Netanyahu must curb his incitement against 'traitors' - before Israel sees a Rabin replay

[Israeli]

The campaign Netanyahu is leading against Herzog and Livni is nothing short of calling them 'traitors.' Last time he did that, a prime minister was murdered.

By Sefi Rachlevsky

What’s happening in Israel these days isn’t an election campaign. What’s happening is a campaign against democracy. And the person leading it is the prime minister.

Benjamin Netanyahu is once again claiming, in his own voice and as the main element of his campaign, that the party headed by Isaac Herzog and Tzipi Livni — the party that is leading in the polls — is the “anti-Zionist” camp. Netanyahu was raised in the home of a history professor. Netanyahu lives off words. The word choice here is definitely no accident.

Netanyahu chose to curse them not as “post-Zionists,” “a-Zionists” or even “non-Zionists.” No. Netanyahu is once again hurling charges of “anti-Zionist” — a term that signifies anti-Israel, i.e., someone who wants to destroy Israel. An enemy of Israel.

Or in one word, a “traitor.” The incitement being led by the prime minister has only one meaning: “Livni is a traitor.” “Herzog is a traitor.”

http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.639193

[Israeli]

1. Continued ....

The silence and apathy on the part of the public and the media is incomprehensible, particlularly since we were meant to have learned the lessons from standing on the sidelines two decades ago. Stav Shaffir, Merav Michaeli, Zouheir Bahloul, Prof. Yossi Yonah, who rushed to volunteer for the tank corps during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Mossad operative Tzipi Livni and Isaac Herzog, a major in the army’s elite Unit 8200, are not the first objects of incitement for Netanyahu, who is trying to turn patriotic rivals into “traitors.” Herzog, after all, was preceded by a major Zionist icon. And had it not been for the silence, there would be no need to explain further.

He was the commander of the pre-state Palmach militia’s Harel Brigade, which lost more than 400 of its 1,000 fighters and suffered almost 500 wounded, leaving less than 100 able-bodied combatants, yet he preserved a Jewish Jerusalem during the most difficult battles of the War of Independence. He was chief of staff during the 1967 Six-Day War, the liberation of the Western Wall and the unification of Jerusalem. But Prime Minister and Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin was slain in the wake of systematic incitement led and orchestrated by Netanyahu.

At the height of the incitement and under his direction, Netanyahu managed to turn a Zionist hero into a figure at which thousands and tens of thousands of people shouted “traitor,” with hoarse throats and leaps of hatred and ecstasy. And continued to the conclusion: “With blood and fire, we will oust Rabin.”

The three gunshots in a Tel Aviv square that followed should — even in a rickety democracy — have been the end of Netanyahu’s political career. He should have been incapable of being elected to even the residents’ committee of an apartment building. Had the mandate of the state commission of inquiry into Rabin’s murder not been scandalously narrowed to encompass the security failures alone — thereby avoiding any investigation into what led to the murder — it’s reasonable to assume that, aside from the public debate, there would have been a criminal probe, one that went beyond Netanyahu’s rabbinical collaborators and partners.

That would have been the likely result of, inter alia, the testimony of those who were sent every Friday to Leah and Yitzhak Rabin’s house to shout, “We’ll hang you like Ceausescu and Mussolini.” They said they were sent by Netanyahu’s right-hand man, the head of the Likud Party’s young guard. But even without an investigation, the public should have responded in the next election. When the opposite happened, and Netanyahu won, Israel became a country in which the fundamental cultural principle of “crime and punishment” was turned on its head.

President Reuven Rivlin and other public figures currently have no job more important. Silence is not an option in the face of the spread of the culture of suppressing “traitors.” What has been revealed by Netanyahu’s planned trip to America — a trip that, with a single blow, has destroyed the possibility of a bipartisan majority for sanctions against Iran, which Netanyahu claims is so important to him — is the simple truth: He has no problem sacrificing even the battle against Iran.

From his standpoint, Israeli patriotism means one thing only — support for his continued tenure as prime minister. And there’s only one sentence for anyone seen as interfering with this objective — to be crucified as a “traitor.” Now, Netanyahu is even inciting his party: “Be men, attack the media.”

In Israel’s government, the source of incitement isn’t a senator like Joseph McCarthy, but the prime minister himself. The question is who here will be the Ed Murrow who will put a halt to the McCarthyist hunt for “traitors,” which destroyed America. If all of Israel’s public figures don’t stand up to stop our national inciter, then Israel’s citizens will have to take on Murrow’s job themselves, on March 17, Election Day.

