Netanyahu’s Escalating Rhetoric Is A Sign He’s Losing It

[Purveyor]

The prime minister is helpless in the face of the terror wave, the riots in Jerusalem and the impending deal between Iran and the West. All that's left for him to do is issue press statements.

By Barak Ravid | Nov. 11, 2014

Cabinet ministers in the last couple fo days have sounded like the aggressive Internet commenters whom President Reuven Rivlin talked about in his speech to the opening of the Knesset’s winter session. Rivlin, perhaps the only responsible person in the national leadership, described how people called him a “traitor” and “Hezbollah’s president” for daring to empathize with Israel’s Arab citizens.

But the ministers who listened to that speech two weeks ago evidently weren’t impressed. Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman praised the policemen who shot and killed an Israeli Arab in Kafr Kana for acting “resolutely and effectively” against terrorists. Economy Minister Naftali Bennett termed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas “a terrorist in a suit who should be treated accordingly.” And Housing Minister Uri Ariel demanded that “the security forces’ bound hands be untied so they can crush the head of the snake.”

But the prize for extremist aggression goes to the Internet commenter from the prime minister’s official residence in Jerusalem, one Benjamin Netanyahu.

It began Saturday night, when the first task Netanyahu gave new Interior Minister Gilad Erdan was to look into stripping the citizenship of Arab Israelis who acted “against the state” or assaulted policemen. Then, at Sunday’s cabinet meeting, he attacked the Israeli left when he told Environment Minister Amir Peretz, “For you guys, if you haven’t evacuated [settlements], you haven’t done anything,” and “For you guys, the only initiative is to jump off a cliff and capitulate.”

But the climax came during Monday’s Likud faction meeting, when Netanyahu said that any Israeli, Jewish or Arab, who “demonstrates in favor of a Palestinian state [in Israel’s place] or calls for Israel’s eradication” should go live in the Palestinian Authority or Gaza Strip. Suddenly the statement by his patron Sheldon Adelson, founder of the Netanyahu mouthpiece Israel Hayom, that it wouldn’t be so terrible if Israel weren’t a democracy, sounded more relevant and frightening than ever.

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http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.625765

[Scootaloo]

1. No, it's a sign that he's just realized how precarious his position as PM is

His coalition is what it is because of its embrace of Israel's fascists and fundies. And they've started to realize their authority in the coalition. if Netanyahu doesn't feed them red meat, they walk out, new elections are held, and... Netanyahu wouldn't fare well.

"But," you ask, "wouldn't his rightward leap alienate more moderate parties like Hatnuah or Yesh Atid?" - nope, not really. Both those parties are, like most American Democrats, more concerned with being seen as "centrist" (defined by the right's positions) than actually standing on a principle. so Netanyahu's rightward lurch simply drag them along for the ride. Besides, neither Hatnuah or Yesh Atid is opposed in principle to the policies and rhetoric of Bibi, which for the most part centers around fucking over Arab Israelis and Palestinians.

[BillZBubb]

2. Or, it is more a sign that he knows no one can or will stop him.

He's free now to be honest and say what he really believes instead of pretending to be "moderate".

He's evil and extremist but has for a long time fooled many people.