Bibi's Israel Remains "Settler Colonialist" State

The reason is very simple: the raison d'etre of a settler-colonialist society is displacement of the natives and their replacement by settlers. At best natives can be confined in gated enclaves, at worst they are doomed to be expelled or destroyed."

David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker since 1998, described the Likud tactics in the election, tactics that angered President Obama, and Hillary Clinton chose to ignore:

"Netanyahu, sensing an electoral threat from a center-left coalition led by Isaac Herzog and Tzipi Livni, unleashed a campaign finale steeped in nativist fear and hatred of the Other. This time, there was not a trace of subtlety. 'Right-wing rule is in danger,' he warned his supporters. 'Arab voters are coming out in droves to the polls.'

"On Israeli TV, he said, 'If we don't close the gap in the next few days, Herzog and Livni, supported by Arabs and leftist N.G.O.s, will form the next government.' (Twenty per cent of the Israeli citizenry is Arab.) He warned darkly of 'left-wing people from outside,' including perfidious 'Scandinavians,' and 'tens of millions of dollars' being used to 'mobilize the Arab vote.' Pro-Likud phone banks reminded voters that Netanyahu's opponents had the support of 'Hussein Obama.'"

Pappe reaches what he calls a "clear" conclusion for the international community:

"Only decolonization of the settler state can lead to reconciliation. And the only way to kick off this decolonization is by employing the same means exercised against the other long-standing settler state of the twentieth century: apartheid South Africa.

"The option of BDS -- boycott, divestment and sanctions -- has never looked more valid than it does today.

"Hopefully this, together with popular resistance on the ground, will entice at least some of the second and third generation of the Jewish settler-colonial society to help stop the Zionist colonization project.

"Pressure from outside and from the resistance movement within are the only way to force Israelis to reframe their relationship with all the Palestinians, including the refugees, on the basis of democratic and egalitarian values.

"Otherwise, we can expect Likud to win forty seats in the next elections, perhaps on the back of the next outraged Palestinian uprising."

Clinton's comments to the American Jewish leaders were reported by Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.

Hoenlein compared Clinton's contrast "in tone," according to the New York Times, from recent remarks by members of the Obama administration, who have publicly criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel amid tensions over a nuclear deal with Iran and comments Mr. Netanyahu made in the final days of his re-election campaign this month."

After delivering his spin on Clinton's comments, Hoenlein adds:

"Secretary Clinton thinks we need to all work together to return the special U.S.-Israel relationship to constructive footing, to get back to basic shared concerns and interests, including a two-state solution pursued through direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians."

And there you have the first "constructive footing" kumbaya statement of the 2016 battle for the White House.

Will a future President Hillary Clinton sing kumbaya if Bibi Netanyahu speaks to a Republican-controlled Congress, and attacks one of her foreign policy initiatives?