Source : http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.639193

[Jefferson23]

2. If he speaks to our Congress, I wonder how many times he'll use the label, anti-Zionist.

Herzog and Livni, are anti-Zionist on any level? Rhetorical question.

Yet, Bibi feeling that threatened? How do you see it, Israeli?

[Israeli]

8. I see it exactly as ...

Sefi Rachlevsky sees it Jefferson23.

Bibi has not changed ....he is just 20+ years older since he led the incitement campaign that culminated in Rabin's assassination .

Avoda voters have not forgotten or forgiven him ....its that he fears .

[Jefferson23]

14. Ok, thank you. n/t

[geek tragedy]

3. A vote for Bibi is a vote for fascism, racism and militarism.

If he wins, there will be no justification-none--for anyone left of Ted Cruz to support and defend Israel.

[King_David]

4. And if he loses , I hope and expect Herzog will receive massive support....

[geek tragedy]

5. The person who rids the world stage of Bibi via election will get a hero's welcome nt

[oberliner]

12. Absolute BS

Who are you even talking about? DU will give them hero's welcome or who?

[geek tragedy]

13. AIPAC will be awfully relieved. Bibi snubbed them too

when planning this stunt.

Obama admin and most Jewish Democrats and most of Europe will also be very pleased.

If someone beats Bibi, their mandate will be to not act like Bibi.

[Ken Burch]

55. Wouldn't it be great it AIPAC had the stones to publicly break with Likud over this?

Perhaps they will finally realize that Netanyahu and his party of eternal war are mortal threats to Israel.

[geek tragedy]

56. I wish. AIPAC is ideologically 100% in line with Likud. Their egos are bruised and their task has

been made difficult, but at the end of the day AIPAC is a neocon organization committed to achieving the Cheney/Netanyahu agenda.

[Israeli]

9. That would depend on how Herzog handles ...

himself as PM I hope KD ....and not as a given just because he is not Bibi ????

[King_David]

10. Yes obviously true,

The problem as usual will be the coalition partners that tie the hands of any Israeli PM.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

7. Oh, they will, and they will continue to have DU believe that they are staunch Democratic supporters

and campaigners to boot.

There's a sucker born every minute, and some just love to be lied to.

[King_David]

11. what's missing on DU is the Palestinian or Muslim perspective

We need hear from those that are here free from bias and really their own "struggle" and not the uninvolved .

[Scootaloo]

16. Where do you live, again? "Not Israel," correct?

I would agree that DU could use some Muslim perspective, on a range of topics. problem is, when it comes to Muslims, Arabs in general and Palestinians in particular, DU is a hate site, as ugly, savage, and vicious as any other.

[King_David]

17. I'm Jewish , Grandparents born in Palestine,

Zionist ....I have deep connections.


You?


Welcome back I was worried you were banished for good , we all relieved.

[Scootaloo]

18. So, not Israel. Gotcha.

And yeah, it was a boring two weeks. See if I ever point out a poster's bullshittery based on fox news racism again.

[Aerows]

20. That was a stupid hide

There were plenty of people that were upset about it.

[Scootaloo]

21. Nice to know I'm loved

Or at least, tolerated more than average

[Aerows]

22. Scoot :D

You can make a hell of a great point when necessary (and even better, you toss in your .02 cents when it isn't)! DU would be poorer for your absence even when we disagree.

That was a bad hide, glad you are back.

[King_David]

25. Disagree

[Aerows]

28. Scoot has as many flaws as anybody

else posting here on DU. That was a bad hide, in my opinion, and I'm far from the only person that said so and expressed their disappointment with that DU Jury opinion in the thread.

Were you being sarcastic when you said welcome back, we were afraid we lost you?

This is a discussion board. We need everybody that takes part on it to express themselves, otherwise it would be boring as hell to post. If I wanted that, I'd just have a chat with the mirror.

I appreciate robust discussion. It's the only thing that pinpoints issues. I certainly don't agree with Scoot on a couple of issues, but I'm not willing to discount Scoot's contribution to good, nitty-gritty and *healthy* airing out of topics.

[King_David]

29. Well it seems that Scootaloo's been blocked for another month

So no need to go on with this discussion until then.

