israeli yeshiva student in the West Bank. Al-Monitor argues that such collective punishment is inhumane and counterproductive as a deterrent.
Meanwhile, Netanyahu's sponsorship of a bill that would change the way Israeli citizenship is defined, by stressing that only Jews have "national rights" inside the country, is drawing fire both at home and abroad.
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, whose position is largely ceremonial, said that "the formulators of the (Israeli) Declaration of Independence, with much wisdom, insisted the Arab communities in Israel, as well as other groups, should not feel as the Jews had felt in exile."
On Monday, the US State Department gently chided Netanyahu's government for supporting the bill. "The United States position, which is unchanged, has been clear for years 鈥� and the president and the secretary [of state] have also reiterated it 鈥� is that Israel is a Jewish and democratic state in which all citizens should enjoy equal rights," a spokeswoman said.
Netanyahu shot back: "I don鈥檛 know a country that is more democratic, or a more vibrant democracy than Israel in the world, certainly not in our region."