Israel’s Government is Anti-Peace and Anti-Palestine
The parliamentary body of Israel is called the Knesset which has 120 seats. The current (37th) government is an alliance between Likud and other parties. This article is a reference for why peace in the middle east cannot be achieved even if all violence ceased to exist from the Palestinian side. The takeaway conclusion for readers of this article is not that Palestinian violence is justified but rather than the lack of violence wouldn’t change a thing.
Often in the Israel-Palestine discussion, pro-Israel supporters will allege that Israel has always made peace plans that the Palestinians rejected, but they never specify if those peace plans were fair and espoused moral outcomes. These are often the same people who claim that businesses are unethical for hiring child labourers. If Israel’s peace plan is fair since Palestine would be recognized even if it loses autonomy and settlement lands permanently, then so is the hiring of children by businesses since they are getting paid according to that country’s laws. I don’t condone child labour because of the risk of harm to the child, and likewise I expect people not to condone Israel based on these virtue signalling peace plans that you haven’t read and would result in another intifada due to the loss of claim over the settlement land.
Table of Contents
37th Government
Likud (32/120)
A party founded by the likes of Ariel Sharon
He will give the Palestinians only half the territory which Barak had offered and all the Israeli settlements will remain.
The party does not want to freeze settlement activity in the West Bank and that should be enough to not vote for this party.
But that’s the past right? What about today. This is politics the party has to align itself with others to win?
Likud top body votes to urge annexing parts of the West Bank
The Likud Central Committee, the party’s top decision-making body, unanimously passed a resolution Sunday urging the faction’s leaders to formally annex parts of the West Bank and allow unlimited construction in the settlements.
It’s hard to claim to be a supporter and promoter of peace between Israel and WestBank if you support the preservation and/or expansion of illegal settlements in the Westbank and a vote for Likud is a vote against peace.
Additionally, Netanyahu also wanted to annex the Jordan Valley as recently as 2019.
National Unity (12/120)
This alliance switched sides to the current government after the events of October 7th 2023.
Resilience (6)
If you just read the goals of the party (in good faith), you can assume that the party wants to secure the state of Israel with Jewish cultural values.
Gantz vowed to “strengthen the settlement blocs and the Golan Heights, from which we will never retreat
(Regarding National Security)
Since this party sees National Security as including intentionally illegal settlements in the Westbank, it cannot be a pro-peace party, although without this stipulation the party does seem reasonable to vote for
a leading high-tech country with a low-tech government that is self-employed
and
impose harsh sanctions on those who speculatively raise land and housing prices
New Hope (4)
The party itself doesn’t have much information, but the leader, Gideon Sa’ar, makes it very clear why you shouldn’t vote for this party. He’s against a two state solution and supports annexation of the west bank or would like to see Palestinian authority under Jordan…a country who’s king was assassinated by a Palestinian after trying to annex the west bank.
He was also opposed to the disengagement from Gaza.
Independent - Gadi Eizenkot (ex IDF Chief of Staff)
Views are a bit vague, but seems like he supports two-state solution with Israel keeping the settlements and the Jordan Valley. Doesn’t really seem like a long-standing peace solution.
Independent - Matan Kahana
Wished palestinians would disappear
Shas (11/120)
A party that claims to represent the Sephardic population of Israel and promote Orthodox religious following. As a person who believes in secularity, this party already spells trouble even if it forms an alliance with the leading party/government every election cycle.
This party used to be supported of lives over territory, until 2015 when they became pro-settlement freedoms after joining the Likud formed government.
National Religious Party–Religious Zionism (7/120)
The fact that this party exists is a reason why no Canadian who supports Israel should even call People’s Party racist. It is the merger of the Religious Zionist Party and The Jewish Home parties. It is lead by Bezalel Smotrich who is an illegal settler in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Does anything else need to be said? A vote for this party is a vote condoning land theft.
Most notoriously, he was arrested by the Shin Bet’s division for suspected Jewish terrorism during the disengagement from Gaza.
If this isn’t enough, the guy is a proud Homophone. It’s simply whataboutism for people to argue against LGBT+ for Palestine, when Israel’s own government has a minister who is a homophobic terrorist-planning psychopath.
United Torah Judaism (7/120)
This part is non-Zionist but doesn’t allow women to run as candidates, claiming that they are pro-Jewish laws. Therefore, this party is non-secular. They claim to be pro-peace and were part of the government during the Gaza disengagement. I guess if you are religious and pro-peace with Palestine, this party could work?
