Netanyahu Is Harming Israel In Ways Its Enemies Were Never Able To

 

Israel has a population of 9,197,590-- 96th biggest population in the world. On Friday, Israel announced 5,784 new COVID cases. On Saturday it was another 9,201 cases and yesterday 3,926 more, bringing the total to 231,026 cases, 24th in the world. Israel has 25,118 cases per million Israelis, the worst in the industrialized world-- worse than the U.S. or Brazil or any European country-- by far. Israel is full-on into a second wave: the Netanyahu Wave, fully engineered by the Israeli prime minister for the sake of his tenuous political fortunes (and so as to keep himself and his wife out of prison for crimes unrelated to his pandemic crimes).

And by the way, that 9,201 cases announced Saturday? That would be equivalent to 300,000 new cases in one day here in the U.S., which most of the world considers the country that handled the pandemic worst of all. And the U.S. has never topped 80,000 in one day-- let alone 300,000.

What Trump has brought to the U.S., in terms of national disunity, Netanyahu-- a similar character of low moral standing and authoritarian proclivities-- has brought Israel. The country seems to be falling apart. It goes beyond just the way Netanyahu has handled the pandemic... but that's terrible enough for a country that rightfully prides itself as being one of the most scientifically and technologically advanced on the planet. But brilliant scientists can come up with whatever they come up with, only to run headlong into a Trump-like or Netanyahu-like government with politicians who have their own agendas. In Israel, like in the U.S., decisions about the pandemic were made not because of science or public health, but to serve the interests of Dear Leader. Period.

Times of Israel:

A key ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed on Thursday that the protesters against him were paradoxically happy about the virus surge that has resulted in almost 7,000 cases per day amid an increasingly stringent national lockdown that critics claim is aimed at preventing the demonstrations.

“The demonstrators are counting on this chaos, on this anarchy... They are quietly happy about the 7,000 patients [diagnosed per day],” Likud MK Miki Zohar told Army Radio, arguing that the protesters-- many of whom ostensibly oppose the government’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak-- believe a severe health care crisis would bring about Netanyahu’s downfall.

“This is a serious accusation and it is authentic,” insisted Zohar, the coalition chief. “They think that if they stand up and demonstrate, they will cause everyone to break the guidelines and the disease will spread.”

“Of course the [government’s] idea is to get to a situation where people are praying in the open air in numbers that do not exceed 20 people,” Zohar continued. If the protests also ceased, “the worshipers would understand the situation” and accept the limitation on synagogue prayer, he claimed.

The interview came ahead of the implementations of tightened restrictions and after a day of acrimonious debates in the cabinet over whether to allow anti-Netanyahu protests during the lockdown, with the Blue and White party insisting a government could not order protests against it to disband. Ministers also argued over how much to restrict prayer gatherings, with Haredi parties Shas and United Torah Judaism pushing to leave synagogues open, even if new limits on numbers of worshipers are imposed.

Under a final compromise reached late Wednesday, synagogues will close beginning Friday, reopen in a limited capacity and with worshipers divided into small groups for the 25 hours of the Yom Kippur fast, then close again on Monday night. A similar compromise was reached on protests, under which demonstrators may gather within a kilometer (0.6 miles) from their homes. In both cases, gatherings may include no more than 20 people at a time who must stay two meters apart.

A special compromise was reached allowing for continued protests outside the Prime Minister’s Residence on Balfour Street in Jerusalem, where demonstrators have gathered regularly for months to call for Netanyahu’s resignation.

Analysts in the United States have cast doubt on the idea that demonstrations cause coronavirus surges, after analyzing protest rates and virus rates there. Research does appear to suggest that indoor worship has led to a number of so-called “super-spreader” events globally.

One of the organizing groups behind the anti-Netanyahu protests said Thursday that it would begin to demonstrate against the Blue and White party for the role it played in limiting the protests and in helping turn Israel “into a dictatorship.”

“We will go back to demonstrating on your head,” the organization said in a statement. “We hereby inform Benny Gantz, and the justice and foreign ministers [Avi Nissenkorn and Gabi Ashkenazi]: If you aid the destruction of democracy, we will persecute you, demonstrate against you, you will remember for a lifetime those who turned Israel into a dictatorship.”

Meanwhile... just another day in Netanyahu's Knesset:

Miki Zohar, the Likud Party whip and widely considered to be a crook and one of COVID's top allies in Israel: "I have argued in recent days that there are those who want these demonstrations to continue because they want there to be morbidity."

Eli Avidar, one of the most brilliant and accomplished members of the Knesset: "You are mentally ill!"

Zohar: "You’re one of the most idiotic people I’ve seen."

So, while Trump tries bribing Sudan's corrupt government to recognize Israel in return for being taken off the U.S. supporter-of-terrorism list, Israel marked Yom Kippur with 1,512 patients in the hospital with COVID. 749 of them are in serious condition, nearing the 800-patient threshold health officials have warned would lead to a collapse of the Israeli health system. Of those, 196 patients are on life support.

Can a collapse of the hospital system happen in the U.S.? Hospitals have been overrun in some of the states with Trumpist governors-- particularly in parts of Texas, Florida and Arizona-- but if the U.S. gets hit with a second wave comparable to the one Israel is in the midst of, the collapse of the hospital system-- if Trump is still in office-- is not just possible; it's inevitable.

Religious Nuts Are Out Of Control In Israel-- Making Israel The Center Of A Catastrophic Second Pandemic Spike

On Friday, Israel reported 1,964 new COVID cases. On Saturday, it was 2,517 new cases. And yesterday... 1,708, bringing Israel's total to 130,644-- 14,204 cases per million Israelis. That number doesn't sound that terrible compared to America's numbers. Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi all have double that number of cases per million residents! With a population of just 9.1 million people, Israel has more total cases than all but 13 of the U.S. states, including states with bigger populations like Ohio and Michigan.

