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A conversation with Naftali Bennet

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  • A conversation with Naftali Bennet

    Found this talk informative as to what Israel's right wing is thinking and where it would like to go.

    Martin Indyk is an appropriate moderator with enough experience of the region. Israel is looking at early elections in the coming months.



  • #2
    Originally posted by Double Edge View Post
    Found this talk informative as to what Israel's right wing is thinking and where it would like to go.

    Martin Indyk is an appropriate moderator with enough experience of the region. Israel is looking at early elections in the coming months.


    These kind of views or even more extreme one's are being held by a growing number of Israeli's on the right though still a minority of the overall population. Actions such as annexing about half the West Bank will be a fundamental break from what the US has advocated since the Oslo accords. It would be hard to imagine the Israeli's getting away with no penalties even with the actions of AIPAC and other lobbies. They just might get away with it with a Republican administration if they kept up the pretense of some Palestinian independence or statehood in the future and did not take any precipitate action like expelling a large number of Palestinians. With a Democrat in the White House, especially someone like Obama, it might lead to actual consequences for the first time, like the lost of the US veto at the UN and the loss of the billions in aid.

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    • #3
      Originally posted by Double Edge View Post
      Israel is looking at early elections in the coming months.
      Israel is always looking at early elections "in the next few months". That's one of the main stumbling blocks to any lasting peace deal in the region.
      If you are emotionally invested in 'believing' something is true you have lost the ability to tell if it is true.

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      • #4
        Originally posted by InExile View Post
        These kind of views or even more extreme one's are being held by a growing number of Israeli's on the right though still a minority of the overall population. Actions such as annexing about half the West Bank will be a fundamental break from what the US has advocated since the Oslo accords. It would be hard to imagine the Israeli's getting away with no penalties even with the actions of AIPAC and other lobbies. They just might get away with it with a Republican administration if they kept up the pretense of some Palestinian independence or statehood in the future and did not take any precipitate action like expelling a large number of Palestinians. With a Democrat in the White House, especially someone like Obama, it might lead to actual consequences for the first time, like the lost of the US veto at the UN and the loss of the billions in aid.
        Bennet refers to annexing Area C of the west bank and was repeatedly challenged if the EU (Israel's largest trading partner) sanctioned Israel as a result then what would he do. he kept dodging the question until somebody cornered him on it and then said if you boycott Israel it means you are anti-semitic. I do not find this answer convincing.

        However before that happens, and this isn't something that will be done over night, it might take a long time ie its an aspiration and not a foregone conclusion. He has wiggle room. He wants economic development of these areas and is very compelling with his arguments. It stops short of full rights though. You get benefits but no rights. This need not be the case though so long as the situation is tenable. It could change to full blown rights after if successful.

        And so he challenges the idea of demography that the Arabs will eventually outnumber Israelis by quoting Israeli births exceed Arab ones within Israel.

        He does not believe and i have to think will never accept a two state solution. I found it interesting that he said two state upto decades ago was an extreme left idea. Its now more mainstream.

        I can see how he attracts people especially the young as he is quite eloquent. He talks directly to the people and about improving the economy which means jobs. Given the coverage he has had i did not find myself being turned off by him.

        Originally posted by Monash View Post
        Israel is always looking at early elections "in the next few months". That's one of the main stumbling blocks to any lasting peace deal in the region.
        Our systems of govt depend on the consent of the people. That is the design not stability. We get around it with a first past the post system. Israel continues to receive immigrants from abroad and has a mixed (fractured?) polity. Coalitions are the norm.
        Last edited by Double Edge; 05 Jan 15,, 10:10.

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