[Aerows]

31. With another bad hide.

sigh. Sometimes I wonder why I bother coming to this forum anymore. It isn't about debating ideas so much as it seems to be exchanging insults and laying in wait so that you can get someone you disagree with banned.

That's not in any way discussion. I don't agree with Scoot on a lot of things, I'll say that again, but Scootaloo has something to contribute to the conversation.

Hell, maybe I don't, either. Maybe nobody should be posting here unless they fill out a questionnaire to see if they agree with everybody on the site. It will all be fluffy bunnies and sunshine then. We'll call it "DelightfulUnifiedgound!"

[bravenak]

32. Yep, a terrible hide.

DelightfulUnderground.

[Aerows]

33. It gets to be

SpitefulUnderground around here far too often.

[bravenak]

34. Wait till primaries!

BackstabbingUnderground will take over. Superfun!

[Aerows]

35. I also anticipate

DiatribingUnderground.

[bravenak]

36. Lordy!!

And LectureUnderground. After we don't vote in the manner we are told to.

[Aerows]

37. That would be called

ReformatoryUnderground, straight there for you and I!

[bravenak]

38. At least we'll be together!!!

With plenty of company, too.

[Aerows]

39. LOL!

You are too right, Brave! I'd rather be there with independent thinkers than with the crowd of "It will all be alright because somebody I voted for said I didn't need to scrutinize anything!" persuaders.

Which you know honestly none of them believe that shit, either. I don't like being sold a bill of goods that are rotting on the wagon, and I am ethically opposed to anybody that says you shouldn't take a closer look under the tarp and at the wheels.

We'll be the ones to survive a shitdown/afuckalypse/harry potter level curse. We continue on about our business, think for ourselves, and support those that we want to support. We just don't stop checking under the tarp, watching the weather, testing the wheels and verifying that the axles are still in good shape.

[bravenak]

40. Hell yeah.

I always think about what I'd do when the shit hits the fan. I've decided I'm in an okay place. Plenty of Moose, fish, and summer vegetation. Plus low population. When my fellow plebs realize what's up and start chopping off heads, I'll be sending down crude oil for the torches and wood for pitch fork handles.
I'm almost glad we're almost out of prominent democrats up here. Our last one started sounding like a twin of his republican opponent. I think this two party rodeo clown show is just about ready to fall apart. I'm checking out Syriza and I see some changes on how the world sees banks and politicians. The first politicians that hands the bankers a big FU like that will have my vote. Be nice if it was a Democrat. Won't hold my breath tho. I look bad dead.

[Aerows]

41. I'm not sure how I look dead

but I already know what I look like if I have to hold my breath for far too long. Some things smell too foul to let the odoriferous elements into your nasal passages.

You know how I look? I look rebellious.

I rebel against things that start to make me sick, and there isn't any amount of sweet-talking that takes away the smell.

[bravenak]

42. Me too.

I've realized that people who think like me are ignored, and how sad it is. Me and more people are feeling ignored. Sends people into a blind rage. Glad congress can't do anything major. Besides, look at our AWESOME leadership. They know everything about how it feels to be poor. Heck, our 'candidate' was Dead Broke until recently. Evicted from the white house with no condo immediately available... Having to give hundred thousand dolla speeches just to keep Bill fed and watered. I'm reaaly feeling that 'connection'.

[King_David]

45. Ok

[Aerows]

50. So you are good

with the idea of only talking with people that think exactly the same way as you do?

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

19. Oh, I didn't know you were a Palestinian American.

[King_David]

30. My grandfather was a Sabra And passport of Palestine

Mandate

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

43. Hence that makes you of Palestinian descent. How Splendid.

[King_David]

44. Your going on about it as if it's an insult...

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

46. I'm not. Perhaps you take it as one?

I'm not sure why.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

6. OMG. This is from Haaretz, isn't it? That's behind a paywall, and that is just craaazy.

But seriously. Thanks for the article, and just an FYI to anybody with opposable thumbs, you can register with Haaretz and get about 12 articles free per month.