But it really starts looking bad when you compare Israel's numbers to the numbers in countries that don't have Trump and his puppet governors killing people-- like the western European nations. Israel's 14,204 cases per million residents is worse than even the hardest-hit European nations:

• Spain- 11,060 cases per million residents
• Sweden- 8,405 cases per million residents
• Belgium- 7,572 cases per million residents
• Ireland- 5,997 cases per million residents
• Portugal- 5,913 cases per million residents
• Switzerland- 5,124 cases per million residents
• U.K.- 5,109 cases per million residents
• France- 4,974 cases per million residents
• Italy- 4,593 cases per million residents
• Netherlands- 4,363 cases per million residents

Israel botched its school reopening really badly-- criminally actually, since it was all about politics-- and the country was thrown into a worse pandemic than it was originally. The pandemic has been turned into a full-blown scandal and tragedy in Israel and it was 100% about politics. Of 1,400 Israel's diagnosed with COVID in June almost half were infected in schools. By mid-July over 2,000 students, teachers and staff had caught it. NPR interviewed Jerusalem-based reporter Daniel Estrin noted that "what happened in Israel is quite a cautionary tale, I think. At first, the Israeli health professionals here urged the government, yes, let school resume again, but only let kids under the age of 9 go back to school, and keep it in small groups. And they said data around the world show that younger kids have a very low rate of infection and transmission. But instead of just letting the younger kids go back to school, there were these last-minute negotiations. Ultra-Orthodox Jewish schools wanted the older kids to go back to religious studies, and so they did. And then 11th- and 12th-graders also went back to school. And so very, very quickly, everyone was back. And then very quickly after that, there was a heat wave, so the government said, well, kids don't need to wear masks anymore during this heat wave. And then we just saw big outbreaks in schools, and a lot of schools shut down for several weeks... I think the lessons to be learned from Israel are listen to the health experts. The government here did not follow the health experts' guidelines to just open the younger grades and to have kids in small groups. They opened very fast, and there was no coherent policy. So listen to your health experts. Have a coherent policy."

An astronomical 3,331 new cases in Israel today-- worst day ever!

Two months later and Israel still is not listening to public health experts and still does not have a coherent pandemic policy-- and it's still all about politics. Netanyahu's shaky government depends on support from completely deranged ultra-Orthodox sociopaths who personify the Greek meaning of the word "idiot." [Umair Haque wrote that "For the Greeks, 'idiot' carried a precise and special meaning. The person who was only interested in private life, private gain, private advantage. Who had no conception of a public good, common wealth, shared interest. To the Greeks, the pioneers of democracy, the creators of the demos, such a person was the most contemptible of all. Because even the Greeks seemed to understand: you can’t make a functioning democracy out of…idiots."]

Over the weekend, Haaretz reported that the ultra-Orthodox politicians threatened to blow up Netanyahu's coalition if he went through with plans to shut down their self-imposed ghettos.

The mayors of four predominantly ultra-Orthodox municipalities sent a letter Sunday to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, informing him that they plan to cease cooperation with government authorities in the fight against the coronavirus in light of an expected decision to impose a lockdown on their cities.

The mayors of Bnei Brak, Elad, Betar Illit and the council head of Emanuel blamed Netanyahu in their letter of failing to hear them out, to examine alternatives they've proposed, or understand their plight, and charged that he has intentionally led Israel down a path that would lead to a lockdown of Haredi cities during the holidays.

The Mayors wrote that since the coronavirus began to spread, they have been "at the forefront of the battle and leading the fight" against the virus. "We have all faced difficult struggles, at home and abroad, to take various steps to get patients out of our cities, to perform as many tests as possible, to maintain social distance, to locate and close places with potential for infection. We were able to change the equation by a considerable percentage, with personal initiative and a delicate fabric of rebuilding trust, in the face of the national erosion of trust and the implementation of the guidelines," they wrote.

However, they claim that Netanyahu did not try to listen to the public and understand their plight. "You did not bother to ask, understand and learn what characterizes a significant section of the population in Israel ... Unfortunately, you did not send anyone on your behalf to hear directly our working methods, and the set of steps that will be taken and succeed in constant and respectful dialogue with the spiritual leadership of this public," they wrote.

The Mayors concluded their letter by saying they would suspend cooperation with the government on everything related to the lockdown. Addressing Netanyahu, they wrote "we hereby inform you that the entire ultra-Orthodox public will not forget the injustice done to it. We will not forget who the man who signed with his hand, time and time again, on our becoming spreaders of diseases and enemies of the people, in the selective punishment of tens of thousands of families, members of the ultra-Orthodox sector."

"The decisions you have made, time and time again, have been made in the absence of logic and health expectation and are sharply and clearly directed against the ultra-Orthodox public. We see you as the sole culprit for these punitive measures, for humiliating the dignity of tradition and our dignity as legitimate citizens of this country."

Exactly one hour later, Haaretz reported that "Netanyahu decided to postpone the ministerial meeting scheduled to discuss the proposed lockdown on a number of municipalities, neighborhoods and two settlements, after ultra-Orthodox mayors sent him a letter saying they plan to cease cooperation with government authorities in the fight against the coronavirus in light of the expected decision" and a couple of hours later reported that the ultra-Orthodox are demanding that the whole country be shut down, not just their cities. "Interior Minister Arye Dery demanded during a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that instead of a targeted closure upon "red" cities, which include five ultra-Orthodox cities, that the entire country be locked down ahead of the Jewish New Year. According to Dery, who represented the ultra-Orthodox mayors in the discussion, if the infection rate remains high, the cabinet should convene on Thursday, the day before the holiday is set to begin, and approve a closure over all of Israel. Dery claimed that professionals have agreed that a targeted closure is not the solution and will not reduce the infection rate significantly."

In an editorial from the Jerusalem Post yesterday-- How Israel has failed in the battle against coronavirus-- the editors noted that "Israel went from being the country everyone in the world looked to as a role model, to one that everyone looks to now as an example of what you are not supposed to do."

Israel achieved an impressive and embarrassing statistic last week, becoming the leading country in infections per capita.

Based on data from Johns Hopkins University, the Jewish state averaged 199.3 new cases a day per 1 million people during the seven-day period ending September 2. That is higher than any other country in the world.

Wow.

It’s amazing since we can look back and listen again to the speech Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave in May when he declared that Israel had defeated the novel coronavirus.

It’s amazing to think how Israel went from being the country everyone in the world looked to as a role model, to one that everyone looks to now as an example of what you are not supposed to do.

There are many answers to what went wrong. First, was the reopening of the economy in May and June that went too fast. It should have been more gradual. Same with the reopening of the schools. There was no reason to bring older grades back to closed classrooms. They could have carried on studying remotely. When outbreaks were reported in high schools across the country, we all immediately understood why.

Then, there was the failure of the government to use the time that the nation was in lockdown to prepare for the day after. This was precious time wasted. Still today, six months into this pandemic, Israel fails at contact tracing. It still does not have enough investigators who can quickly and effectively cut the chain of infection.

