[...]
But far more disturbing than Netanyahu’s electoral miracle (at his
victory party, his supporters proclaimed him a “magician”) was the way
he brought it about. Seen abstractly as a matter of pure politics, his
moves were brilliant. Viewed in light of Israel’s long-term survival,
they were reckless, or worse.
Netanyahu’s only path to survival was to boost Likud’s vote and
seat-share at the expense of smaller right-wing parties. And so he
tacked hard to the right. He abandoned his publicly stated support for
a Palestinian state and engaged in what the Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg
saw as a version of the old Republican “Southern strategy” that had
been aimed at consolidating white votes.
On Election Day itself, Netanyahu made reference to the relatively high
turnout among Israel’s Arab voters and declared: “Right-wing rule is in
danger. Arab voters are streaming in huge quantities to the polling
stations.” Goldberg translated this as: “The Arabs are coming!”
That Arab citizens can vote in Israel reflects its commitment to
democracy. A “Joint List” that aligned various Arab parties in a single
bloc emerged as Israel’s third-largest party. Yet as Goldberg noted,
the Joint List was not the real threat Netanyahu faced. It was just an
excuse for incendiary words to rally the right.
[More
Boo-Hoo We Lost]