[King_David]

26. Guess nobody answered

LOL

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

27. You did.

[Jefferson23]

15. Europe determined to prevent Israeli settlement policy

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior source in the Brussels European Union foreign policy team has shared with Al-Monitor their thinking over resuming the peace process once the next Israeli government is established: "Watching the Israeli election campaign, we are dismayed by the fact that all the parties seem to ignore the central issue concerning Israel's future — as we see it — namely, resolving the conflict with the Palestinians. Come May, Europe will not be able to ignore this anymore. We have on our hands a major strategic challenge in relation to the Arab and Muslim world. We are engaged in a fight against terror, both domestically and in the Middle East. And in this context, resolving the Palestinian predicament is of pivotal importance."

snip*When asked about these European positions, the US State Department source said that the United States is now urging the Europeans to refrain from such punitive measures. Yet, she claimed that after the election, if the settlement policy continues, it will be virtually impossible to block the Europeans (Paris and London in particular) from initiating such policies. The United States, she emphasized, will categorically impress upon the next Israeli government, irrespective of who heads it, that continued settlement expansion could have devastating consequences.

Within the Israeli government, these are considered empty threats. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is already coordinating with Economy and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett the continuation of settlement expansion, in case of Netanyahu's anticipated victory. In the outgoing government, Netanyahu has created a system of appropriating vast funds for settlement construction, in an almost clandestine way, through the Finance Committee of the Knesset. This was exposed and objected to by Labor Knesset member Stav Shaffir. On the issue of settlements, Netanyahu believes that he can fool "all of the people all of the time." It seems that the international community is determined to put an end to these practices. But even if President Obama and the EU object loudly, there is always the Republican Congress.

Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/01/European%20Union%20State%20Department%20Elections%20Israel.html#ixzz3Q8HnfCkF

What percentage of support would the Israeli public give to giving back the West Bank,
all of it and EJ as the capital for the Palestinians...support for their establishing an army,
airport, seaport etc. The problems go beyond Bibi, from polls I have read.

[Israeli]

23. Way beyond Bibi Jefferson23........

Why the election in Israel will change nothing

There is only one thing that will galvanize Israel to end the occupation and it's not a new more centrist government.

By Zeev Sternhell 06:41 30.01.15

Even if the results of the upcoming election leave Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu weakened, a revolution in the overall distribution of forces will most likely not take place. Immediately on the day after the election it will be revealed that Moshe Kahlon is nothing but a completely regular Likudnik: Already now he is promising to preserve a “unified” Jerusalem, a term that is a well-known code word for denoting the continuation of the occupation. In addition, as can be remembered from his days in the government, his economic ideas are no different than Netanyahu’s.

The other person wearing a mask, Yair Lapid, is a first-rate performer, but as a politician he is an overblown demagogue, lacking any ideology, a natural candidate for any deal. After two years in power everyone should have already understood this. He can certainly stand alongside Labor Party leader Isaac Herzog, or continue with Netanyahu, or with the two of them together. Herzog’s political views are vague enough that he can get along with just about anyone. Even his PR people are no longer talking about a new message. As far as is known, his peace plan promises a deep freeze for years to come, and that is why he is convenient for everyone.

In addition, at decision time, Herzog and Lapid will prefer a coalition with Likud rather than linking up with the united Arab party. In other words: Israeli society is stuck deep in the mud, and it does not have the power to extricate itself on its own.

It is reasonable to assume that these facts were, in part, behind Netanyahu’s decision to call for early elections, since for him a coalition with the Labor Party, Lapid and Kahlon — with or without the Haredim — is far more preferable to a government with Habayit Hayehudi leader Naftali Bennett and Yisrael Beitenu chief Avigdor Lieberman. A center-right government will allow him to start over again from the beginning of the never-ending, foot-dragging ritual of the “peace process.” With Herzog in the Foreign Ministry, Israel will receive renewed credit in the international community; he and Tzipi Livni will conquer the television screens on five continents, an election campaign will start in the United States and in the meantime in the territories things will continue as usual, at a slower pace and maybe with less violence. Contrary to the hopes being cultivated in the center, Netanyahu has not had the last word yet and his party has not lost its traditional base of support.

In this light, the demand that Meretz commit suicide in order to improve the chances of the Bougie-Tzipi couple is absurd. Indeed, the practical significance of the flow of voters from the left to the center — if it does take place — means the elimination of the only clear Jewish left-wing voice in the Knesset. Meretz serves the main human rights organizations, without which there will be very little left of Israeli democracy. The lost Knesset seats of Meretz will not turn Herzog into a daring prime minister, in the best case, but into a minister in another conservative government that will have one fancy name or another, but will be incapable of fundamentally altering the existing situation. Is it worth eliminating the left from the Knesset for this?