It has increased testing to high numbers but people are still not able to just walk into a clinic and get a virus test, or a serological test to see if they have antibodies, meaning they have already had the virus.

The airport was also not dealt with correctly. While the skies were shut down and El Al came to a halt, no one thought to use the time to build a testing station so people coming and going could be tested. The earliest such a station will open there will be in October or November.

Add to all of this the politicization of the virus. Most citizens today seem to understand what was clear from the outset of the management of this pandemic-- that it has not being fought by leaders, but by politicians, more interested in what the virus can do for their political careers and less interested in how they can really eradicate the virus.

What is happening with Uman is a classic case in point. People should not be allowed to travel there. Period. That is the position of Health Minister Yuli Edelstein and coronavirus commissioner Ronni Gamzu. That was also Netanyahu’s position until the ultra-Orthodox parties in his coalition started to threaten to bring down the government if a solution was not found. Now he’s instructed his ministers to come up with a compromise.

The accusations leveled by members of Netanyahu’s own party against Gamzu-- that he is stoking antisemitism and should step down-- does not help the fight. Instead, everyone seems to be doing what they want. Some people abide by the rules and hold weddings with under 50 people and others hold weddings with hundreds of guests as if there isn’t a virus raging here.

And why should people listen to Gamzu when they hear how politicians talk about him? If the elected officials don’t heed his guidelines, why should the average citizen?

For this to change, the government has to either start working or get out of the way. Since the government is not functioning, its incumbent upon each and every one of us to do his or her part. Wear a mask, social distance, clean your hands, stay home and away from public events and warn others when you see them not adhering to the rules.

Unfortunately, Israelis can no longer count on their elected leaders to do their job and steer the country to safety. In their absence it is up to us to fill the role, and we can do that by following the rules.

What Will Congress Do About Annexation?

Historically, AIPAC has been aligned with the Democratic establishment-- and when progressive elements have rebelled and demanded even-handed policies towards Palestine, AIPAC has been able to successfully full smear campaigns-- unrelated to Israel-- against them and replace them with more malleable members of Congress. AIPAC, for example, destroyed the political careers of both Earl Hilliard (D-AL) and Cynthia McKinney (D-GA). Fear of AIPAC has kept Democrats in line. On Friday, The Forward wondered aloud if that is now over: AIPAC's Biggest Democratic Allies Break Ranks To Publicly Oppose Israeli Annexation.

It's worth mentioning that not all of AIPAC's biggest allies have broken ranks. Netanyahu's #1 ally in the House, Eliot Engel, chair of the House Foreign Relations Committee-- in the midst of a red-hot primary into which AIPAC is funneling over a million dollars for Engel-- has been silent. "Top congressional Democrats," wrote Aiden Pink, "have issued multiple public statements Thursday and Friday expressing their opposition to Israel’s plan to annex part of the West Bank. The pro-Israel organization AIPAC has publicly expressed its opposition to such statements, but some of the signatories include the lobby’s most prominent and longstanding Democratic allies."

Lockstep AIPAC shills Chuck Schumer, Bob Menendez and Ben Cardin released a joint statement opposing annexation:

As strong and dedicated supporters of the U.S.-Israel relationship, we are compelled to express opposition to the proposed unilateral annexation of territory in the West Bank.

A sustainable peace deal that ensures the long-term security of Israel and self-determination for Palestinians must be negotiated directly between the two parties. Real diplomacy via direct negotiations, while an arduous road, is the only path for a durable peace. For that reason it has consistently been the long-standing, bipartisan policy in Congress to oppose unilateral action by either side. Unilateral annexation runs counter to those longstanding policies and could undermine regional stability and broader US national security interests in the region.

We are committed to sustaining a US-Israel relationship based on shared democratic values and our important security assistance partnership. We are also committed to continuing to engage Israelis and Palestinians to find ways to live together with peace, freedom, security and dignity and achieve a two-state solution.

Netanyahu has been threatening to unilaterally begin the process of proclaiming sovereignty over parts of the West Bank in two weeks. Trump and Pompeo are encouraging him. 115 House Democrats sent their own letter, authored by Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Brad Schneider (D-IL), Ted Deutch (D-FL) and David Price (R-NC)-- all mayor Israel supporters-- to Netanyahu, Gantz and Ashkenazi last week.

We write as American lawmakers who are long-time supporters, based on our shared democratic values and strategic interests, of Israel and the U.S.-Israel relationship. We firmly believe in, and advocate for, a strong and secure Jewish and democratic State of Israel, a state able to build upon current peace treaties and expand cooperation with regional players and the international community. We have consistently endorsed the pursuit of a negotiated peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians resulting in two states for two peoples and a brighter future for the Israeli people and the Palestinian people. In that vein, we write today to express our deep concern that the push for unilateral annexation of territory in the West Bank after July 1st will make these goals harder to achieve.

Longstanding, bipartisan U.S. foreign policy supports direct negotiations to achieve a viable two-state solution that addresses the aspirations of both Israelis and Palestinians, and their desire for long-term security and a just, sustainable peace. This position was twice reconfirmed by the U.S. House of Representatives last year. Our fear is that unilateral actions, taken by either side, will push the parties further from negotiations and the possibility of a final, negotiated agreement.

We remain steadfast in our belief that pursuing two states for two peoples is essential to ensuring a secure, Jewish, democratic Israel able to live side-by-side, in peace and mutual recognition, with an independent, viable, de-militarized Palestinian state.

Unilateral annexation would likely jeopardize Israel’s significant progress on normalization with Arab states at a time when closer cooperation can contribute to countering shared threats.  Unilateral annexation risks insecurity in Jordan, with serious ancillary risks to Israel. Finally, unilateral annexation could create serious problems for Israel with its European friends and other partners around the world. We do not see how any of these acute risks serve the long-term interest of a strong, secure Israel.

As committed partners in supporting and protecting the special U.S.-Israel relationship, we express our deep concern with the stated intention to move ahead with any unilateral annexation of West Bank territory, and we urge your government to reconsider plans to do so.

Pink wrote that "The list of 115 signatories 'runs the gamut from J Street Democrats to AIPAC Democrats,' a Democratic congressional source told Jewish Insider. Other members of Congress are reportedly expected to sign on before the letter is released to the public next week. The large number of AIPAC allies is surprising considering the lobby’s opposition to the letter. 'We have not taken a position on annexation,' an AIPAC spokesperson told Haaretz. 'However, we do not support this letter. It publicly criticizes Israel for potentially deciding upon a policy that would only be adopted with the approval of the U.S. government, it fails to reaffirm America’s full commitment to Israel’s security assistance, and it focuses only on what it sees as inappropriate Israeli behavior, while failing to note that Palestinian leaders have been unwilling to return to the negotiating table for nearly a decade.'"

