Israeli Lawmakers Vote Against Palestinian Statehood

July 18, 2024

The Knesset vote against a two-state solution comes as Netanyahu prepares for a trip to the United States and negotiations on a hostage deal that could include discussions of Palestinian sovereignty.

Flags of Israel, February 2023. (Bar, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0)

By Jessica Corbett
Common Dreams

While Israel’s troops wage what has been widely decried as genocide on the Gaza Strip, Israeli lawmakers on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed a resolution opposing “the establishment of a Palestinian state” west of the Jordan River.

The measure passed Israel’s legislature, the Knesset, 68-9. It was spearheaded by Knesset Member Zeev Elkin of New Hope-The United Right, who shared the key messages from the resolution on social media along with a photo of the final tally.

According to Religious Zionism-affiliated Israel National News, The proposal says,

Israeli politician Ze’ev Elkin in 2018. (Reuven Kopitchinski, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)

“The Israeli Knesset firmly opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state west of the Jordan. The establishment of a Palestinian state in the heart of the land of Israel will pose an existential threat to the state of Israel and its citizens, perpetuate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and destabilize the region.

It will only be a matter of a short time until Hamas takes over the Palestinian state and turns it into a base of radical Islamic terrorism, working in coordination with the axis led by Iran, to eliminate the state of Israel.”

“The promotion of the idea of the Palestinian state will be a reward for terrorism and will only encourage Hamas and its supporters who will see this as a victory thanks to the massacre of October 7, 2023, and a prelude to the takeover of jihadist Islam in the Middle East,” the proposal reads.

Since the Hamas-led October attack on Israel, Israeli forces have killed at least 38,794 Palestinians and wounded another 89,364, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health. Thousands more remain missing and believed dead beneath the rubble of bombed buildings. 

In addition to destroying civilian infrastructure across the Hamas-governed coastal enclave, Israel has restricted the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza, even as people starve and the remaining hospitals operate at a limited capacity. 

Israel faces a South Africa-led genocide case at the International Court of Justice and International Criminal Court Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan is seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and three Hamas leaders.

“What is happening in Gaza is going down as the most documented genocide in history,” Riyad Mansour, Palestine’s permanent observer at the United Nations, told the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday. “When will the world denounce the crimes and stop tolerating their reoccurrence?”

The Knesset vote against a two-state solution comes as Netanyahu prepares for a trip to the United States — whose government has provided political and weapons support for Israel’s war. The prime minister is supposed to meet U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House next Monday before addressing a joint session of Congress, though the American leader is isolating after testing positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday. 

“The measure was intended as a way to apply pressure on Netanyahu, since he is likely to face opposite pressure from U.S. officials on a hostage deal that could include future discussions of Palestinian sovereignty,” The Jerusalem Post reported Wednesday. “Netanyahu himself was not present at the vote.”

As the newspaper detailed:

“Notably, National Unity chairman MK Benny Gantz supported the proposal alongside three other members of his party, which is considered centrist. The three were MKs Michael Biton, Pnina Tameno-Shete, and Chili Tropper.

Gantz said after the vote, ‘National Unity is committed in any future political scenario, as long as it exists, to preserve the Jewish and democratic identity of the state of Israel, and to stand up for its historical right and security interests.’”

Members of various other parties — Netanyahu’s Likud, Otzma Yehudit, Religious Zionism, Shas, United Torah Judaism, and Yisrael Beytenu — also voted in favor of the resolution. 

Jessica Corbett is a staff writer for Common

This article is from  Common Dreams.

Views expressed in this article and may or may not reflect those of Consortium News. 

