Few Will Miss Benjamin Netanyahu, But Nothing Will Change for Palestinians

Soon after Naftali Bennett was sworn in on Sunday as Israel's new Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu took to Twitter predicting his restoration.

Twitter: "We'll be back - and faster than you think."

Perhaps, but he just might find that Israelis are a bit relieved to be rid of him, especially amid his trial on corruption charges including bribery and fraud and his recent Trump-like allegations about the new coalition government, calling it the "scam of the century."

Netanyahu will be remembered for his hard line towards the Palestinians, but also for his successful economic policies and effective battle against the coronavirus. Many Israelis supported his Palestinian policies, including the expansion of illegal settlements in the West Bank, but lament his close ties with disgraced US President Donald Trump and the wackier elements of America's white Evangelical movement. Netanyahu also forged some unsavory alliances with right-wing politicians in Europe, Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro, and even Viktor Orbán of Hungary, a strident ultranationalist leader who's downplayed his nation's role in the Holocaust. So, while making Israel a stronger nation economically, he undermined its moral authority and left it more isolated diplomatically.

Israel's new Prime Minister will continue many of Netanyahu's policies including the expansion of illegal settlements in the West Bank. Bennett understands that the status quo serves his political interests and he has close ties with Israel's settler movement. Moreover, there just isn't enough domestic or international pressure to force a course correction.

AP: "Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s best hope for maintaining his ruling coalition — which consists of eight parties from across the political spectrum — will be to manage the [Palestinian] conflict, the same approach favored by his predecessor, Benjamin Netanyahu, for most of his 12-year rule. But that method failed to prevent three Gaza wars and countless smaller eruptions."

"That’s because the status quo for Palestinians involves expanding settlements in the occupied West Bank, looming evictions in Jerusalem, home demolitions, deadly shootings and an array of discriminatory measures that two well-known human rights groups say amount to apartheid. In Gaza, which has been under a crippling blockade since the Hamas militant group seized power in 2007, it’s even worse."

And, the outcome of Bennett's policies is easily predicable, just as they were with Netanyahu. Tensions will increase with each new settlement and eventually explode into more violence, more bloodshed. The world will bemoan the suffering for a few weeks, but nothing will change.

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By: Don Lam & Curated Content