We Recommend Gantz As Prime Minister As Long As We Can Also Indict Him For War Crimes

by MK Ayman Odeh, Joint List

Haifa, September 23 – Our alliance of Arab parties has finally reached its fateful conclusion in the ongoing drama of the recent parliamentary elections: we have told President Rivlin that we back Benny Gantz as incoming prime minister, provided that at the same time we can have him charged with practicing genocide.

You must understand our predicament. We prefer anyone to Netanyahu, whose rhetoric in recent years has made us as Palestinian-Israelis (a term I wield as a cudgel despite the majority of Arab-Israelis preferring not to identify specifically as Palestinian) feel insecure in our citizenship, safety, and civil rights, though it can be difficult to point to anything specific he has done that changes our legal status one iota. No matter. We dislike him enough to recommend someone else, almost anyone else, as long as that recommendation comes with a way to get someone in the dock for oppressing Palestinians. Rampant unemployment, crime, misogyny, and other major issues plague the Arab sector in this country, but you know how it is. Priorities.

The main thing for us involves getting rid of Netanyahu, of course. The specific identity of his preferred replacement as Gantz matters less, but that does not render it unimportant. Politics has always been the art of the possible, which necessitates compromise. We in the Joint List have no illusions that anyone who garners enough votes to unseat Netanyahu will come from our little corner of the political map. But we can establish, and have established, certain essential red lines on which we will not compromise, chief among them that Benny Gantz be indicted for war crimes, crimes against humanity, or whatever. The specific nature of the charges we have in mind is less crucial than having an Israeli leader indicted for defending Jews.

Only once Jewish self-defense becomes problematic can we Arabs restore the status quo ante of pre-state days, when no one would lift a finger to defend the pathetic dhimmi Jew. We will right the historical wrong of Jews achieving victory, even superiority, when everyone knows they must remain inferior, beaten, and subject. Democracy depends on it.

The only way forward to that auspicious future, though, involves indicting Gantz for war crimes. That will be the baseline for any demands we issue regarding the formation of a Gantz government, whether or not the Joint List eventually becomes a party to said government.

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