The recent Likud-Yisrael Beytenu merger, reflecting a pervasive extremism that dominates the current Israeli political scene, can only be countered through the foreign introduction of sanctions on Israel, MK Jamal Zahalka declared in an op-ed published Sunday in Britain\’s The Guardian.
In the article, entitled "It\’s Time for Sanctions on Israel," Zahalka claimed that the recent unification of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu\’s Likud and Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman\’s Yisrael Beytenu parties is demonstrative of a rightward shift in Israeli politics, the outcome of which "is the fact that Likud has become more extremist, and Liberman more influential and more dangerous."
In the piece, focusing primarily on Liberman, Zahalka denounced the foreign minister\’s recent calls for the overthrow of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and the implementation of economic, political and security sanctions on the PA in response to its unilateral UN statehood bid. The Arab MK also accused Liberman of "racism" due to an alleged espousal of "policies hostile to Arab citizens of Israel," including the foreign minister\’s support for the introduction of a "Loyalty Oath" which would "oblige Arabs citizens to declare loyalty to the Zionist state as a condition for citizenship."
In this respect, Zahalka claimed that "Lieberman\’s aim is to make the citizenship of Palestinian Arabs conditional and temporary [which] ultimately could result in a pure Jewish state, free of Arab citizens."
Zahalka also compared Liberman to Jörg Haider, a far-right former Austrian politician who was widely condemned for praising Nazis, saying that several European countries imposed sanctions on Haider\’s party in response to his political ascent.
"Lieberman is far more dangerous than Haider," Zahalka affirmed. Therefore, he concluded, "The only way to ensure change is through pressure and sanctions on the Israeli government…. Whoever wants a just peace and to prevent looming wars, whoever wants to put an end to the crimes committed by occupation, whoever wants to combat racism, must help in imposing sanctions."
Last month, Yisrael Beytenu announced that it would submit a request to the Central Election Committee calling for the Zahalka\’s Balad faction to be forbidden from running in the upcoming Knesset elections.
MK David Rotem was set to submit the request on behalf of the party on the grounds that Balad supports terror and acts against the existence of Israel as a Jewish, democratic state.
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