A radical change will not happen here as long as the present regime does not bring about a major national crisis. A failure such as Operation Protective Edge is not enough, since the heavy price of that conflict was paid primarily by the Palestinians.

Therefore, the realistic alternative lies in external intervention that will be massive enough to shake Israelis out of the placidity of their comfortable lives.

Only when everyone among us can feel the price of the occupation in their flesh, will the end to blue-and-white colonialism and apartheid come. Only when the economy is hit in a way that affects the overall standard of living, or when security is undermined as a result of a serious threat to American interests in the region, will the real treatment for eliminating the occupation and guaranteeing our future begin.

Source: http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.639787

[Jefferson23]

24. Yes, yes...

Thank you for the OP...much appreciate your input here.

[Israeli]

47. You are welcome Jefferson23......

" much appreciate your input here. "

Some do ....some dont

see : http://www.democraticunderground.com/113494332

Some seem to not want us communicating with each other ....I wonder why ???

[Jefferson23]

48. Ideas and predictions not welcome.

Back to the OP, not sure if the casual observer was able to read this far in:

snip*The occupation will become even more entrenched. Herzog has said his government will continue to build in the “settlement blocs.” And the last chance for a two-state solution — if it still exists — will be squandered. Herzog and Livni will delude the world and perhaps the Palestinians too. Those two will never achieve a just agreement.

This scenario need not surprise anyone. Herzog is at the helm of Israel’s party of occupation. The Labor Party is the founding mother of the settlement enterprise; it never considered stopping it.

Its historical responsibility for the occupation is greater than Likud’s. The Labor troika of Golda Meir, Yisrael Galili and Moshe Dayan founded it, Shimon Peres continued it, and Herzog will go down the same path. The occupation is Labor’s cursed hereditary disease, deeply embedded in its genes. Labor might occupy softly while Likud and the religious-nationalist right use violence. So what’s worse?

To some extent, Zionist Camp would halt the anti-democratic legislation, the incitement against the Arabs and maybe also the disgraceful attitude toward African asylum seekers, all of which are matters of the highest importance. But on the most fateful issue, Zionist Camp would do more harm than good. This Israeli peace party would intoxicate the world, which in its despair would again be enticed. If Netanyahu is elected for another term, that won’t happen.

*It is valuable or should be, for US citizens to have the opportunity to understand why he
has made these statements.

Thanks, again..Israeli.

[Israeli]

51. Some cannot handle the truth .....

....it is much easier to shoot the messenger

and yes ...back to the OP :

" What’s happening in Israel these days isn’t an election campaign. What’s happening is a campaign against democracy. And the person leading it is the prime minister. "

Another example :....

The thin line between incitement and freedom of the press

On the face of it, a protest by Likud youth against one of Israel’s most prominent newspapers seems like a non-issue. But in the context of last summer’s war and the growing threats against left-wing journalists, freedom of the press may no longer be able to protect the media.

see : http://972mag.com/the-thin-line-between-incitement-and-freedom-of-press/102184/

On the one hand, there is the issue of democracy and free speech. In the democratic country that we strive to be, every person or organization is allowed to express their opinion on any matter, including against the media, as long as it does not lead to incite against or harm others.

On the face of it, Sunday night’s protest played by the rules of democracy: an organization merely protested because it felt wronged. But from here on out it starts to become more complicated, especially since we are not talking about just any organization, but about official representatives of the ruling party (the demonstration was organized by the chairman of the Likud youth chapter), who are openly protesting against one of the leading media outlets in the country. And this is just a week after the prime minister himself called on his supporters to “be brave and attack the media.” Over what? It doesn’t matter – just attack.

“I don’t think we have seen such a protest by the Likud youth since the days of Oslo,” wrote the group’s chairman, David Shayan, who was in charge of the protest in front of Yedioth. For all those who are too young to remember, that is the same Oslo that led the current prime minister to stand on a balcony in Jerusalem while protesters below him waved photos of then-prime minister Yitzhak Rabin in an SS uniform. We all remember what that led to, but I will give Shayan the benefit of the doubt that his comparison to Oslo was a mere coincidence.

Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at the infamous “Rabin the Traitor” rally in Jerusalem, October 1995. (Screenshot)

Gaby Goldman is an Israeli journalist and an editor on +972?s Hebrew-language sister site, Local Call, where this article was originally published in Hebrew.

[Jefferson23]

52. Fear monger, control freaks..all dangerous...sad how they eat it up. n/t

[Israeli]

53. Probably best to stick to the OP ......

which was .....

Netanyahu must curb his incitement against 'traitors'

The " incitement " continues ......

Anti-Netanyahu NGO V15, New Israel Fund fire back at Likud

Police complaint, threat of lawsuit come in response to ‘inciteful’ claim of illegal activities.

By Jonathan Lis

The V15 organization has filed a police complaint against Likud for incitement, following the ruling party’s accusations that the group is engaging in illegal activities in the election campaign.

The New Israel Fund has also demanded that Likud officials retract their claims that it is funding V15, a group that urges voters to oust the government. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s lawyer, David Shimron, apologized at a press conference for linking V15 with the New Israel Fund.

V15’s complaint involves a portion of a film titled “The NGO affair 2015,” distributed by Likud, which features a keffiyeh-clad illustration making the V for victory sign next to the number 15 in blood-red. “The Likud film proves that it has turned into a branch of the organization Lehava,” V15 said, referring to an extreme right-wing group. “It turns out that behind Netanyahu is a group that is knowingly inciting against young Israelis who serve in the army, do reserve duty, pay taxes and work for the future of Israel. This incitement does not scare us nor deter us from the road to victory,” the group said.

In a warning letter to Shimron, Likud legal adviser Avi Halevi and the head of the party’s PR campaign, Nir Hefetz, the New Israel Fund wrote earlier this week that the Likud’s claims of the fund’s involvement in V15, and its claims that the New Israel Fund was financing the pro-peace organizations OneVoice and Molad – Center for the Renewal of Israeli Democracy, were “lies.”

“The New Israel Fund is not and has never been involved, either directly or indirectly, in funding the campaign known as V15. Moreover, it has not financially supported OneVoice for years, and clearly has no connection, even indirectly, of any kind, with this organization today,” the letter stated.

It continued that the New Israel Fund’s involvement with Molad was limited to certain activities that did not extend to Molad’s “Project 61” – whose name refers to the 61 Knesset members needed to form a coalition – as Likud claimed.

“This is a matter of serious and damaging slander, because the New Israel Fund distances itself from any involvement in the elections, and obviously from support for one party or another. The New Israel Fund acts transparently and lawfully, and details of the support it gives are made public. Especially shocking is the fact that these irresponsible statements were made not be some marginal element, but by the authorized representatives of a key party, the ruling party. Any reiteration of these statements will be tainted by extreme malice aforethought, and the New Israel Fund will not accept the continued sullying of its name and involving it in the elections while doing damage to its public status,” the letter stated.

Shimron’s office said in response: “If it was stated by him [Shimron] that the organization V15 is funded by the New Israel Fund, this was said mistakenly and attorney Shimron apologizes.”

Shimron said he had based his statement on the fact that New Israel Fund’s support for Molad is noted on its official website.

Meanwhile, the leader of Habayit Hayehudi, Economy Minister Naftali Bennett, together with Likud MKs Tzachi Hanegbi, Tzipi Hotovely and Zeev Elkin announced that they would not attend next month’s Israel Democracy Conference, sponsored by Haaretz, because it is partly funded by the New Israel Fund.

Bennett, who was to have spoken at the conference, posted on his Twitter account: “If the involvement of the fund is canceled, I will be glad to come.”

Fellow party MKs Ayelet Shaked and Yinon Magal are slated to take part.

Following Hanegbi, Hotovely and Elkin’s cancellation, Likud stated: “Likud, as a national ideological party, will not cooperate with bodies that unceasingly defame Israel.”

The Israel Democracy Conference, to be held on February 17 at the Tel Aviv Port, will be attended by President Reuven Rivlin, MK Tzipi Livni (Zionist Camp), Shas chairman MK Aryeh Deri and Meretz chairwoman MK Zahava Gal-On.

During Rivlin’s visit this week to the Jewish community in Hebron, he said leftist activists had urged him not to go to Hebron but he did not accede, as he would not submit to right-wing pressures not to attend the conference.

Source : http://www.haaretz.com/news/israel-election-2015/.premium-1.640692

Background : ......

'How dare you call us traitors?'