Agudat Yisrael (4/120)
Non-zionist element because they believe Israel would be emerge from divine intervention.
Degel HaTorah (3/120)
Split from the previous party because of the “Lithuanian” wing.
Otzma Yehudit (6/120)
The leader is Itamar Ben-Gvir who is a settler in Israeli-occupied West Bank. I won’t say anymore than this. He was convicted of supporting a terrorist group known as Kach, which espoused Kahanism, an extremist religious Zionist ideology. The leader of the Kach party supported the massacre of 29 palestinians.
Noam (1/120)
- Against LGBT+ rights
- non-secular
Opposition and Other parties
Yesh Atid (24/120)
The party that got the second most votes. The backstory is pretty insane too.
The Knesset initiated legislation to lessen the influx of Israeli journalists running for a position by prohibiting them as candidates in the first year after they ended their journalism careers
Israel’s Likud has a history of being undemocratic even in Israel.
The party is against further construction of settlements in Israel and pro two-state solution, although they want to keep the settlement blocs (explitly stated). They also want to ensure the safety of Israel but that implies two-state solution with constraints. The leader doesn’t seem like someone I could vote for by claiming most of the blame is on the Palestinian side when Palestinians did not consent to European immigration in the first place before Israel was a country and did not consent to the partition plan either. Disagreement is not blame. It’s like claiming a woman was was raped is in the wrong for not consenting!
Yisrael Beiteinu (6/120)
This party claims to support a two-state solution with a plan that swaps land rather than annexes the west bank blindly. The leader Avigdor Lieberman, is where the problem of this party really shows. He has a strict stance against terrorism which is fine since a proper implementation of a two-state solution should result in a strict stance against terrorism anyways but he has some serious ethical issues which makes his opinion very authoritarian. He said this in 2006:
The heads of the Nazi regime, along with their collaborators, were executed. I hope this will be the fate of the collaborators in [the Knesset].”
Can a person who says they support a two-state solution really be trusted when they call fellow Israelis traitors because they seek to have a conversation with the enemy (Hamas)? Calling for the execution of colleagues because they met with someone you would never meet with is no different than how extremist terrorists think. We all saw the video of the hanging in the West Bank of people who were accused of being spies.
In April 2018, Lieberman said: “You have to understand, there are no innocent people in the Gaza Strip. Everyone has a connection to Hamas. Everyone receives a salary from Hamas.
This is racism; generalizing a group of people. He is calling my Palestinians friends family, who are Canadians, guilty.
United Arab List (Ra’am) (5/120)
This party represents Arab Muslims in Israel.
The party has been described as being “guided by a deeply conservative Islamic ideology” and as “virulently anti-gay”, with those representing the party referring to gay people as “perverts”.
I cannot support a party that is explicitly non-secular. Two-state solution should not come without secularity, but for Muslim Israelis, this party would somewhat be okay to support but probably won’t be the party to bring in peace.
Hadash–Ta’al (5/120)
Hadash (4/120)
- first leaders to support two-state solution
- left-wing in the sense of supporting workers’ rights
- the party supports evacuation of all Israeli settlements and the establishment of a Palestinian state
- It also supports the right of return or compensation for Palestinian refugees
This is a party I would vote for and recommend voting on the basis of moral justice.
Ta’al (1/120)
Ta’al supports an Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 green lines and a two-state solution, with a Palestinian state established alongside Israel in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
This party is Arab-secular
Israeli Labor Party (4/120)
- supports same-sex marriage, the legalization of cannabis, advancing surrogacy rights for gay couples and organized public transportation on Shabbat
- claims to support a two-state solution but no statement on the withdrawal of settlements. I can’t find this information anywhere so ask the party before voting for them
Conclusion
In conclusion every party in Israel (90%+ of seats) is pro-settlements or religious except for the Hadash-Ta’al coalition and possibly the Israeli Labor Party. Since 106/120 members of the Knessat are pro-settlements/racist/victim-blaming, most Israelis are not pro-peace and are probably biased regarding the discussion on Palestine. 106/120 is a large percentage for a country that has a very good proportional electoral system. There cannot be peace in Palestine till Israelis realize they are voting for their own self-interests over the lives of humans on the other side of the war.
Countries around the world should sanction Israel since unlike Russia, Israel’s population is also pro-settlement and land theft. The refusal of the US to sanction Israel says a lot about moral grandstanding in the 21st century.