Israel's far right advance in polls as election looms
Israel is having another election Tuesday--Man, our Founding Fathers got some stuff wrong, but Israel's founding fathers, holy hell--its fifth in four years and Itamar Ben-Gvir, is poised to be kingmaker if not Prime Minister. Look at how Ben-Gvir and his party are described:
- pulled out his pistol and called for Palestinians who threw stones to be shot by police. "I'll mow you down," he shouted later. "We're the landlords here, remember that, I am your landlord."
-Jewish Power party (get it? White power?)
-Ben-Gvir is captivating an army of young voters who are putting their faith in Israel's extreme right wing. He offers them a tantalising hit of national-religious identity politics plus a possible part in power, while his many detractors fear the rise of a demagogue...
- a new generation of voters who see him as the "anti-system" politician, according to the polling expert Prof Tamar Hermann from the Israel Democracy Institute.
-"He gives them a voice… he doesn't blink, he's not trying to wrap his ideas in sweet words or to appeal to more sophisticated or moderate audiences. To some people this is the preferred perfume," she told the BBC.
- Ben-Gvir is the ideological heir of a racist, fringe movement whose founder was banned by the Israeli authorities from running in elections in the 1980s.
-wants to expel "disloyal" Arabs and would establish a ministry for encouraged emigration of "enemy" Palestinian citizens of Israel.
-At a campaign rally of his supporters this week, security guards pushed back a crowd of religious young men trying to mob their hero as chants of "Ben-Gvir, Ben-Gvir" broke out.
-The politician danced in circles holding...the crowd's devoted attention.
-"A few months ago we started to save the state of Israel," he shouted from the rally podium. "You deserve a different reality!"
-Ben-Gvir's benefactor will be Benjamin Netanyahu...[who] needs the [far right] parties onboard as they are proposing laws which would weaken judges' independence and water down corruption rules if they get into the coalition. Members of the current government believe this would help Mr Netanyahu swerve his ongoing trial for alleged bribery and other charges.
-One veteran observer of Israeli politics believes Tuesday's election brings the country to a "fateful" point.
"[Ben-Gvir and Smotrich] want to change the type of democracy we have in Israel, they want to take us into a potential dark moment," says Yaakov Katz, editor of the Jerusalem Post in an interview with the BBC.
- "[Netanyahu] is flanked by Smotrich and Ben-Gvir with racist and fascist attitudes," he said.
-The polls currently suggest a tie between the two main parliamentary blocs - with Mr Netanyahu edging ahead.
