You Can’t Normalize Relations With a Government That Isn’t Normal – Thomas Friedman/NYT
“…Alas, though, this is not the version that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel is trying to sell us. So, I want to appeal directly to President Biden and the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman: Do not let Netanyahu make you his useful idiots. You cannot have normalization with an Israeli government that is not normal. It will never be a stable U.S. ally or Saudi partner. And right now, Israel’s government is not normal.
“Consider just two data points: A former head of the Mossad, Tamir Pardo, recently warned that this Israeli coalition, no doubt assembled by Netanyahu to keep himself out of jail on corruption charges, includes ‘horrible racist parties.’ How racist? ‘Someone took the Ku Klux Klan and brought it into the government,’ Pardo said.
“And then there’s this: Last week Netanyahu’s foreign minister, Eli Cohen, reportedly instructed Israel’s ambassador to Romania, Reuven Azar, and a key settler leader, Yossi Dagan, to meet with the leader of a Romanian far-right party in Bucharest — a party Israel had long boycotted because of its history of antisemitic and Holocaust-denying statements.
“Why? As the newspaper Haaretz explained, it’s part of an effort that Dagan is behind ‘to promote ties between Israel and far-right European parties in order to convince them to support Israeli settlements in the West Bank.’ Yes, Netanyahu and his allies are trying to build an alternative to the diplomatic support of America with xenophobic and extremist parties in Europe, who don’t care about settlements.”
How Germany’s far right is making a comeback using an old playbook. – Vox
Ironic that today Israel may be further down the road to emulating a racist regime like Hitler’s than Germany.