Opinion Editorials, March 2015

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Once again, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is trying to hide his rejection of peace and justice by pointing an accusing finger at Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic liberation group.
 
A pathological liar in every sense of the word, Netanyahu has denied making a U-turn with regard to the stalled "peace process" with the Palestinians by saying he would never agree to the creation of a Palestinian state.
 
"I didn't retract any of the things I said in my speech six years ago, calling for a solution in which a demilitarized Palestinian state recognizes a Jewish state. I said that the conditions for that, today, are not achievable," Netanyahu told Fox News channel's "The Kelly File."
 
Hours before the election campaign closed on Tuesday, Netanyahu was quoted as saying that if reelected, he would never allow for the establishment of a Palestinian state.
 
The retraction of his elections eve's remarks are seen as a damage-control effort on his part intended, first and foremost, to mend relations with the Obama administration.
 
The White House has repudiated Netanyahu's reneging on the peace process, already moribund due to Israel's unmitigated settlement expansion in the West Bank, as well as his brazenly racist remarks against Israel's Palestinian citizens.
 
Netanyahu openly instigated his political allies to cast their votes, claiming Israeli Arabs were voting in droves and being provided with money and busing by the left and by the U.S.
 
His remarks have been proven absolutely baseless.
 
The Hamas red herring
 
In remarks published Friday, Netanyahu insisted the Palestinian Authority (PA) had to cut its ties with Hamas, recognize the existence of Israeli as a Jewish Talmudic state and engage in "genuine" peace talks with Israel.
 
This is not the first time Netanyahu indulges in red-herring tactics to justify his fascist approach toward the Palestinians.
 
In fact, Hamas's ideology looks extremely moderate and palatable if compared to the Nazi-like ideologies of Netanyahu's allies, including Naftali Bennet's ha-Bayt ha-Yahudi, Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beitenu and Shas.
 
Nothing is further from truth. Ha-Bayt ha-Yahudi advocates either the expulsion of Palestinians from their ancestral homeland or enslaving them as water carriers or wood hewers. And for those Palestinians who refuse to submit, they must be slaughtered en masse. This is in their literature.
 
A few years ago, a leader of the settler movement (Jewish home is the settler party par excellence) told a group of settlers in Hebron that the best and most effective way to deal with the Palestinians was the Joshua's way, an allusion to genocidal  biblical ethnic cleansing.
 
This party is not only against Palestinians and Muslims. It is also particularly vindictive toward Christians and Christianity. A few years ago, a rabbi from the West Bank referred to Jesus Christ as "the Hitler of Bethlehem." More to the point, Jewish youngsters are seen telling Christian peace activists on Camera "We killed your God."
 
Some of the Talmudic sages associated with this party believe that the lives of non-Jews in general have no sanctity. Unfortunately, these so called sages are not marginal figures in Orthodox Judaism. Their followers are in the tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands.
 
I don't wish to put down Jews or Judaism, a religion I deeply respect.
However, one can't remain passive when all this filth is promoted and justified by religion.
 
Shas, which has won 6 seats in the latest elections, is no less racist than Bennet's party. The late spiritual leader of Shas, Ovadia Yosef, was quoted as saying during a Sabbath homily in January 2013 that the only reason non-Jews existed on this Earth was to serve Jews. "Without that, they have no place in the world-only to serve the People of Israel.” Shas won six seats in this week's elections and is expected to join Netanyahu's upcoming coalition government.
 
Yisrael Beitenu (Israel is our Home) is headed by arch racist Avigdor Lieberman, a former Lithuanian immigrant who spews racism as often as he breathes the oxygen of life.
 
Lieberman shamelessly calls for withdrawing the Israeli citizenship from as many Arabs as possible in the context of any prospective peace agreement with the Palestinians. On numerous occasions, the thuggish politician called for carrying out Nazi-like crimes against humanity against Palestinians, including carrying out sustained aerial bombing of Palestinian population centres as well as dropping Palestinian prisoners in the Dead Sea from high altitudes. Last week, Lieberman said Palestinians not loyal to Zionism ought to have their heads chopped.
 
Hence, we are obliged to ask the following question: Is it not an expression of brash hypocrisy and moral duplicity for Netanyahu to embrace these Nazi-like parties while demanding the weak PA to shun Hamas?
 
Besides, Netanyahu has had many years to reach peace with Abu Mazen, unquestionably the most moderate Palestinian leader ever even by the oblique Israeli standards. Instead, Netanyahu was frantically busy expanding Jewish colonies built illegally on land that belongs to another people, which effectively killed any remaining chances for a dignified deal based on the two-state solution vision.
 
 
Khalid Amayreh is a veteran Palestinian journalist and political commentator living in occupied Palestine.

Opinions expressed in various sections are the sole responsibility of their authors and they may not represent Al-Jazeerah & ccun.org.

editor@aljazeerah.info & editor@ccun.org