I’m delighted to share this article from Peter Beinart, one of America’s leading Jewish political commentators and author of The Beinart Notebook, on Tuesday’s Israeli elections.
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I → ’m → elections
On Tuesday, as Israelis cast their ballots, former Biden administration antisemitism envoy Deborah Lipstadt spied an opportunity for hasbara.
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Lipstadt → cast → hasbara
At 2:39 pm ET, she retweeted a video of Bedouins heading to the polls on camels, and added the caption: “Bedouins voting?
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Bedouins → retweete → caption
Twelve minutes later, she reposted an image of veiled Muslim women supposedly crowded into a polling station alongside the words: “And again, I ask: apartheid?”
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I → reposte → apartheid
(Palestinian politicians alleged that the photo was an AI fake.)
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photo → allege → ?
For Lipstadt, the images of Palestinian citizens voting proved that Israel’s political system is not racist.
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system → vote → citizens
But only two hours earlier, Benjamin Netanyahu had posted an ad using those same images.
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Netanyahu → post → images
Alongside the video of voters on camelback, Netanyahu’s ad warned: “They will flock in great numbers to the polls.”
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They → warn → polls
Superimposed over the photo of veiled woman, it snarled: “unprecedented voting rate.
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it → superimpose → rate
Lipstadt tweeted nothing about Netanyahu’s ad.
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Lipstadt → tweet → ad
Perhaps she just missed it.
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she → miss → it
But judging by her account on Twitter, she also missed the reports earlier this month that Netanyahu and his Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, were dispatching right-wing “election observers” to Palestinian polling stations to intimidate voters.
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Netanyahu → judge → voters
And in late September, she said nothing about the Central Election Committee’s decision – later partially reversed by Israel’s Supreme Court – to ban Palestinian parties from running in Israel’s elections.
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she → say → elections
Lipstadt loves to praise Israel for granting its Palestinian citizens the right to vote.
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Lipstadt → love → right
She’s far less interested in challenging Israel’s leaders when they try to take that right away.
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they → ’ → that
She’s not alone.
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She → ’ → ?
Throughout election day, the same individuals and organizations who routinely justify Israel’s control over roughly 5.5 million stateless and disenfranchised Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem lauded Israel for allowing roughly 2 million Palestinian citizens to vote in Israel proper.
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citizens → justify → Israel
New Jersey Congressman Josh Gottheimer tweeted that Israel had reaffirmed its status as “the only democracy in the region,” because “Israel’s Arab citizens, men and women, are turning out in historic numbers to vote.”
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citizens → tweet → numbers
AIPAC noted that “Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and Druze Israelis cast their ballots to elect the next Knesset,” which “underscores Israel’s diversity and steadfast commitment to the democratic process.”
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which → note → process
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee gushed that “Arabs vote same as Israelis.
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Arabs → gush → Israelis
it’s a democracy!”
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it → ’ → ?
How did these boosters react to efforts to intimidate Palestinian voters and ban Palestinian parties?
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boosters → react → parties
Judging by their Twitter accounts over the last month, they reacted the same way Lipstadt did: by staying silent.
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Lipstadt → judge → month
It’s the only way to avoid facing the contradiction between democracy and Jewish supremacy.
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It → ’ → democracy
Lipstadt, Gottheimer, Huckabee, and AIPAC celebrate Palestinian voting because it burnishes Israel’s democratic credentials.
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it → celebrate → credentials
Because Jews must rule, Israel cannot extend the franchise to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza since that would threaten Israel’s Jewish electoral majority.
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that → rule → majority
And because Jews must rule, the parties elected by Israel’s Palestinian citizens can’t be equal partners in an Israeli government.
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parties → rule → government
Challenging these restrictions would require challenging Jewish statehood itself.
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Challenging → challenge → statehood
Which is why they must be resolutely ignored.
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they → ignore → ?
If Israeli leaders in the coming months form a government that includes Palestinian parties as junior members, Lipstadt, Gottheimer, Huckabee, and AIPAC will likely seize on their inclusion to once again praise Israeli democracy.
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that → come → democracy
But that’s unlikely.
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that → ’ → ?
Naftali Bennett and Avigdor Lieberman, two key figures in the anti-Netanyahu coalition, have already pledged not to join a government with Palestinian parties, and the leader of that coalition, Gadi Eisenkot, has outlined conditions that make such a partnership extremely difficult.
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partnership → pledge → conditions
They know that Netanyahu – who now claims that Palestinian election fraud stole the elections –
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fraud → know → elections
would viciously demonize any government that is not composed solely of Jews.
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that → demonize → Jews
Tragically, it’s likely that Netanyahu’s opponents will decide that allowing Palestinian parties even a subordinate role in government violates the sacred principle of Jewish sovereignty.
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allowing → ’ → sovereignty
If that happens, Lipstadt, Gottheimer, Huckabee, and AIPAC will quietly assent.
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Lipstadt → happen → ?
Jewish supremacy is what really counts.
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what → count → ?
Israel’s defenders love using Israel’s Palestinian citizens as window dressing.
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defenders → use → dressing
Just so long as they don’t walk through the front door.
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they → walk → door
Peter Beinart is a contributing opinion writer at the New York Times, editor at large at Jewish Currents, a professor at the Newmark School of Journalism at the City University of New York, and the author of The Beinart Notebook, a weekly newsletter.
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Beinart → contribute → Notebook
…and 1 more, not listed.
The Aporia
