While a third of the Knesset joins the pro-settlement caucus, one member of the coalition warns of a 'South African' future. The Israeli political conversation has a strange sense of déjà vu these days: on Wednesday, during a panel organized by the think-tank Molad, Knesset Member Ofer Shelah of Yesh Atid warned that if Israel fails to disengage from the West Bank, it will face a similar fate to that of Apartheid South Africa. “The occupation,” said Shelah, “corrupts Israeli society. It corrupts the army, corrupts Israeli justice, Israeli media, Israeli psyche and Israeli language." Facing Shelah at the panel…

The new Netanyahu coalition will give settlers and their supporters more executive power than any previous government in Israel has until now.  With the Housing and Industry ministries in their hand, and political ally Moshe Ya’alon as the new defense minister, the settlers are very pleased by the new Netanyahu government. Head of the Samaria region (the northern West Bank) Gershon Mesika told the Ynet news site: "On the face of it, it does look like a wet dream – Ya'alon on defense and Ariel on housing is something which carries great potential, but in these things you can't foretell what will happen."…

The prime minister's Likud-Beitenu party has yet to present a platform for the upcoming elections, and if one is to be published, it most likely won't include any reference to a future Palestinian state. Education Minister Sa'ar: 'it is time to sober up from the idea.' Likud MK Tzipi Hotovely said on Monday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not intend to ever carry out the evacuation of West Bank settlements, and that the Bar Ilan speech, in which he accepted in principle the idea of a demilitarized Palestinian state, was meant to please the world and corner the Palestinian…

Knesset members behind attacks on the left, Arabs and asylum seekers won the day at the Likud primaries. All moderates but one were pushed down the list, and probably won't serve in the next Knesset. The Likud, Israel's ruling party the last four years, and the one expected to win the next elections according to every poll I have seen since 2009 (!), held its primaries on Sunday and Monday. The outcome was somewhat expected but is still stunning, and more than anything, it reveals the deep change Israel is going through. The top of the ticket will be held…

Those who attacked Palestinians in central Jerusalem claimed they wanted to prevent them from speaking to Jewish girls. The fear of interracial relations once found only in the fringes of the right are now turning into a legitimate, mainstream political issue in national-religious circles. Jerusalem Police are still carrying out arrests of suspects – mostly teenagers – in Friday's shocking attack that took place in the city's center. A few dozen Israeli Jews beat up three Palestinians, leaving one gravely injured and still hospitalized.  According to several testimonies, the attackers also tried to interfere with medical treatment being provided to the wounded. At…

Knesset member joins other rightwing leaders in call for annexing West Bank, one state solution. One of the well known figures in the settler movement, Knesset Member Uri Ariel from the radical rightwing National Union Party, is publicly calling for a one-state solution as an alternative to the construction of a Palestinian state, the independent news site Srugim reported. Ariel is calling on Israel to annex the West Bank immediately and give all Palestinians living there the status of residents in Israel, similar to those of Palestinians in East Jerusalem, which was annexed to Israel in 1967. According to the…

Why waste all this energy on small victories against the powerful right? Let them hit the wall. Hard. The social networks today were all abuzz with a big victory for the left over the right. Bank Leumi, the largest bank in Israel, was forced to freeze a charity campaign when customers discovered that money they raised could have gone to Im Tirtzu, an extreme right wing political group. My colleague Dahlia Scheindlin has a post here explaining the issue in depth. Unfortunately, I couldn’t join the party on Twitter and Facebook. To be honest - I just wasn’t that impressed.…

The Glenn Beck circus at the Knesset today had it all: Ecstatic fans who pushed and shoved to meet him; a theatrical as ever Beck, pounding on the table and yelling "Amen"; MK Arieh Eldad saying the occupation must end (the Islamic occupation of Israel) and even some chit-chat and shaking of hands with one of Israel's most famous Kahanists, Baruch Marzel. The attendees and MKs couldn't get enough of him, and not one would dare miss the opportunity to kiss the feet of the Holy Beck My Glenn Beck experience had quite a strange start to it. When I…

In continuing efforts to replace what's left of Jerusalem's Palestinian identity with a Jewish one, MK Tzipi Hotovely (Likud) has introduced a Knesset bill that would change the Arabic names of neighborhoods in Jerusalem to Hebrew names. According to the Jerusalem Post, MK Hotovely quoted Israel's first prime minister, David Ben Gurion, in her justification of the proposal. Just as we do not recognize Arab political ownership of our land, we do not recognize their spiritual ownership, and we do not need their names, which give off the Arab scent According to Ynet news, the proposal has enough support from…