A similar letter signed by 19 Democratic senators, including Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, was released two weeks ago. Individual Democratic senators, like Kamala Harris, have also written personal letters of their own to Netanyahu expressing their views.

“As the United States has repeatedly made clear, unilateral moves by either party, such as annexation, put a negotiated peace further out of reach,” wrote Harris, who is considered a leading contender for the Democratic vice presidential nomination. “Both Israel and the Palestinians must avoid unilateral moves in order to preserve prospects for an eventual peace.”

And how does Biden feel about annexation? He seems opposed, at least tepidly. One of his foreign policy advisors, Nicholas Burns-- an under secretary of state under George W. Bush-- told an Israeli foreign policy magazine that annexation "would greatly harm Israel, internationally and among its strongest supporters" and that annexation "is the one issue which could most harm the U.S.-Israel relationship."

Trump's foreign policy has been disjointed and chaotic... often influenced by bad actors with skin in the game happy to offer the notoriously corrupt Trump what amounted to bribes. Sunday night former national security advisor (#3), John Bolton, shared his thoughts about the disaster that is Trump with Martha Raddatz, just hours after announcing that he plans to vote for Joe Biden in November.

What Netanyahu Gets Away With Today, The Trumpists Are Likely To Try Tomorrow

Israel is a couple of days ahead of the U.S. in terms of responding to coronavirus. And in the midst of the mess, there's the other on-going mess: Israeli democracy. Two problems:

• Israel has decided to suspend all guidelines involved in domestic spying to track COVID-19 (as China and Iran have)
• Israel's latest election didn't exactly come up with a government

Chemi Shalev, Haaretz columnist, wrote Monday that "History will record that when the world went loony, Israel double whammied. Struggling like everyone else to meet the enormous medical, economic and social challenges of the corona pandemic simply wasn’t enough. As it tries to contain COVID-19, Israel is concurrently in constitutional convulsions, coming to grips with a wacko turn in politics in what is taking shape as a fateful battle over the future of its democracy. Beat that for exquisite timing."

It’s worthwhile to shortly recap the hitherto inconceivable developments of the past 24 hours alone:

Saturday night, 9:00 P.M. Netanyahu addresses the nation, announces new coronavirus restrictions, calls for national unity in this time of crisis and nonchalantly announces that the Shin Bet’s formidable surveillance apparatus, ostensibly reserved for counterterrorism operations, would henceforth be employed to expose virus carriers who have failed to give proper account of their comings and goings.

Sunday, pre-dawn, 1:00 A.M. Sixty hours before his trial was set to start in the Jerusalem District Court, Netanyahu’s proxy and interim Justice Minister Amir Ohana carries out what is essentially a legal putsch, ordering an emergency shutdown of the court system. This is despite the Health Ministry’s advice to the contrary. Four hours after calling for unity, Netanyahu usurps the rule of law, thus spitting in the faces of his prospective partners in an emergency government and, by extension, more than half of Israeli voters.

Sunday morning, 8:00 A.M. Unity is dead in the water as Gantz tells Netanyahu “When you get serious, we can talk.” Ohana’s dictatorial decree and Netanyahu’s eagerness, since tempered, to use the Shin Bet against common Israelis alarm elites and spur howls of protest in the center-left opposition.

12:00 P.M. The Joint List shocks Israeli politicians by telling President Rivlin that their entire list, including the ultra-nationalist Balad Party-- seen by many Israelis as an enemy organization--  are recommending that Gantz gets first crack at forming a new government. In Palestinian terms, this is more or less like Ilhan Omar endorsing U.S. President Donald Trump or white supremacists embracing Barack Obama. Moreover, the unprecedented move set up the possibility of Gantz garnering, 61 recommendations, compelling Rivlin to pick him to form a new government.

4:45 P.M. Wonders not only never cease, they go up a notch or two. Avigdor Lieberman, the unrivalled bogeyman of Israeli Arabs and a racist rabble-rouser in the eyes of many on the center-left, joins hands with Balad in endorsing Gantz, giving him the coveted 61 MK threshold. So-- crazy is as crazy does-- elections that were heralded two weeks ago as an unparalleled victory for Netanyahu end up with his rival taking first place.

Sunday evening, 6:00 P.M. On the eve of the inauguration and swearing in of the new Knesset, its outgoing speaker Yuli Edelstein expands what is emerging as an attempted coup d’état. In perfect Orwellian, he announces that he will prevent the new Knesset from choosing a new speaker, as law and tradition prescribe. He says this is so as not to impede efforts to reach agreement on a national unity government-- which he, by his own actions, seriously undermined.

The true reason for Edelstein’s defiance, however, is that the same 61 MKs who recommended Gantz to Rivlin are also planning to choose a new speaker from their rank and set up the appropriate parliamentary committees. Also, in another unique and unprecedented development, they plan to serve as a check and balance to Netanyahu’s naked power grab, aggravated by the fact that he is an interim prime minister with supposedly far less authority than one who has been voted in by the Knesset.

In parliamentary politics, the Knesset is usually a rubber stamp for the ruling coalition. In this topsy-turvy time, it seeks to emulate the U.S. House of Representative and to put the brakes on Netanyahu’s undisguised and ongoing campaign to escape justice.

Sunday night 9:00 P.M. Rivlin returns to the scene of his last failure by trying to broker an agreement between Gantz and Netanyahu over the formation of a new government, sparking an outcry on the center-left. Should he fail, as expected, Rivlin has already announced that he would pick Gantz to form the next government first thing on Monday.

That’s what the law, logic and tradition dictate, though, after a whole year of Netanyahu’s jail-breaking shenanigans, all three seem to be in dire need of an artificial respirator. For all we know, Netanyahu could declare martial law at any given moment, armed police could surround the Knesset to prevent its members from exercising their sovereign rights and the Shin Bet could announce that all leftists are hereby redefined as suspect coronavirus carriers, whose moves need to be traced and monitored.

Nah, that can’t happen here, you might say. But that was true of the events of the past 24 hours as well. In fact, with their world knocked out of joint and fear in their hearts, many Israelis are now convinced that literally anything can happen. Once you let the genie out of the bottle, he’d be crazy to voluntarily go back in.

