Dear Foxy,

A separate Palestinian state would be the nightmare of ordinary Palestinians who would end up under one or another corrupt regime, headed by someone like Duterte, Khamenei or both.

Ordinary Palestinians are actually better off, relatively more secure, free and prosperous, alongside most Jewish settlers (with the exception of the extremist Nazis who voted for the "Religious Zionist" party, which is not in the new coalition), though they would be too afraid to tell you this openly - see for a fact what wouldn't they do in order to live as Israeli residents in the annexed and heavily Jewish-settled Eastern Jerusalem rather than in the autonomous rest of the West-Bank!

Bennett used to be the director of the "Yesha settlments council", representing the mainstream Jewish settlers. Though I disagree with their perverted ideology, they are different from the Nazi mob that bitters Palestinian lives.

So if you truly care for the ordinary Palestinian in the street and in their village, rather than for the terrorists among them and their corrupt elites, then you should favour Israeli settlements and annexation.

Now I, alongside about half the new Israeli coalition, oppose Israel's occupation and annexation: this is because I care for the moral and social well-being of Israel far more than for the well-being of Palestinians. The continued 1967 occupation is the worst disaster that ever happened to Israel, so ending it is my overriding concern.

Anyway, the Israeli elections ended in a draw and so the parties to Israel's new coalition have agreed to maintain the status-quo regarding the occupation - neither withdrawal nor annexation, neither increased settlement nor removal of existing settlements. Why? Because Israelis believe that there are currently more urgent tasks to deal with, including the removal of the corrupt criminal Netanyahu, thus the fate of the occupation/settlements can wait until the next elections.

Indeed you also quoted Ben-Gurion - that bastard really had no heart. While being a "Leftist" socialist, it was the Labor party under him that promoted the worst cruelty towards Arabs and non-socialist Jews alike.

Dear Ttbn,

«There is certainly nothing in his history or past statements to indicate that he is anything other than a hard man»

See the quotes below from his inauguration speech: http://www.jpost.com/israel-news/bennetts-full-speech-to-knesset-read-it-here-670913

"And yes my friends, we will open a new page in the relations between the State of Israel and the country’s Arab citizens. The Arab community will be represented in the coalition by Mansour Abbas and his party."

"We understand the plight and needs of the Arab society. The fight against crime and violence, the housing crisis, the gaps in education and infrastructure – will be addressed."

"We will begin the process of regulating the Bedouin settlements in the Negev, so that Israel’s Bedouin citizens can live in dignity."



«He is not for a Palestinian state, and he has no trouble killing Arabs.»

As I just explained to Foxy, a Palestinian state would only bring suffering to the ordinary Palestinian while annexation (which I oppose) would give them prosperity. The only reason I, unlike Bennett, will be supporting a Palestinian state, is that it would relieve Israel from its corrosive 1967 occupation.

As for killing Arabs, you know well that this refers to combatants and terrorists. Though I find it sickening, practically every party in the Knesset (apart from the Arab parties and the Ultra-Orthodox which do not serve in the army), Left, Right and Center, prides itself of this.

Dear Yuyutsu,

Naftali Bennett has ruled out a Palestinian state and wants Israel
to maintain ultimate control over all the lands it occupies.
He's also previously called for Israel to be more "forceful"
when dealing with Palestinian people, their property, lands,
and their rights.

Nothing has changed.

The people baying for Netanyahu's blood forgot that they should 'be careful what they wish for'.

It's Coke and Pepsi.
They're both kinda the same.

It could only ever be a feces sandwich
- It doesn't matter which half of the sandwich you get.

But you never know, change isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Dear Foxy,

«Nothing has changed.»

All changes begin in the mind before they manifest in the outside world.

You are just impatient: when you plant a seed, do you keep digging every day to check whether it germinated?

Something wonderful has happened in Israel: for the first time in its history, an Arab party takes part in government and is accepted even by the second-most right-wing party.

To understand the enormity of this, consider that in the past nobody in Israel would talk or cooperate with the Arab parties, not even the "Left". If a proposed law (either by government or opposition) was passed at a second reading but only with the support of Arab members, then it was withdrawn from the third reading because it was considered better to fail than to pass a law without a "Jewish majority". Before every elections, different parties asked the electoral-committee to disqualify the Arab parties from running, on the grounds of supporting terrorism. They often succeeded (but then every time the high court reversed the decision on appeal and allowed the Arabs to run).

Now that changed!

For the first time, even Bennett and his group were made to entertain the revolutionary concept that "Arabs are people", which goes against their basic upbringing and the derogatory songs they sang about Arabs from kindergarten.

Menachem Begin and his troops swore with their blood: "Let my right arm be paralysed if I ever forget the Left bank of the Jordan river" (referring to the East Bank, now Jordan), fiercely believing that the whole of Greater Israel belongs to the Jews forever and ever, yet nobody today still wants Israel to control the East bank. Begin ended up returning the Sinai peninsula which was also taken in 1967 to Egypt. He changed his mind and stood his grounds even while extremists wanted to assassinate him for that, for which he won the Nobel prize.

So please give the man a chance, allow him to mentally digest this big step that he made. Pulling up stalks does not make flowers grow faster!

[continued...]

[...continued]

Note also that unlike previous Israeli governments, this new coalition also includes leftist parties. Because of this coalition agreement, the status-quo will be kept and unlike what Netanyahu was planning, no further areas of the West Bank will be annexed and no new settlements built during the next 4 years. Isn't this a blessed change?

This is a great step forward: do not hastily ask for the impossible, expecting all your wishes to happen overnight.