Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump With A Yamaka

They seem so similar, don’t they? I mean they can be brothers.

(New Yorker April, 14th 2019)

              Netanyahu’s paramount interest, though, is self-interest. He has not only extinguished any pretense of coming to a settlement with the Palestinians, he now entertains the idea of annexing the Jewish settlements on the West Bank. By at least speaking the language of annexation, he could try to win the enduring support of the racists and the absolutists in a potential right-wing coalition, who might, in turn, quash the multiple corruption indictments that he faces. The political discussion in Jerusalem was once about trading land for peace; Netanyahu might now seek to trade the rule of law for annexation.

Add Trump

           Just as Netanyahu provided Trump with instruction on the political possibilities of right-wing populism, Trump has provided Netanyahu with instruction on the possibilities of outrageous invective, voter suppression, and disdain for the law. Netanyahu now delights in the use of such phrases as “fake news.” Investigations into his financial adventures are “witch hunts.” To suppress the Arab vote in last week’s election, his supporters mounted more than a thousand cameras at polling places where Arab citizens ordinarily vote, the better to intimidate them. And, of course, both men are like a wall. As Trump put it, “Walls work. Just ask Israel.” To which his proud mentor tweeted, “President Trump is right. I built a wall along Israel’s southern border. It stopped all illegal immigration. Great success. Great idea.”

 Fast forward to this partnership to today

Big Ben has backed Hamas for years, yes years.

(NPR January 24th 2024)

In 1997, just a year after Netanyahu was first elected, he approved an attempt to kill Hamas leader Khalid Mishal, who was then in exile in neighboring Jordan.Israeli agents poisoned Mishal — but he survived — and the plot was exposed. Jordan's King Hussein was furious and said a peace treaty with Israel was at risk. Netanyahu's government was forced to send the antidote for the poison to Jordan to help Mishal recover. The Israeli leader also had to release Hamas' imprisoned spiritual leader, Sheik Ahmed Yassin.  "That incident set the tone for the relations between Netanyahu and Hamas. And things have been complicated ever since," said Ghaith al-Omari at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. 

Like any crooked land developer

(Aljazeera March 22nd, 2024)

Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has declared 800 hectares (1,977 acres) in the occupied West Bank as state land, in a move that will facilitate the use of the ground for settlement building.  The denomination of the land in the Jordan Valley as state land follows a similar designation of 300 hectares (740 acres) in the Maale Adumim area of the West Bank, which the Palestinians want as the core of a future independent state. The US said last month that Israel’s expansion of settlements in the West Bank was inconsistent with international law, signaling a return to longstanding US policy that had been reversed by the previous administration of Donald Trump.

           

   So now the people's protests go on in Israel in hopes of new elections, While Big Ben keeps stroking up the war because he knows, the minute it’s over so is he. Sound familiar? Like Trump and his constant delay tactics, he too knows he will be joining Big Ben in the Hoosgow.