NPR reported a version of this Sunday: Gantz Chosen To Form Government, Netanyahu Argues To Stay PM Over Coronavirus Effects. "In a setback for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu," reported Daniel Estrin, "Israel's president said Sunday he will give centrist retired army general Benny Gantz the first chance to try to form a new government following this month's inconclusive elections. Gantz was tapped after a majority of 61 lawmakers in the 120-member Parliament told President Reuven Rivlin they support Gantz over Netanyahu. A coalition of Arab parties, including a staunchly Palestinian nationalist faction, decisively helped tip the scales by unanimously endorsing Gantz."

This does not mean Gantz will automatically become Israel's next prime minister, but it gives him 42 days to try to form a government. More immediately, it gives him the upper hand in Parliament, as his party considers advancing legislation barring Netanyahu from forming a new government due to a corruption indictment against him.

Netanyahu argues that the challenge of coronavirus means he should remain in office. In a tweet, he offered Gantz two options to break the political deadlock in Israel: joining a six-month emergency government with Netanyahu at the head, or a unity government that would allow Netanyahu to serve as prime minister for two more years before Gantz takes over.

Gantz could unseat Netanyahu by building a minority government dependent on Arab parties, but it would be an unstable coalition and would draw fierce opposition from the right-wing Netanyahu, who calls the Arab parties terror sympathizers.

"While Prime Minister Netanyahu is handling an unprecedented global and national crisis in the most responsible and measured way," Netanyahu's Likud party said in a statement, "Gantz is rushing to a minority government dependent on ... terror supporters instead of joining a national emergency government that will save lives."

About 20% of Israel's population comprise Palestinian Arab citizens inside the country's borders.

This month's inconclusive elections left Netanyahu's political future uncertain, but the coronavirus crisis offered some relief to Netanyahu on Sunday: his corruption trial was postponed due to emergency measures taken in response to coronavirus, drawing accusations from Netanyahu's rivals that he is extracting personal and political gain from the health crisis.

Netanyahu faces charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust for his dealings with media moguls. He was scheduled to appear in court Tuesday for the opening hearing of his trial, but a panel of judges delayed it to May 24, citing a state of emergency declared by the caretaker justice minister.

Justice Minister Amir Ohana, a Netanyahu loyalist, claimed no political interference. Emanuel Gross, professor emeritus of law at Haifa University in Israel, said in an interview with NPR that he believed coronavirus concerns were a legitimate reason to delay the trial.

But critics raised eyebrows as the justice minister last week expanded his powers enabling him to freeze the courts due to a health crisis, then around 1 a.m. Sunday issued a freeze on non-urgent court hearings for 24 hours, which is liable to be extended.

"The delay of the trial at this time does not hurt Benjamin Netanyahu, and the rest you can understand yourself," wrote former state prosecutor Eran Shender in an op-ed.

The delay in Netanyahu's hearing followed new restrictions Netanyahu enacted to combat the spread of coronavirus, banning gatherings of more than 10 people and closing schools, restaurants, malls, movie theaters, gyms and other non-essential public venues. Israel is also banning entry to most foreign visitors and has ordered some 30,000 Israelis into home quarantine. There are around 200 coronavirus cases in the country, most of them mild.

Netanyahu came under additional criticism for seeking to use surveillance technology to track virus carriers, a move that would impinge on Israelis' privacy. The government on Sunday approved tracking Israeli coronavirus carriers' cellphones to determine who they may have come in contact with. "We are in the midst of an emergency, but this doesn't mean that turning Israel into a surveillance state is justified," said Tehilla Shwartz Altshuler of the non-partisan Israel Democracy Institute.

Gantz on Sunday appeared unwilling to give Netanyahu a lifeline to stay in office.

"Netanyahu, don't try to manipulate the citizens of Israel," Gantz tweeted. "If you're interested in unity, why postpone your trial at 1 a.m. and send an 'emergency unity' outline to the press."

Moshe Yaalon, Netanyahu's former defense minister turned political rival in Gantz's Blue and White coalition, accused Netanyahu of "cynically taking advantage of the corona crisis for personal political needs of a defendant before trial."

In a separate tweet, Yaalon wrote, "Blue and White cannot be a partner to the destruction of democracy in our country by a defendant fleeing trial."

Here are a few of the obscenely undemocratic things off the top of my head that have happened in Israel in just the past couple of weeks:

• The Attorney General shutting down all of the criminal courts, so that the Prime Minister wouldn’t have to go on trial tomorrow.
• The Prime Minister declaring victory on election night, when he and his allies ended up three seats short of a majority, the same as last time.
• The Prime Minister’s staff openly trying to bribe both his own allies and opposition leaders with jobs and perks to keep them in line and win them over (this is how a clueless right-wing tool became Defense Minister).
• The Speaker of the Knesset refusing to allow the new Knesset to choose a new Speaker.
• The Prime Minister appointing the secret police (the Shin Bet) to engage in mass surveillance of phone calls, e-mails, texts and web-browsing, to track down and arrest anyone with coronavirus symptoms.
• Involuntary quarantining of all visitors, with or without symptoms.
• The head of the Shas party issuing amulets to Shas voters that he said would protect them from coronavirus, as long as they vote for the party.
• The Prime Minister issuing executive orders when he hasn’t had a parliamentary majority for more than a year.
• The Prime Minister insisting that he remain in office notwithstanding three indictments for bribery, and notwithstanding the fact that he has offered no defense to any of them on the facts.

As The Senate Makes It Clear They're About To Grant Trump Immunity From His Criminal Behavior, Netanyahu Is Wishing He Had A Moscow Mitch Of His Own

On March 3, Israelis will go to the polls to try to elect a prime minister-- again. This’ll be the third time in 12 months. The acting prime minster-- Benjamin Netanyahu, a Trump-like figure (who Trump is supporting)-- is also a criminal. Yesterday, Cheri Shalev penned a piece for Haartetz that should make it easier for Americans who want some background to follow the election-- Immunity With His Orwellian Doublespeak, There’ll Be No Stopping Him. Trump, of course, has his own pardon power, though he will be the first president to use it on himself and his immediate family.

In the first chapter of George Orwell’s dystopian classic 1984, detained and tortured dissident Winston Smith peers out from his cell at the two white towers of the so-called Ministry of Truth, on which the motto of the Oceania dictatorship is inscribed: “War Is Peace; Freedom Is Slavery; Ignorance Is Strength.” Citizens of Oceania prove their loyalty to country and Big Brother-- aka BB-- with proficiency in such “doublespeak,” which enables them to concurrently believe in two contradictory concepts and everything in between.