CONSORTIUM NEWS

 

DEMOCRATIC PARTY

AIPAC’s Destructive Reach in American Politics: How it made an Example of Rep. Jamal Bowman

H. SCOTT PROSTERMAN06/29/2024

Oakland, Ca. (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Rep. Jamal Bowman’s loss to George Latimer for the 16th District of New York in the Democratic primary illustrates the destructive reach of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and Israel wading into American electoral politics. Their agenda is driven by a single issue, about which they are willfully ignorant and misinformed. Contrary to the allegation in the Bowman-Latimer campaign, it is not anti-Semitic to speak out and object to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin (“Bibi”) Netanyahu’s genocidal campaign in Gaza. Rather, it is an invocation of deeply Jewish values to do so. But things are inverted now in today’s American rabbit hole, for Jewish Republicans in particular. Likewise, turning to Democrats, it is not an “attack on Biden” to object to his timid reluctance to be more forceful with Bibi about upholding terms of the US aid, as her opponents have argued in the AIPAC-driven effort to oust Rep. Cori Bush of St. Louis, and Bowman. AIPAC has set aside $100M to unseat people they don’t like.

Republicans are spending millions of dollars to unseat progressive officials at all levels of government. It is true that sometimes Democrats have crossed the aisle, while Democrats registering as Republicans in local primaries so they can vote out a Christian Nationalist. Going to the polls to cast a vote in one’s district, however, is not the same as spending millions to manipulate a race in a district in which they don’t live. AIPAC’s manipulative presence is US politics is more wantonly destructive than ever and foreshadows the destruction that will be wrought by Bibi’s forthcoming appearance in Congress.

The difference between “progressive” and ‘centrist’ Democrats is a growing chasm, and AIPAC is one of the forces driving it, using Republican mega-donor funds to intervene in Democratic contests.  Bowman said, “Unfortunately some so-called Democrats are aligning themselves with radical, racist Republicans,” which illustrates how Republicans are using Israel as a cudgel to create more conflict. The Guardian notes they spent $20 million in mailers and ads. That sum is what the entire British election to be held on July 4 has cost. It is probably true that Bowman would have lost anyway, given that his district was redrawn to include more of wealthy Westchester County and his real support was in the Bronx. But AIPAC dumping that much money into a primary made sure that Latimer did not face an upset.

16th District Democrats who voted to oust Bowman ignored the fact that AIPAC has supported over 100 climate deniers and election deniers in Congress, and does all it can to help re-elect Trump. AIPAC is a single-issue organization, with no regard for healthy government in the US. Since Reagan, Republicans have conned a portion of the US electorate into thinking that Republicans are more favorable to Israel than Democrats. Trump injected steroids into that agenda item, to where it’s become a wolf-tree, eclipsing other issues more relevant to American voters, such as preserving American democracy itself. The priority for Democrats should be closing ranks to stop Trump; not punish elected officials for taking a righteous stand on Gaza, however unpopular to some.

Congressmen from both parties need to reconsider Bibi’s July 24 invitation to Congress, considering that some of Israel’s most venerable and respected leaders have encouraged the US to “disinvite Bibi.” Their reasons include: “Inviting Mr. Netanyahu will reward his contempt for U.S. efforts to establish a peace plan . . .”  By appointing David Friedman as US Ambassador to Israel, Trump began fulfilling every element of Bibi’s wish-list. Unlike President’s Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, Trump did not stand against the Israeli Right’s compulsion for self-destructive myopia. Rather he ceded to every aspect of Bibi’s far right agenda with the phony Abraham Accords, which has had predictably disastrous results.

Bibi fueled Trump’s alliance with the Evangelical movement by declaring him to be a modern day King Cyrus, when he moved the US embassy to Jerusalem in 2018. Evangelical Republicans picked up on that, and really believe the phony “Trump prophecy.”  Bibi embraced American Evangelicals as the new cash cow for Israeli tourism and fundraising, to replace the money from American Jews, who no longer support his brand of Zionism.

