1A: What Happens When We Talk About Israel, NPR
J Street president Jeremy Ben-Ami and other guests join the “1A” program to discuss the debate over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, anti-Semitism, the impact of Israel advocacy in Washington and the recent controversy over the comments of Rep. Ilhan Omar.
Progressive Jewish Responses to the Ilhan Omar Controversy, WNYC
Batya Ungar-Sargon, opinion editor at The Forward, and Jessica Smith, chief operating officer at J Street, speak with Brian Lehrer about the issues raised by the Rep. Ilhan Omar controversy.
“The liberal organization J Street said it was ‘alarmed by the escalating campaign of incitement against Arab citizens of Israel that is now being carried out by Prime Minister Netanyahu and other right-wing Israeli politicians’….The new controversy, along with Netanyahu’s role in a right-wing party’s recent election pact with the Kahanist Otzma Yehudit party, ‘fundamentally endanger Israel’s future as a democracy — and contradict the shared values at the heart of the US-Israel relationship,’ J Street wrote. With Netanyahu set to speak at the AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington in two weeks’ time, J Street urged U.S. elected officials and pro-Israel leaders to ‘denounce his destructive conduct and ideology.’”
J Street slams Netanyahu’s ‘incitement against Arab-Israelis’, Times of Israel
“J Street slams Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ‘campaign of incitement against Arab-Israelis.’ In a statement, the dovish advocacy group says: ‘J Street is alarmed by the escalating campaign of incitement against Arab citizens of Israel that is now being carried out by Prime Minister Netanyahu and other right-wing Israeli politicians. The disgraceful, racist rhetoric of Netanyahu and his allies is endangering Arab-Israelis and fundamentally undermining Israel’s commitment to democracy. As part of the ongoing effort to rally their right-wing base and win Israel’s upcoming election, Netanyahu and the Likud are stigmatizing Arab-Israeli participation in Israeli politics as fundamentally dangerous and illegitimate. They charge that their political opponents will enter into a governing coalition with or advance the interests of Arab-Israelis, as if Arab citizens have no right to influence the policies of an Israeli government.’”
US Leaders Must Denounce Netanyahu’s Campaign of Incitement Against Arab-Israelis, J Street
“J Street is alarmed by the escalating campaign of incitement against Arab citizens of Israel that is now being carried out by Prime Minister Netanyahu and other right-wing Israeli politicians. The disgraceful, racist rhetoric of Netanyahu and his allies is endangering Arab-Israelis and fundamentally undermining Israel’s commitment to democracy….The prime minister’s treatment of Arab-Israelis, along with his policies of creeping annexation in the West Bank and his partnership with the extreme Kahanist party referred to as ‘Israel’s KKK,’ fundamentally endanger Israel’s future as a democracy — and contradict the shared values at the heart of the US-Israel relationship. With Netanyahu set to speak at the AIPAC conference in Washington, DC later this month, we urge US elected officials and pro-Israel leaders to denounce his destructive conduct and ideology. We stand with all those Israelis, regardless of religion or ethnicity, who continue to battle in defense of their country’s democratic institutions, rights and values.”
These Seven Parties’ Fates Will Decide Israel’s Election, Haaretz
Anshel Pfeffer writes about “seven parties [that] could end up receiving 20 percent of the entire vote. They are all at risk of electoral obliteration, and as many as 800,000 votes could end up wasted.”
‘Next Time It Could Turn Deadly’: Reform Movement Leader Blames Israel for Clashes at Western Wall, Haaretz
Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, warned of dire consequences on Sunday if growing incitement against his movement in Israel continued to go unchecked. “Delegitimizing other Jews leads to the kind of violence we saw last Friday,” he told Haaretz. “Next time it could turn deadly. These are urgent issues that must be discussed by all candidates for the Knesset,” he said, referring to the attacks against Women of the Wall, the feminist prayer group, and its supporters at the Western Wall on Friday morning in Jerusalem. Jacob charged that was some of the incitement was originating “at the highest levels of government.”
Netanyahu pre-trial hearing to take place by mid-July, attorney general says, Times of Israel
Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit on Monday said investigatory materials in the corruption probes of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be withheld from prosecutors until the day after the April 9 national elections, citing concerns voiced by the premier’s attorneys that the trove would be leaked to the media. In a statement from the Justice Ministry, Mandelblit also announced that pre-indictment hearings for all suspects in the cases, including the prime minister, will be held no later than three months after the documents are released to prosecutors overseeing the hearings; that is, before July 10.
Wonder Woman vs. Bibi: Gal Gadot Takes Stand in Row Over Jewish-Arab Equality, Haaretz
Wonder Woman leading lady Gal Gadot got involved Sunday evening in a social media row with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding comments an Israeli television presenter she is friends with made about accepting Israel’s Arab citizens. Gadot supported Rotem Sela, who attacked in an Instagram post Culture Minister Miri Regev for warning that the political party Kahol Lavan might cooperate with Arab parties. Regev made the remarks in an interview with Rina Matzliah on Channel 12.
Bibi challenger Benny Gantz is speaking at AIPAC, Axios
Retired General Benny Gantz, who is heading the “Blue and White” party in the Israeli election and who is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s main political opponent, confirmed that he will speak at the AIPAC annual conference in Washington on March 25th.
Gantz Ratchets Up Attack on Netanyahu: Begin Would Have Ousted You From Likud, Haaretz
Benny Gantz, leader of the Kahol Lavan political alliance, stepped up criticism of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Monday, telling the premier that the historic leader of his party, Menachem Begin, would have ousted him were he still alive today. In a post on his official Facebook handle, the former Israel Defense Forces chief of staff wrote: “Under Begin, Netanyahu would have already been ousted from the Likud.”
Netanyahu Opens the Doors of Power to Extremists, The New York Times
MK Ayman Odeh writes, “In 1984, even right-wing members of Knesset left the room when Mr. Kahane stood to speak. The prime minister at the time, Yitzhak Shamir of the right-wing Likud Party, said he would absolutely refuse to allow Mr. Kahane into his coalition, even if it cost him the government. Now Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is opening the doors of the Knesset and welcoming the Kahanists inside. Perhaps this shouldn’t come as a surprise. Mr. Netanyahu’s rule over his decade in office has been increasingly racist. Last year he enacted the Nation-State Law, which legalized certain forms of racial discrimination and officially transformed the Arab population in Israel into second-class citizens. He’s perfectly willing to embrace violent and radical extremists — including anti-Semitic right-wing authoritarians like Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary — as long as they appear to support his unrepentant aggression and indefinite occupation of the West Bank.”
These Seven Parties’ Fates Will Decide Israel’s Election, Haaretz
Anshel Pfeffer writes about “seven parties [that] could end up receiving 20 percent of the entire vote. They are all at risk of electoral obliteration, and as many as 800,000 votes could end up wasted.”
Israel’s Central Election Committee, at the service of the right?, Al-Monitor
Danny Zaken observes, “Members of the Central Election Committee were aware of being pawns in a political game since the final say on disqualifying candidates rests with the Supreme Court, which will debate the panel’s rulings in the coming weeks. Given that the committee’s decisions were a mere formality, its members could afford to vote in favor of disqualifying political candidates despite the damage of such rulings to Israeli democracy and minority rights.”