Israelis Praise The Conductor Of The Fearmongering Orchestra
When every tunnel is an existential threat and every centrifuge a holocaust, Israelis need Benjamin Netanyahu.
By Gideon Levy 02:47 19.03.15
The people had their say — there’s no point arguing about it — and their say was motivated by two emotions: fear and hatred. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is the licensed agent of both; after all, he understands marketing. During all the years of his rule he went from door to door and sold Israelis these two in-demand items until they dominated the market.
Whether he really believes in them, whether he hands them out cynically, Netanyahu stuck to those two items during the election campaign. Even on Election Day he used his despicable “buses of Arabs,” which may have won him another Knesset seat. That was more incitement for us.
Statesmen usually base their rule on stirring hope, but not in Israel. Here hope is dirt and fearmongering is the way. Netanyahu isn’t the first or last ruler to base his rule on fear and hatred, but he’s the only one who does so in such big doses and in a regime considered democratic.
But you can’t argue with success; it worked, boy did it work. True, a dry-as-dust candidate opposed him. True, Netanyahu cannibalized his own camp, but at the end of the day we sing the praise to the victor.
Thank you to the victor. His election has exposed the Israel of 2015. Only high levels of fear and hatred can explain the victory by Netanyahu — a rather unsuccessful prime minister and a not especially loved or admired one.
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