The Day After the Israeli Election

This post originally appeared at Jewschool.com

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's extra dose of racism in this election will most likely translate into street violence and worse for Palestinian Citizens of Israel, other minority groups in Israel, Palestinians under occupation and Leftists.

When the man, referred to by his followers as "Bibi, King of Israel" makes racism the norm you can bet it will flow into every corner of the country and it's occupied territories.

When the final campaign effort is a reaffirmation of eternal occupation you can bet that hope for self-determination will be lost for millions.

When last summer's bloody 'operation' in Gaza gave way to street violence by “Kahanist” thugs, you can bet the collectively-expected next 'war' will lead to much, much worse.

When the ruling party oversees the massive growth of inequality and more than 2 million live below the poverty line, and still they are thrust to victory, you can bet that life will get harder and harder.

The only way forward is to build our movement to be courageous in its vision for ending the occupation, building equality and peace, and seeking justice, and to establish, here and now, that the above is necessary for the prosperity we all seek.

This movement has to be strong enough to withstand the attacks ahead, both physical and political. We must move forward with foresight and develop a strategy, and it has to (re)start today.

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