The Young Turks Video: “AIPAC Bullies Brag About Jamaal Bowman’s Primary Loss”

AIPAC has escalated its campaign to hold Netanyahu blameless, and to punish American politicians for expressing their conscience over Gaza. New York Times columnists Jesse McKinley and Nicholas Fandos observed, “In the end, the left could not compete with the other side’s vast resources, including a torrent of unprecedented spending by a super PAC tied to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. The group attacked the two-term congressman over his criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza but also the vote he and other members of the “Squad” took against Mr. Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure plan.”

AIPAC is targeting progressives all over the country for objecting to genocide. The alienation and disenfranchisement in play was summarized in a letter sent to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries from over a dozen progressive organizations, including Center for Popular Democracy Action, Jewish Voice for Peace Action, New York Communities for Change and New York City Democratic Socialists of America. It noted that United Democracy Project (UDP), an AIPAC Super Pac, was “funded largely by Republican billionaires, to drown out Jamaal Bowman’s message of humanity, dignity, and a thriving future for all.” As a result, they unseated someone Jeffries had personally endorsed, who had earned “a deep well of support among the Black and brown communities in the district,” in favor of “a conservative politician with a history of racist remarks and governance.” 

AIPAC’s ruthless agenda in support of Trump put a spin on reality to distort Bowman’s record, and condemned him for using his office to object to Bibi’s genocide in Gaza. One of Bowman’s campaign slogans was, “The Many Can Beat the Money.” LA Progressive publisher Sharon Kyle summarized the loss saying, “In a district that houses more than 725,000 people, less than 100,000 people showed up to vote. AIPAC proved that the money will always beat the many when the many stay home.”

About the Author

H. Scott Prosterman is a writer and communications consultant in the San Francisco Bay Area, and holds an M.A. in Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Michigan

INFORMED COMMENT

POLITICO Nightly: Is a Gaza ceasefire on the horizon?

 

