Israel Can Be Democratic, It Can Have Netanyahuism, But Not Both

There really isn’t anything substantively new about Netanyahu’s stance on settlements; it’s the equivalent of Obama on same-sex marriage, in the opposite direction in terms of social justice. The fact that he’s given up even the pretense of favoring Palestinian statehood should at least clarify things, particularly when (appropriately) read in tandem with his vile race-baiting about Arab Israelis. Netanyahu is now explicitly committed to a particular vision of Israel, which includes permanent settlements on Palestinian land, a permanently disenfranchised and unrepresented Palestinian population, and Arab Israelis treated as second-class citizens. This is, quite, simply, an apartheid state. Which makes the fact that he has a very solid chance to remain Prime Minister all the more depressing.

I also wish I was more confident that “a deep American alliance with the kind of garrison state Netanyahu envisions will become untenable.”