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4622380,00.html

They've been accused of receiving funding from US President Barack Obama and various countries in Europe, of working secretly for Isaac Herzog and Tzipi Livni, of being anti-Zionists, of breaking the law, and of using monies from wealthy donors abroad to feed their campaign. It's their turn now to respond to the charges. Apart from the item last, they say, it's all a lie.

and the latest .....

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4622865,00.html

The Likud party petitioned to the Central Elections Committee earlier this week seeking an injunction against the "left-wing NGOs" OneVoice, Molad and V15, alleging that they were using foreign funds to help the Zionist Camp's campaign to replace the government, claiming that this was a violation of the law. The Likud tied Arad to these NGOs.

In response to the Likud's accusations, Arad sent a letter to the Central Elections Committee on Tuesday, saying that it was "strange that the one smearing me in this manner and making claims about foreign funding from 'unknown sources' is Netanyahu."

Arad wrote: "It was Netanyahu who offered me, while I was in his inner circle in 1994, to come back to work for him with full pay that was to be funded by a foreign and unnamed businessman - on condition that I spoke to no one about it so we did not get in trouble. Meaning - an illegal proposal that I rejected with contempt."

"According to the Likud, its messengers and its leader, it's enough for a citizen to fail to show undying love to the great leader in order to take away his constitutional rights, as they do in North Korea or even Iran," Arad wrote. "Netanyahu's outrage at the fact there are those who don't love him cannot be used as a rationale in this debate."

[Jefferson23]

54. My comments of fear monger are about Netanyahu. He is good at it and his message is well

absorbed by too many Israeli citizens for far too long.

Bibi is one desperate man...thanks again for the links.

[Jefferson23]

49. Netanyahu’s speech and the politics of Iran policy

Gareth Porter
Friday 30 January 2015 02:38 GMT

Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu’s acceptance of an invitation to speak to the US Congress on 3 March, two weeks before the Israeli election and without any consultation with the White House, is aimed at advancing both Netanyahu’s re-election and the proposed new set of sanctions against Iran in the US Congress. For many months, pro-Israeli legislators and lobbyists have been threatening to re-impose existing sanctions on Iran and add new ones while negotiations are still going on.

Regardless of the argument that the sanctions legislation is meant to strengthen the US negotiating hand, the real purpose of the proponents of sanctions has always been to ensure that no nuclear agreement can be reached. Those proponents take their cues from Netanyahu, and that has been Netanyahu’s openly proclaimed aim ever since the negotiations with the Rouhani government began. Netanyahu has often insisted that Israel will not accept an agreement that allows Iran to retain any enrichment capability.

The Obama administration has made it clear that it would veto such new sanctions legislation, arguing that it would leave the United States with no options except the threat of war. That argument prevailed in the Senate earlier, and the administration may well be able to use it again to defeat the Israeli effort to sabotage the negotiations through sanctions legislation. But there are more battles to come.

Influence and threats

The current tensions over the Netanyahu speech is just the latest chapter in a long-running drama involving an Israeli strategy to use its political power in the US Congress to tilt US Iran policy in the direction Israel desires. But in the past, that Israeli advantage has been combined with a strategy of trying to get the United States to take care of Iran’s nuclear problem by suggesting that, otherwise Israel might have to use force itself.

Netanyahu’s predecessor, Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, initiated that strategy in May-June 2008, when the Israeli Air Force carried out a two-week air war exercise over the eastern Mediterranean and Greece. During that exercise, Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz threatened that if Iran continued what he called “its programme for developing nuclear weapons”, Israel “would attack”.

In fact, the purported rehearsal for attack and explicit war threats were a ruse. The Israeli Air Force did not have the ability to carry out such an attack, because it had only a fraction of the refuelling capacity it would have needed. The whole exercise was really aimed at influencing the next US administration. Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak, who conceived the strategy, sought to take advantage of the waning months of the George W Bush administration, which cooperated with the Israelis in pointing to the exercise as a signal to Iran that Israel’s most enthusiastic US ally would leave office in a few months. After Netanyahu was elected prime minister for a second time in early 2009, he kept Barak as his defence minister in order to refine the strategy of bluff to have maximum effect on the Obama administration.

- See more at: http://www.middleeasteye.net/columns/netanyahu-s-speech-and-politics-iran-policy-1333855960#sthash.vKCToi8M.dpuf