If Smith had been detained in Israel 2019, he would have felt right at home. Winston would appreciate the unique contributions of the local BB to the lexicon of doublespeak. “Immunity is a cornerstone of democracy,” for example. The immunity that Benjamin Netanyahu is so desperately seeking isn’t a cornerstone of democracy, of course, but an instrument with which one of its bedrocks, equality before the law, is demolished. But when Netanyahu proclaims with pathos that day is night, his disciples immediately swear it’s pitch-black outside.

The internal logic is similar. War unites the nation and stifles division, which brings peace. Freedom entails deliberation and choice, which is akin to slavery. Ignorance unites the masses behind the lies of their leaders, thus emanating strength. Netanyahu’s similar equation adds a creative twist: Immunity is a cornerstone of democracy because it heads off the “putsch” that Netanyahu alleges, which is a figment of his imagination in the first place.

Netanyahu’s uber-absurd immunity = democracy stipulation reflects his growing desperation after realizing that his chances of securing immunity from this or the next Knesset are slim and possibly nonexistent, Yossi Verter wrote in Haaretz this week. In recent days, however, Netanyahu’s distress has been augmented by seemingly contradictory symptoms of hubris. After garnering 72.5 percent of the vote in his decisive victory in the Likud primary last week-- despite his criminal indictments, his assault on the rule of law, the steep economic and social price of the elections he insists on repeating until he gets what he came for and the risk that his candidacy could remove his party from power-- Netanyahu has come to realize that in terms of ability to blur distinctions between truth and lies, the sky’s the limit.

His arrogance, one must concede, is well founded. Throughout the past year, Likud in particular and the right in general have been like putty in his hands. As a master of doublespeak, Netanyahu can navigate between two contradictory poles without his followers puzzling over it or even noticing. The charges against him will evaporate, Netanyahu asserts, but if not, it’s a conspiracy. National unity is a disaster, no national salvation, which means total catastrophe.

Immunity? Out of the question, Netanyahu indignantly replied in a TV interview before the last election. His fans didn’t even blink when it suddenly emerged that immunity is a cornerstone of democracy. They even scolded Netanyahu’s critics for refusing to acknowledge such a basic staple of constitutional norms.

Donald Trump may have moved the hitherto wary and hawkish Republican right to stop worrying and love archenemy Russia, but Netanyahu did him one better: He has taught Likudniks to detest their own country, which they profess to love. In doublespeak it might be phrased as "Patriotism Is Self-Hatred."

Netanyahu’s Israel, after all, is rotten to the core: The police are bent, public prosecutors play politics, judges are usurpers, journalists invent stories, civil servants are backstabbers and the politicians, poor souls, are left marginalized and helpless. Netanyahu’s Israel is controlled by dark and sinister forces that are carrying out a coup d’état in broad daylight aimed at deposing him and installing a defeatist, Arab-loving leftist regime in his stead. And there’s only one man still standing to defend our cherished way of life, and his name is BB.

In old Israel, in which the only way to elude a criminal indictment was by acquittal in a court of law, Netanyahu’s prospects would have been dim. In the new Israel, the one Netanyahu is feverishly trying to build, he has far more avenues of escape-- from immunity that scorns the law to transforming the elections to a popular tribunal that will decide his fate.

One thing’s for sure: If Netanyahu successfully completes his mission impossible, he won’t make do with immunity. Armed with a mouth that can transform saints to sinners, criminals to martyrs, laws to laughingstock and avoiding prosecution to a noble calling, there’ll be no stopping him. One day we will learn that “Empires Are Jeffersonian Democracy,” including a formal invitation to Netanyahu’s coronation.

Netanyahu Could Be Sentenced To 10 Years In Prison... But 2 Years Or Less Is More Likely

On Wednesday it became official-- neither Benjamin Netanyahu nor Benny Gantz has been able to form a government. Basically, that means a third election of the year for a politically dysfunctional Israel. And hours after the announcement that Gantz was giving up, Prime Minister Netanyahu was indicted on bribery, fraud and breach of trust charges in a set of long-running corruption cases. He's not legally required to step down. "But," according to the NY Times, "with Israel’s political system already in uncharted territory, having failed to settle upon a new prime minister despite two elections and three attempts at forming a government since April, the criminal case against him could make it far more difficult for him to retain power."

The Jerusalem Post explained that "Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit announced his final indictment on Thursday against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, making him the first prime minister in Israeli history to be indicted while still in office. Bezeq and Walla! owner Shaul Elovitch and his wife, Iris, were also indicted for bribery and obstruction of justice. In addition, the owner of Yediot Ahronot, Arnon Nuni Mozes, was indicted for bribery. The indictment decision could alter the course of negotiations over forming a new government and who will be the new prime minister in the current 21 days Knesset process on the issue."

The attorney-general ultimately indicted Netanyahu for bribery in Case 4000, the Bezeq-Walla! Affair, for breach of public trust in Case 1000, the Illegal Gifts Affair and for breach of public trust in Case 2000, the Yediot Ahronot-Yisrael Hayom Affair.

The biggest moving pieces had been what the charge would be in Case 4000 and whether Case 2000 would remain a breach of trust charge as in Mandelblit's initial February announcement, or whether it would be closed.

Ultimately, the decision to indict Netanyahu for bribery is the most decisive one.

It means that his trial will be in a district court, known for being tougher than magistrate's courts and that he could face a potential jail sentence of years instead of months or mere community service.

Moreover, it means that any petition to the High Court of Justice-- which will doubtless soon be filed-- to remove him from power, has a much better chance.

As early as 2017-2018, the Jerusalem Post received multiple indications that an indictment for bribery could bring down Netanyahu even if he did not voluntarily step down, and that this serious consequence was part of what was making the investigatory process take longer.

However, the decision to keep Case 2000 as an indictment for breach of public trust, despite this being the case which Mandelblit was never a fan of, was also significant.

In Case 4000, Netanyahu is accused of involvement in a media bribery scheme in which Walla! owner Shaul Elovitch gave him positive coverage in exchange for Netanyahu making government policies favor Elovitch's Bezeq company to the tune of around NIS 1.8 billion.

In Case 1000, Netanyahu is accused of receiving hundreds of thousands of shekels in gifts from rich tycoons, mostly from Arnon Milchin, in exchange for a variety of help with business and personal-legal initiatives. The charge itself is for acting in situations in which Netantahu had a conflict of interest, since no actual quid pro quo could be proven.

