Hanin Zoabi: don’t whitewash racism of Israel’s old elite

Attacking “fascists” in the Israeli government risks whitewashing the racism of the old elite, according to Member of Knesset Hanin Zoabi (Joint List).

Avigdor Lieberman was confirmed yesterday as Israel’s new Defense Minister, after the successful conclusion of talks that brought the right-wing nationalist’s Yisrael Beitenu party into Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud-led coalition government.

Lieberman’s appointment, and the departure of his predecessor Moshe Ya’alon, has been seen internationally as “a baffling, hard-line choice” (in the words of The New York Times). Financial Times said the move raised “fears of a lurch to the right”, while The Guardian described it as “the most rightwing nationalist government in the country’s history.”

Zoabi, however, told me that “attacking fascists is a dangerous way to normalise racism.”

Suddenly Moshe Ya’alon has become so democratic? Generals who bombed Gaza and killed children are turned into the guardians of democracy of the Jewish state. The most dangerous implication of the hard-line, fanatic fascists is to legalise racism and portray it as moderate.

Ya’alon departed from office last week with a warning that “extremist and dangerous elements” had “taken over Israel and the Likud Party.” But according to Zoabi, the likes of Ya’alon and opposition politician Tzipi Livni “cannot perceive their own responsibility in the creation of this new elite.”

They cannot see the continuity between their role and [new Likud MK] Yehuda Glick and Avigdor Lieberman. This new elite is in fact loyal to the old one, where loyalty does not mean to replicate, but rather to develop and realise the potential of the ideology with which you have grown up.

The Balad politician added: “Those who are sitting in judgement on the ‘latest fashion’ should themselves be behind bars. They should be held to account for war crimes and crimes against humanity, as well as for bringing these fascists to the top of the regime.”

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.