BY GABRIEL GAVIN Humanitarian aid is airdropped to Palestinians over Gaza City on March 25. | Mahmoud Essa/AP Photo TURNING POINT — Six months ago this week, Israel was burying almost 1,200 people who lost their lives when Hamas launched the bloodiest attack in the nation’s history. Now, in the wake of October 7, Palestinians are struggling to count their own dead, with reports that 1.7 million people in Gaza have been displaced and around 30,000 killed. With geopolitical tensions soaring, diplomats locked in negotiations and unprecedented military maneuvers, anticipation is growing that the conflict could now be entering a new stage. The question is whether it will be one of relative peace, or even more bloodshed. Over the weekend, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant confirmed his troops were withdrawing en masse from Gaza , pulling out of the ruined city of Khan Younis and maintaining their control of only a small corridor across the territory. With international condemnation building over the dire humanitarian conditions created by the offensive, even from allies like the U.S., there has been speculation the move could be a precursor to a ceasefire. Gallant, however, insisted the movements were to ensure soldiers could resupply and train for an all-out assault on Rafah, the final stronghold over which they haven’t taken control. Washington, along with the E.U. and the U.N., has urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to invade Rafah, which has been declared a safe zone with hundreds of thousands of people sheltering in the city. On the Egyptian border, Rafah is also a hub for humanitarian aid, and the precariousness of getting lifesaving supplies in was underlined last week when Israel admitted killing seven aid workers after repeatedly striking a World Central Kitchen convoy “as a result of wrong identification.” Despite the threats to escalate the ground operation, Israeli negotiators have been talking with their Palestinian counterparts via Qatari mediators, who are reportedly increasingly optimistic about the prospect of a ceasefire deal . On Monday, Gallant himself conceded that discussions were progressing and hinted there could now be “an appropriate moment” to secure the release of the remaining hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza. Netanyahu, meanwhile, has announced that Israel has set a date for the planned attack on Rafah, without revealing when that might be. The message is clear — Hamas will have to make concessions now, as the negotiations reach crunch time, or the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza will only worsen. With the stakes high,U.S. President Joe Biden has issued a plea to both Qatar and Egypt , urging them to push Hamas to come to the table. There are other reasons that Israel might be hankering for a deal of some kind though, with Israel facing off more and more directly against Hamas’ chief sponsors, Iran. A strike that leveled a building at the Iranian embassy in the Syrian capital, Damascus, last week raised eyebrows across the world, killing a senior Iranian commander and prompting Tehran to vow revenge. Iran has been supporting Yemen’s Houthis in their attempts to blockade the Red Sea and Lebanon’s Hezbollah in firing rockets into Israel , and Israel’s fight against its foes is taking it increasingly close to all-out conflict with the Islamic Republic. Iran has also sought to drag the West into the fray,accusing the U.S. of having given the “green light” for the consulate attack , despite the White House desperately appealing for de-escalation. A ceasefire, even a temporary one, could see those tensions begin to settle, averting a war that would create a global crisis. At the same time, things are looking increasingly difficult for Netanyahu. Its historic ally, the U.S., has moved from vociferously supporting Israel to trying to push through a ceasefire, while NATO member Turkey this week announced it would effectively sanction Israel over its actions in Gaza. And at home, the veteran prime minister is facing criticism over his handling of the war, with protests and even complaints from the families of some hostages. A ceasefire, especially with a hostage deal, might soon be a political necessity for Netanyahu. It’s already a humanitarian necessity for those in Gaza. It’s just not clear yet if either side will be able to get one. Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@politico.com . Or contact tonight’s author at ggavin@politico.eu or on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @GabrielCSGavin .   SUBSCRIBE TO GLOBAL PLAYBOOK: Don’t miss out on POLITICO’s Global Playbook, the newsletter taking you inside pivotal discussions at the most influential gatherings in the world, including WEF in Davos, Milken Global in Beverly Hills, to UNGA in NYC and many more. Suzanne Lynch delivers the world's elite and influential moments directly to you. Stay in the global loop. SUBSCRIBE NOW .     WHAT'D I MISS? — Zelenskyy warns Russia has penetrated U.S. politics, invites Trump to Ukraine: President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine warned in an interview that Russian influence had pierced the American political system and rejected the idea, backed by allies of Donald Trump, that Ukraine could swiftly end the war just by making massive territorial concessions. But Zelenskyy said today that he had privately urged Trump through intermediaries to travel to Ukraine and that Trump had expressed interest but had not yet committed to making a trip. Zelenskyy said he was open to hearing Trump’s proposals for the war, while making clear he was highly skeptical. — Arizona court upholds state’s 1864 total abortion ban: The Arizona Supreme Court today upheld a 160-year-old law outlawing abortions at any stage of pregnancy unless the patient’s life is in danger , with no exceptions for rape or incest. The state’s high court, in a 4-2 decision, said that it wouldn’t interfere with the legislature’s authority to craft abortion policy and