In Case 2000, Netanyahu was accused of working with Yediot and Yisrael Hayom to reduce Yisrael Hayom's competition with Yediot in exchange for positive coverage for Netanyahu in Yediot. The deal never went through, but the law has crimes of attempted bribery and breach of trust which can apply even if a deal does not go through.

Yesterday Haaretz asked what everyone in Israel-- and beyond-- is wondering: Can Netanyahu remain prime minister and thereby get immunity from prosecution? "In the coming weeks and months, the political system will also have to adapt to the new situation. Netanyahu is seeking immunity from indictment. This is a serious issue Israeli lawmakers will have to tackle-- perhaps via legislation... Netanyahu has 30 days to request that the Knesset plenum grant him immunity so that he may avoid criminal trial. He is expected to ask to be granted this immunity, but if he does not do so within the allotted time, the legal proceedings against him will begin."

Right now, there isn't a Knesset body authorized to make this decision.

As long as a discussion isn't held by the House Committee regarding a request by the premier to give him immunity, the indictment against him cannot be filed. Consequently, the court will not be able to start any hearings related to his cases.

The Knesset could decide to appoint a House Committee especially in order to hold a session on Netanyahu's request for immunity. Alternately, the discussion by such a committee could be postponed until a new government is formed. In any case, Netanyahu's request for immunity and any decision to approve it must be justified on the basis of the reasons for immunity as stated by the Israeli law.

The first such reason is that the applicant has substantive immunity, which cannot be revoked. This substantive immunity covers offenses committed while the defendant served as a Knesset member.

The second pretext is the argument that the indictment was not filed in good faith-- i.e., it is tainted by political motivations or by intent to harass, for example. Another pretext is that his actions could be examined by an internal Knesset forum as a disciplinary offense. The fourth reason is that the criminal proceeding could substantially harm the functioning of the Knesset.

Even if the Knesset House Committee and plenum decide to grant Netanyahu immunity, Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit or any other citizen could appeal the decision to the High Court. By the same token, Netanyahu could appeal to the High Court if the Knesset denies his request for immunity.





The High Court has intervened in the past in decisions involving the granting of immunity on the grounds that the Knesset exceeded its authority, that the decision to grant immunity was unreasonable or that that there had been a shortage of evidence to support any of the causes to grant immunity. Any decision by the Knesset regarding immunity for Netanyahu will likely be followed by a petition to the High Court.

...Does Netanyahu have to resign if he is indicted?

This issue has never been decided in court. It would be precedent-setting for an indictment to be filed against a sitting prime minister. Section 18 of Basic Law: The Government stipulates two situations in which a prime minister ought to cease serving in his position in wake of an offense: The first is a decision by a majority of the Knesset after a trial court has convicted him of an offense involving moral turpitude; and the second situation is a conviction that has been confirmed at every appellate level. According to the Basic Law, in both cases, the prime minister’s resignation would occur following a conviction, and not during the indictment stage.

However, a Supreme Court ruling from 1993 could change matters entirely. Twenty-six years ago, the court ruled in what has since become known as the "Dery-Pinchasi precedent" that then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin had to fire Minister Arye Dery and his deputy Rapahel Pinchasi due to a serious indictment against them.

Evoking this ruling, the court could order Netanyahu to resign despite the stipulations dictated by law. The High Court could use the legal interpretation which says that if such a rule applies to ministers, it should certainly be applied to prime ministers.

Another argument to be made is that a prime minister’s decision to remain in office once indicted and in the midst of legal proceedings seriously impacts his ability to do his job on behalf of the public.

Nonetheless, there is a significant difference between a minister and prime minister, as the latter is not appointed but rather elected. Therefore, the Supreme Court cannot say that a certain party’s decision to fire him or refrain from firing him is unreasonable. There is a legal opinion which says that it is up to the prime minister to decide whether to resign or not, and therefore the court may criticize the reasonability of his decision. An interim possibility the High Court has is to compel Netanyahu to declare temporary incapacity.

...What possible sentence may be given for the offenses Netanyahu is charged with?

The maximum sentence for bribery is 10 years in prison. In practice, the court has never imposed the maximum sentence on elected officials who were convicted of bribery. Olmert was sentenced to 19 months in prison for bribery. Former minister Shlomo Benizri was convicted of accepting a bribe and was sentenced to four years in prison. Deri was convicted of bribery, fraud and breach of trust and sentenced to three years in prison. The maximum sentence for offenses of fraud and breach of trust is three years in prison.

One interest Netanyahu will have in trying to delay the legal proceedings concerns his age at the time of sentencing: If by the time a trial concludes Netanyahu is 77, the court will likely take the defendant’s age into consideration when issuing the sentence.

The U.S.-Israel Relationship Is One Thing, But The GOP-Netanyahu Relationship Is Something Entirely Different

I was born the same year as Israel and I grew up committed and proud of the socialist-run Jewish state. Watching the Sacha Baron Cohen Netflix mini-series, The Spy, I remembered it-- or at least the conclusion of it-- vividly, in real time, when I was getting ready to graduate high school and go to college. The pictures of Eli Cohen hanging in Damascus covered in Arabic placards were seared into my memory and shocked when when they appeared in the TV show over the credits. Too real. That Israel is long gone-- no longer a heroic David facing Goliath but more like an oppressive, fascist apartheid state that makes me feel shame for once having wanted to go there and join their military.





On Tuesday, Trump's first Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, was interviewed for 90 minutes at Harvard, as part of the American Secretaries of State Project, by a distinguished panel of academics. According to the Harvard Gazette, Tillerson "called Netanyahu 'an extraordinarily skilled' politician and diplomat, albeit 'a bit Machiavellian,' who forges good and 'useful' relationships with leaders and nations he anticipates he’ll need at a future time.

Tillerson said despite Israel’s closeness with the U.S., “In dealing with Bibi, it’s always useful to carry a healthy amount of skepticism in your discussions with him,” recounting that Israel would share "misinformation" to persuade the U.S. of something if necessary.

“They did that with the president on a couple of occasions, to persuade him that ‘We’re the good guys, they’re the bad guys.’ We later exposed it to the president so he understood, ‘You’ve been played,’” said Tillerson. “It bothers me that an ally that’s that close and important to us would do that to us.”

When he entered office, Tillerson, who had deep familiarity with leaders and issues in the Middle East, including conditions surrounding the Israel/Palestine peace negotiations, said he thought there was a chance-- finally-- for peace.

