'Netanyahu wants the world to accuse Israel of genocide, apartheid and ethnic cleansing'

 

Israel News, Tuesday, 05.03.2024     View in browser

'Netanyahu wants the world to accuse Israel of genocide, apartheid and ethnic cleansing'   Veteran Haaretz columnist Bradley Burston tells Haaretz Podcast that when the country was embroiled in the battle over Netanyahu's judicial overhaul, 'it was clear to me already that the Israel that we all once knew was not going to return'     Allison Kaplan Sommer       "Once, not long ago, a leader with great resources of potential and power faced a choice – bravely stake your legacy to a vision of an historic and just peace, or contort and sacrifice your country for the sake of your personal political longevity. He chose. Israel lost. End of story." Veteran Haaretz columnist Bradley Burston opens his new book "The End of Israel: Dispatches from a Path to Catastrophe" with this stinging indictment of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who he believes is leading the country towards what could be its final chapter. He tells Haaretz Podcast host Allison Kaplan Sommer that in recent years, when the country was embroiled in the battle over Netanyahu's judicial overhaul, "it was clear to me already that the Israel that we all once knew was not going to return and that something huge had already happened, some enormous abyss had already opened that would make it impossible for that Israel... to continue." Burston's book is a collection of his columns that appeared in Haaretz over the past 20 years. Its title draws from the decline of the country he fell in love with. "What's left of this country that was supposed to serve goals outlined in the Declaration of Independence, which itself has now been negated by the present government and its legislation?" he asks. Calling the Gaza war a "man-made natural disaster," Burston asserts that Netanyahu has a vested interest in endless conflict and instability. "He wants the world to accuse Israel of genocide and apartheid, violent occupation and ethnic cleansing" so that Israelis believe "the world hates us, and he is the only one who can save them." Also on the podcast, Haaretz Washington correspondent Ben Samuels provides an update on National Unity Party Benny Gantz's visit to Washington, and Vice President Kamala Harris' forceful speech in which she called for a cease-fire in Gaza. Harris's remarks, he says, "should be viewed as a hinge moment where the United States is sharpening its public rhetoric from the highest of levels... Whether or not that actually manifests into action remains to be seen, but her speech definitely signals a change is forthcoming." Samuels also notes that in one of the major races on Super Tuesday, AIPAC made its biggest investment in the 2024 election season thus far, targeting California congressional candidate Dave Min who is "ostensibly pro-Israel." Yet the lobby organization and its super PAC, the United Democracy Project, flooded the airwaves with negative ads, none of which had to do with Israel. The race, Samuels says, is sending a signal to other candidates that if they fail to "meet this threshold of what AIPAC defines as pro-Israel, they will be faced with millions of dollars in attack ads."