that lawmakers had voiced their “unwavering intent” since the passage of the 1864 law to prohibit the procedure. The law won’t take effect for 14 days under the court’s decision, which the majority said would give the parties in the lawsuit time to pursue any outstanding issues at the trial court level. — U.S. has seen no evidence that Israel has committed genocide, Austin says: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin today rebuffed arguments that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, saying he’s seen no evidence to suggest it. “We don’t have any evidence of genocide being [committed]” by Israel in Gaza, Austin told the Senate Armed Services Committee during a budget hearing, where his testimony was interrupted several times by protesters. Austin’s comments come as pressure builds on the Biden administration and Democrats over U.S. support for the conflict. — Top Democrat says he needs more answers before approving F-15 sale to Israel: The House Foreign Affairs Committee’s top Democrat is holding fire on the Biden administration’s planned sale of F-15 fighter jets and munitions until he receives “assurances” about how the weapons would be used. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) told CNN today that he is returning to Washington to receive a classified briefing on the weapons package, which the administration has asked top lawmakers to approve. Meeks, due to his perch on the weapons-approving committee, is one of four lawmakers who hold an effective veto over foreign military sales. Administrations typically seek informal approval from the top two leaders of the House Foreign Affairs and Senate Foreign Relations committees before formally notifying Congress of potential sales. NIGHTLY ROAD TO 2024 Scholar and activist Dr. Cornel West, who is running for U.S. president as a third-party candidate in 2024, gives the keynote address at the "#BLM Turns 10 People's Justice Festival" on Saturday, July 15, 2023, at the Leimert Park neighborhood in Los Angeles. | Damian Dovarganes/AP WEST’S VEEP — Independent presidential candidate Cornel West will announce his vice presidential running mate on Tavis Smiley’s radio program Wednesday, reports CNN. On the show, slated to air at noon ET, West will discuss why his West Coast-based vice presidential pick — who, like him, has never held elected office — best aligns with his values, according to a campaign official. He will be joined on the show with his running mate. They will also appear jointly at a rally in the Astoria neighborhood of Queens in New York later this month. NO DEBATE ON DEBATES — In an unusual move, the five major broadcast and cable news networks have prepared a joint open letter that urges President Biden and former President Donald J. Trump to participate in televised debates ahead of Election Day, according to two people with direct knowledge of their plans, reports the New York Times. The letter — endorsed by ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC and Fox News — thrusts into public view a question that has swirled within media and political circles: whether the presidential debates, one of the nation’s last remaining mass civic rituals in a polarized age, will occur this year at all. AROUND THE WORLD IN THE PENALTY BOX — Canada is not going to meet its NATO defense spending commitments anytime soon , a long-awaited major defense policy update revealed. In 2023 at NATO’s Vilnius summit, Canada committed alongside its allies to spend 2 percent of GDP on defense, but Ottawa’s most recent projections have its defense spend-to-GDP ratio hit 1.76 percent in 2029-30, at a ballpark of $42.6 billion. The news comes as a record number of NATO’s allies will meet the 2 percent target, and follows months of pressure from allies for Canada to end its free-rider status in the alliance. It comes days ahead of Canada’s budget, details of which have been revealed in a stream of announcements designed to shore up attention on the governing Liberals as they struggle against Conservatives surging in the polls. Canada’s Defense Minister Bill Blair nonetheless billed the new spending announced as a “very significant and necessary step towards reaching our NATO commitment” because it sets out billions to advance it from 1.38 percent, according to NATO’s July 2023 estimates. The new defense report was unveiled at Canadian Forces Base Trenton, Ontario, where Justin Trudeau was pressed by reporters about failing to hit the target by 2030. The prime minister vowed there’s more to come, given that some future spending has yet to be penciled in because the government has yet to land on some key decisions.   Access New York bill updates and Congressional activity in areas that matter to you, and use our exclusive insights to see what’s on the Albany agenda. Learn more .     NIGHTLY NUMBER $6 million The amount that a rare comic from 1938 featuring Superman’s first appearance sold for at auction . That makes the book the most expensive comic to ever sell at auction, according to Heritage Auctions, which handled the sale. RADAR SWEEP RAT PACK — At archaeological sites around the world, a certain subset of remains is usually overlooked: rodent bones. Rat bones unearthed at settlement sites and collected from shipwrecks across eastern North America reveals evidence that one hyper-invasive rat species arrived decades earlier than previously thought and rapidly dominated over another to colonize U.S. and Canadian cities: the brown rat, which is generally larger and more aggressive than black rat. Popular Science tells the tale of how brown rats rapidly took over black rats’ turf, dominating North America in just a few decades. PARTING IMAGE On this date in 1968: The funeral procession of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. takes place in Atlanta. | AP Did someone forward this email to you?  Sign up here .   Follow us on Twitter Charlie Mahtesian @PoliticoCharlie Calder McHugh @calder_mchugh   FOLLOW US

POLITICO, LLC 1000 Wilson Blvd. Arlington, VA, 22209, USA