“I did believe that we were at a moment in time where perhaps we could chart a way where the Arab world could support an outcome that the Palestinians might not think was perfect-- and in the past, if it wasn’t perfect, it didn’t happen-- but with enough encouragement, pressure from the Arab world, that we could get it close enough that the Palestinians would finally agree,” he said. “And in my view, it was a two-state solution.”

But his plans were hampered by a frosty relationship with President Trump, who solicited foreign policy advice from an array of outside sources and delegated several key portions of the portfolio, like drafting an Israeli/Palestinian peace accord, to his son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

So, in the end, Tillerson took a back seat on most issues involving the Middle East and served as an informal counselor, offering his input “to help them identify obstacles or gaps to the [peace] plan to give it the highest chance of success,” he said.

So far there are 3 Republicans competing take on Democratic Senator Tina Smith in 2020, a far right paintball store owner (Forest Hyatt), composer Rob Barrett and recently defeated Republican Congressman Jason Lewis. Lewis seems to be making an unusual bet. Last year he was defeated by a mediocre Democratic candidate, Angie Craig. His old congressional district (MN-02) has a PVI of R+2, much easier for a Republican than the D+1 PVI for Minnesota statewide. The vast majority of votes in the district come out of Dakota County, which, like most of the Minnesota suburbs, has turned into a Democratic bastion. Last year Amy Klobuchar won it with 61.3%. In the gubernatorial race, Tim Walz won it with 53.9% and in her own race, Tina Smith took the county with 52.9%. Dakota performed at a D+11 level for Angie Craig against Lewis and he lost the district 177,958 (52.8%) to 159,344 (47.2%). If he couldn't win a Republican-leaning district how does he think he's going to win a Democratic-leaning state? Especially with the detested Trump-- minus 14 points approval statewide-- at the top of the ticket?

Yesterday, Lewis, a former Hate Talk radio host, made news back home when tapes of him talking about the Republican Party's relationship with Israel surfaced. The topic was touchy one: "dual loyalties." He said that support for Israel was based on a "very strong American Jewish lobby" (AIPAC), a position that conservatives always label as anti-Semitic.

Lewis, who also argued that the Israel lobby controlled the Republican Party, said in a February 2013 radio show that many in the party viewed the country as the "51st state." He claimed policymakers in President George W. Bush's administration, including former UN Ambassador John Bolton, were dual citizens of Israel and the United States. (Bolton, who was fired last week by President Donald Trump, is neither Jewish, nor is he a citizen of Israel.)





"You've got a number of dual citizens, by the way, citizens of Israel and citizens of the United States serving in government," Lewis said. "In any other country that might be seen as a problem, but it's not here because of that special relationship."

"John Bolton's a dual citizen for instance of Israel and America," Lewis added later. "There's no question that there are a number in-- during the Bush years-- there were a number of dual citizens, citizens of Israel, citizens of America who were making policy."

Lewis made his comments during the confirmation process of Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, who faced criticism for his use of the phrase "Jewish lobby" during an interview in 2006 to describe the lobbying power of pro-Israel groups. Lewis defended Hagel's comments, adding that Republicans knew they would lose money from "AIPAC or Jewish Americans or Sheldon Adelson" if they voted for Hagel's confirmation.

Asked for comment, Lewis blamed the focus on his past commentary on his opponents and "pawns in the partisan media." He called the scrutiny "pathetic" and a "worn-out playbook of attacking my 25-year career as a political commentator-- which naturally meant asking rhetorical questions, challenging audiences, playing devil's advocate and seeing both sides of every issue."

But on the substance of his views on Israel he drew a contrast between his criticism in 2013 and his voting record, during his one term in the US House of Representatives, saying "as my voting record clearly demonstrates, these are not my views about American support for Israel, period." His campaign also forwarded along a fact sheet on his votes titled: Congressman Jason Lewis & the 115th Congress: Supporting the Israeli/U.S. Relationship.

Lewis also pivoted to criticize Minnesota Democrat Ilhan Omar saying she has "genuinely anti-Israel views." Omar faced widespread condemnation, including from many fellow Democrats, earlier this year for comments similar to those Lewis made on his show... [At the time, he had accused Ilhan] of "anti-Semitic rants" and "throwing our foreign allies under the bus," adding in a radio interview in early September, "I don't think the Jewish community is happy with Ilhan Omar at all. They've got every reason to be upset."

...Lewis said on his radio show in 2013 he was speaking out on the issue because he believed the Republican Party was controlled by the Israel lobby.

"One of the reasons that I'm speaking out on this particular issue is not because I'm a big fan of Chuck Hagel," Lewis said. "It's not because I think that the Israeli lobby controls the country. There are plenty of Democrats or liberals that oppose them, but they do have, they do control of the Republican Party right now. The Republican Party is essentially a neo-conservative party that believes on unending support for Israel. A blind loyalty towards Israel is the linchpin of being a good Republican. And when you get those sort of dual loyalties, what happens if it's not in America's best interest?"





"I don't think the Jewish lobby, the Israeli lobby controls America because there are plenty of opponents," he later added. "I do believe, as I said, they are controlling the Republican party."





Lewis later speculated that Republicans knew they would lose money from prominent Jewish organizations for supporting Hagel.

"I think Lindsey Graham and John McCain and every Republican, including Ted Cruz, know exactly how much money they will lose if they support Chuck Hagel from AIPAC or Jewish Americans or Sheldon Adelson for that matter," Lewis added. "I don't think there's any doubt about that."





Lewis said he did not subscribe to the idea "Jewish cabal" controlled the country, but said neo-Conservatives viewed Israel as the 51st state.

"Look, let me be clear about what I'm saying here. Is this nation controlled by a Jewish cabal? The Jewish banker theory? Of course not," Lewis said. "Is the Republican Party, however, unduly influenced by AIPAC and the Israeli lobby? Of course they are. The neoconservatives in the Republican Party from John Bolton on down view Israel as a 51st state. And if you dare, dare not to support what Israel does, if you dare not support going to war with Iran-- so Israel is safe-- you are not only not a good Republican, not fit to be Secretary of Defense, you are an anti-Semite."





Speaking on why the Republican Party supported Israel so strongly, Lewis said one reason was because of the influence of supporters.

"Contrary to what the punditry class said, AIPAC and a very, very strong American Jewish lobby," he added. "I don't say that as a negative. I mean, I think they'd been very proficient and they're successful people and therefore they've got power in Washington."