Israel media review

Bloc-buster: 7 things to know for April 7

Netanyahu veers hard to the right with a promise to annex settlements, though most see it as little more than a ploy to get votes to Likud at the expense of his right-wing allies

By Joshua Davidovich 7 April 2019, 1:03 pm Edit

Joshua Davidovich is The Times of Israel's Deputy Editor

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at an event marking 50 years of settlement in the Jordan Valley on October 19, 2017, near the Ma'ale Efraim settlement in the West Bank. (AFP Photo/Gali Tibbon)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at an event marking 50 years of settlement in the Jordan Valley on October 19, 2017, near the Ma'ale Efraim settlement in the West Bank. (AFP Photo/Gali Tibbon)

1. Sovereign stump: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday he would pretty much annex Israeli settlements in the West Bank if voters put him back in power.

  • Asked in a Channel 12 interview why he hadn’t already extended Israeli law to the settlements or annexed them, he replied, “Who says we won’t do that? We’re on the way…. The next term will be fateful.”
  • “I am going to apply Israeli sovereignty, but I don’t distinguish between settlement blocs and isolated settlements. From my perspective, each of those settlement points is Israeli. We have responsibility [for them] as the government of Israel. I don’t uproot any, and I won’t transfer them to the sovereignty of the Palestinians. I take care of them all.”
  • On Friday, Netanyahu told Channel 13 news that he wouldn’t remove a single settler and that US President Donald Trump knew and respected his stance.
  • Interestingly, the Israel Hayom daily, which has staunchly backed him, plays down the sovereignty comments, with a headline that only mentions annexing the large settlement of Maale Adumim, which is much closer to the Israeli consensus than isolated settlements.

2. Bringing down the right: The annexation comments draw fire from just about everybody who is not in Likud. Most in Israel see the move as a bald attempt to draw votes away from other right-wing parties as the campaign season enters the final stretch.

  • The playbook is so familiar it even has a name, “the gevalt moment,” when the party projects panic in order to rally voters to its side, and those on the right who may see their supporters flee to Likud are not happy.
  • “It’s amazing to see how Netanyahu is working exactly according to the gevalt scenario everyone knew about already. Only this time, he’s playing with fire,” Jewish Home No. 2 Bezalel Smotrich is quoted saying in Yedioth.
  • New Right head Naftali Bennett tells Israel Radio that Netanyahu can’t be believed, but his comments are “worrying.” “He’s going to bring down some of the right-wing parties.”
  • Right-wing columnist Shlomo Pyutrekovsky frets in Yedioth that “this blitz is just beginning and it will gain strength over the next 48 hours that remain until polls open.”
  • Those who remember Netanyahu’s bunker-esque video urging voters to the polls to offset the “Arabs voting in droves” know that the polls opening won’t be the end.
  • Haaretz’s Anshel Pfeffer leaves open the possibility that Netanyahu really is panicking: “Perhaps he doesn’t trust the polls or is in possession of what he believes is more accurate and less favorable polling? Is it because he wants to avoid the humiliation (for him) of winning but still not leading the largest party in the next Knesset?”
  • He also notes how particularly dastardly it was of Netanyahu to open the gevalt campaign on Friday night, meaning his mostly religious possible allies on the right could not respond for some 24 hours.

3. What if he means it? Others worry that Netanyahu may actually be serious about annexing parts of the West Bank.

  • Even Mark Dubowitz, of the conservative Foundation for Defense of Democracies, tweets that it would be “the mother of all stupid moves.”
  • The BBC’s Arab affairs editor Sebastian Usher writes that the comments “are potentially explosive over an issue that has helped stall peace efforts for years.”
  • Some see the move as the product of Netanyahu emboldened by Trump recognizing Israel’s effective annexation of the Golan: “The only reason it’s even credible now is because of what he’s been able to coordinate with Trump,” analyst Shalom Lipner tells the New York Times. “Maybe he can actually get Trump to sign off on that as well. But if it became clear it’s not in the cards right now, then he can just say, ‘Sorry, I can’t swing it. Conditions change.’”

4. ‘A wonderful, beautiful baby’: Trump gave a little bit of background to the Golan decision in a speech to the Republican Jewish Coalition, telling the supportive and somewhat raucous crowd that it was a spur of the moment decision after Jared Kushner, David Friedman and Jason Greenblatt gave him a “quickie” history lesson.

  • When he suggested he would just recognize the annexation right then, he describes Friedman reacting “like a wonderful, beautiful baby.”
  • Reuters notes that Trump “typically demands short sharp briefings” but is also “known for his colorful retelling of stories.”

5. ‘Your prime minister’: Trump is drawing fire for another part of the speech in which he told the US Jewish supporters that Netanyahu was “your prime minister.”

  • This was in the same speech in which he mocked Rep. Ilhan Omar for comments she made hinting at US Jews’ dual loyalty that appeared to be anti-Semitic.
  • None of the crowd seemed to mind the apparent slip of the tongue, but they did get offended when he confused them with the larger Democrat-backing Jewish community.

6. Voting with their feet: Back in Israel’s weird world of election madness, New Right’s Ayelet Shaked and DJ Benn-ett combine for a strange, strange song about the Supreme Court and the army getting a divorce, which I guess would protect soldiers from prosecution somehow?

https://twitter.com/EylonALevy/status/1114575745991495680

But that is nothing compared to a clip of Zehut party leader Moshe Feiglin slapping feet, literally, with a TV host. Understanding Hebrew does nothing to explain what the hell is going on.

7. Small parties, big problems: Meanwhile, pundits are still expressing confusion as to how the right-wing, pot-legalization juggernaut Feiglin is drawing so much support (assuming that video doesn’t sink him.)

  • Haaretz’s Sami Peretz writes that kids planning on voting for him are being misled, comparing his platform to a candy store. “It’s hard to believe any of his voters, or any voters, have read the platform to the end, and it’s doubtful they have the wherewithal to identify the failings, internal contradictions, bluffs and false maxims contained within,” he writes.
  • Yedioth columnist Gad Lior expresses fears over what the plethora of smaller parties will mean for the Knesset, calling the situation “unprecedented.”
  • Particularly, he fears how many ministerial posts will need to be given out to sate all the imps.
  • “When the small parties realize that Netanyahu and Benny Gantz can’t form a government without them, their price will go up,” he writes. “And what of the billions these small parties will demand. Until they work to legislate laws to limit the extortion, unneeded ministers and obsolete ministries will continue to cost hundreds of millions of shekels every government and all this just to preserve our democracy.”

Most Popular
read more:
If you’d like to comment, join
The Times of Israel Community.
JOIN THE TOI COMMUNITY
Join The Times of Israel Community
Commenting is available for paying members of The Times of Israel Community only. Please join our Community to comment and enjoy other Community benefits.
Please use the following structure: example@domain.com
Confirm Mail
Thank you! Now check your email
You are now a member of The Times of Israel Community! We sent you an email with a login link to . Once you're set up, you can start enjoying Community benefits and commenting.