Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu says he and his coalition government are right-wing. His statements are at times in line with such a claim, but the same cannot always be said regarding his senior coalition partner, the Yesh Atid party.
MK Ofer Shelah of Yesh Atid on Wednesday, 4 Tammuz 5773 lashed out against government policy throughout Yehuda and Shomron, warning Israel is on her way to becoming South Africa. Shelah emphasized that he is not party leader Yair Lapid’s spokesman, referring to comments in a May 2013 interview with the NY Times made by Lapid, in which he expressed pessimism regarding a comprehensive agreement with the PA (Palestinian Authority), adding he does not view the settlements as the issue preventing a peace agreement.
Shelah, who commented during a peace conference in Hebrew University, sees things a bit differently; stating “The occupation corrupts Israeli society, the IDF, Israeli justice, the media, the Israeli psyche and the Israeli mode of speech.” He added that to think the world will become accustomed to the situation is similar to what white people believed in South Africa.
Other MKs present included Yoni Chetboun (Bayit Yehudi), Eitan Cabel (Labor) and Tzipi Hotevely (Likud). The latter seems to have touched a sensitive nerve with Shelah when she said that in this coalition, the settlements are not a stumbling block to peace with the PA. Needless to say, the Yesh Atid member of Knesset does not agree.
Shelah continued, warning that the nation is on the verge of an international boycott as a result of its policies. This boycott he points out first targets items produced in Yehuda and Shomron but it will spread to anything Israeli made.
“Its international standing keeps deteriorating. We will always be able to rely on Micronesia,” he said cynically, “but we’ve reached a stage where in a United Nations vote against the Palestinians only nine countries voted for us. The world is informing us that our occupational policy will not be tolerated.”
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
4 Responses
Yesh Atid is very right-wing in terms of economics (pro-austerity, pro-Austrian school), unlike the Hareidi parties (who are antausterity, pro-Keynesian school).
Yesh Atid is also very pro-military (favors universal conscription), which in most countries is a right-wing position.
Continued “belligerent occupation” is a dubious policy, and in all fairness, most Israelis dislike the “settlers” almost as much as they dislike the “hareidim”.
#1
You should stop perturbulating on occasion
“Yesh Atid is very right-wing in terms of economics”
If you call russian style cronyism right-wing economics
“Yesh Atid is also very pro-military (favors universal conscription)”
As are/were most marxist(and neo marxist) countries
cont.
If the Hareidi angle would disappear,Yesh Atid would fight the draft
So go leave the country and disband the state entirely bec. the Arabs believe that all of Israel is occupied territory