Will Iran deal pave way for unity government?

[geek tragedy]

http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/1.650638

But another source said that the struggle against a nuclear Iran could be the key common ground for the establishment of a unity government with Netanyahu. “The odds of our establishing a coalition with Netanyahu are low,” the source said. “But if there is a sincere desire on both sides to establish a joint government, the struggle against the nuclear agreement and the need to repair Israel’s ties with the United States could make it easier for [co-party leader Isaac] Herzog to explain to his voters the problematic step of joining Netanyahu.”

Because of the speculation regarding contacts with Likud, Zionist Union is very suspicious of any expression of support for Netanyahu from within its ranks. Thus some in the party wondered whether a Facebook post Sunday by faction chairman Eitan Cabel, in which he expressed support for Netanyahu’s stance on the nuclear deal reached with Iran, was meant to facilitate the party’s entrance into the coalition.

Cabel vehemently denied this, noting that he had expressed support for the premier solely with regard to the deal with Iran announced late last week following intensive negotiations in Lausanne, Switzerland. “On this issue only, I stand behind Benjamin Netanyahu,” Cabel wrote on his Facebook page.

“With all the criticism of the way he handled the campaign against the agreement-in-progress, the bottom line is that his struggle is correct.”

Could ZU really be this stupid?

Joining with Likud for the purpose of killing the Iran deal would achieve two things:

1) discredit ZU in the eyes of the Obama administration as merely Likud-lite and show there really isn't a rational alternative to Likud in Israel;

2) stick ZU with at least part of the blame for the fallout from whatever negotiations happen, and fail, with the Palestinians.

Of course, Netanyahu would also get credit for everything good that happened under this agreement.

[oberliner]

1. It is better than the alternative

A narrow right-wing coalition would be the worst thing for all concerned in my view.

That said, I doubt ZU will go along with this.

[geek tragedy]

2. the reason the Israeli right gets away with its profound moral and political failures

is that they always manage to find a centrist patsy to take the blame.

You can count the bodies by the roadside--Barak, Livni, Lapid. They all served as Bibi's fig leaf and got cast off as soon as they lost their utility.

If ZU were to join with Likud to (1) try to put the world on a path to war over Iran's nuclear program and (2) continue the slouch towards official apartheid, at that point it would be clear to US policymakers that elections in Israel do not really matter, and that there is no such thing as being pro-Israel but anti-occupation, or being pro-Israel and anti-war with Iran.

Certainly, the purported goal of ZU to improve relations with the US would have been proven to be a campaign slogan over Netanyahu's tactical skill, not over any fundamental policy disagreement with the US, given that it would be actively opposing both major US policy initiatives in the region.

What would ZU's rationale for existence be at that point? What would they offer that Kulanu and Likud would not offer?

[oberliner]

3. Imagine the alternative

It seems like the right-wing coalition Netanyahu is likely to put together is the worst of all worlds.

[geek tragedy]

4. it will provide clarity and accountability

which is precisely why it makes Netanyahu nervous

[oberliner]

5. And will be bad for Israelis, Palestinians, and the world in general

A right-wing coalition ought to be opposed vigorously.

[geek tragedy]

9. how would it be different than the status quo, or what would result from a unity

government?

[Scootaloo]

8. What alternative?

I've been trying to explain to people, regarding US politics, that "less reactionary than the extremists" does not actually translate into "moderate," much less "liberal." it just means "less extremist." Which isn't a very good ruler to go by. Especially if doing so allows them to sell themselves as the "true face of liberalism" or whatever.

[Jefferson23]

6. Obama got rid of their boogeyman, and they're not pleased, so no surprise ZU is against

the Iran deal. Let them join together and show their objectives to the world, they
are not that far apart when it comes to Iran and the Palestinians. It is unlikely they'll
be able to destroy the deal. I have said from the beginning, Obama wants this deal
and they are really dumb to try and screw around with it...so far they have failed.


Praying for storms: a review of 'Method and Madness'

April 1, 2015 Written by Kit Klarenberg Published in Book Reviews



‘In such a world of conflict, a world of victims and executioners, it is the job of thinking people not to the side with the executioners.’ Albert Camus

Like every imperial power, Israel craves nemeses; it urgently requires opposing forces within and without, for it is through their existence that blatantly offensive and brutally expansionist militarism transmogrifies into self-preservation, and hegemony mutates into threatened survival.

Since its creation in 1948, the state of Israel has depended on a constant flow of opponents to which ultimate responsibility for its own reprehensible activities can be apportioned. Externally, neighbours Turkey, Egypt, Libya, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq have all at some point in time served as public enemy numero uno for the Israeli state, in some cases more than once. Now, however, these adversaries have been neutralised, placated or reduced to smouldering rubble through infighting, civil war and Western intervention. With no obvious regional threats left, the Israeli government has been reduced to manufacturing non-existent ones.

For instance, in 1992 Benjamin Netanyahu informed the Knesset that Iran was “3-5 years away” from acquiring nuclear weapons, an event that would “presage catastrophic consequences for all mankind.” In the two decades since, Netanyahu has made roughly the same prognostication at nigh-on annual intervals (occasionally relying on ludicrous diagramsto get the point across) – and the deadline for Iran’s acquisition of nuclear weapons has elapsed many times over, to no result.

The Ideal Enemy

Internally, successive ‘terrorist’ organisations such as the PLO, Fatah and Hamas have battled against Israeli enlargement to increasingly diminishing returns. Hamas in particular is so ideal a foe that if it did not exist, it would be necessary for Israel to invent it (and there is evidence to suggest that the organisation was at least in-part created by the Israeli state).

in full: http://www.counterfire.org/articles/book-reviews/17750-praying-for-storms-a-review-of-method-and-madness

[Scootaloo]

7. "Can ZU really be this stupid"?

Yes.