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| Police in action to prevent demonstration |
Israel’s major opposition party Kadimah, which was facing political annihilation, joined Netanyahu’s government last Tuesday. Kadimah, a so-called centrist Zionist party, had just replaced its previous leader Tsipi Livni, with Shaul Moffaz, a former Chief of Staff and a known hawk.
With a block of 94, there are just 26 opposition MKs, of whom 10 are Arab (i.e. don’t count because no Jewish party will block with them). The Israeli Labour Party, which ruled continuously from 1949 to 1977 has just 8 seats, after its former leader Ehud Barak, another former Chief of Staff, joined Netanyahu and formed the ludicrous Independence Party. Meretz, which consists of the old Mapam, left-Zionist party, and Ratz, the Civil Rights Movement has just 3 seats now.
What a change from 1949 and 1953 when Mapai (Labour) and Mapam had an absolute majority of the Knesset and Mapai, under David Ben-Gurion deliberately allied with the National Religious Party in order that the Zionist left couldn’t rule alone.
Police in Tel Aviv immediately began to arrest and round up organisers of an impromptu demonstration. It is noticeable that it wasn’t even Arabs they were arresting but photographers from the mainstream Israeli press and ‘trouble-makers’ of the Israeli left.
There is, of course, a lesson in all this. First they deprived Arabs of any democratic rights and now they are coming for even the Zionist left. Such is the logical outcome of Zionist nationalist zealotry. It consumers its own in its desire for an ethnically ‘pure’ Israeli nation state and a continuous wave of colonial expansion.
Tony Greenstein
Israeli PM Forms Large Coalition, Police Repress Protest
Leader of Kadima Party Shaul Mofaz joins Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Coalition, effectively crushing opposition and stirring protests
On Tuesday night Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu reached a deal with the leader of the opposition, Shaul Mofaz. By joining Netanyahu’s massive coalition, Mofaz’s Kadima Party left behind an opposition of only 26 seats against the massive coalition of 94. In response, a spontaneous protest was organized in Tel Aviv. The police responded by violently arresting several activists they identified as leaders in the community.
The Real News’ Lia Tarachansky spoke with protesters and +972 Magazine’s Haggai Matar.
