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New York Times says incoming Netanyahu government a ‘significant threat’

“Netanyahu’s government is a significant threat to the future of Israel — its direction, its security and even the idea of a Jewish homeland,” New York Times editorial board says.

By World Israel News Staff

The New York Times on Saturday published an editorial warning against the incoming “far-right” Israeli government headed by Benjamin Netanyahu, saying it constituted a “significant threat to future of Israel.”

The editorial, titled “The Ideal of Democracy in a Jewish State is in Jeopardy,” argued that while Netanyahu “clearly has the support of the Israeli electorate,” the concessions he is offering his “ultrareligious and ultranationalist” partners jeopardize the country’s democratic values.

The editorial goes on to note that the so-called newspaper-of-record “has been a strong supporter of Israel” — this despite the many, many column inches saturated with anti-Israel bias, from accusing Israel of war crimes to calling for the end of Israel as a Jewish state and replacing it with a binational “Israel-Palestine.” 

“Netanyahu’s government, however, is a significant threat to the future of Israel — its direction, its security and even the idea of a Jewish homeland,” and with a non-sequitur to “prove” its point, continues, “For one, the government’s posture could make it militarily and politically impossible for a two-state solution to ever emerge.”

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The Times calls on the Biden administration to act and “do everything it can to express its support for a society governed by equal rights and the rule of law in Israel, as it does in countries all over the world. That would be an act of friendship, consistent with the deep bond between the two nations.”

“The new cabinet [Netanyahu] is forming includes radical far-right parties that have called for, among other things, expanding and legalizing settlements in a way that would effectively render a Palestinian state in [Judea and Samaria] impossible; changing the status quo on the Temple Mount, an action that risks provoking a new round of Arab-Israeli violence; and undermining the authority of the Israeli Supreme Court, thus freeing the Knesset, the Israeli legislature, to do whatever it wants, with little judicial restraint,” the paper warned, referencing Israel’s left-wing judiciary.

“These moves are troubling, and America’s leaders should say so. The Biden administration’s main response so far has been a cautious speech by Secretary of State Antony Blinken to the liberal advocacy group J Street on Dec. 4, in which he declared that the United States would deal with Israeli policies, not individuals,” it read.

“Moderating forces in Israeli politics and civil society are already planning energetic resistance to legislation that would curtail the powers of the Israeli Supreme Court or the rights of the Arab minority or the LGBTQ community. They deserve support from the American public and from the Biden administration,” the editorial said.

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It concluded: “Anything that undermines Israel’s democratic ideals — whether outright annexation of Jewish settlements or legalization of illegal settlements and outposts — would undermine the possibility of a two-state solution. America’s support for Israel reflects our two countries’ respect for democratic ideals. President Biden and Mr. Netanyahu should do everything they can to reaffirm that commitment.”