There is a straight line from defining the nonviolent struggle against the occupation as “diplomatic terror” and designating human rights groups as terrorist organizations. The literal meaning is clear: All resistance to the occupation is terror. Israel is undermining the distinction between legitimate and illegitimate struggle.
This is a boon to terrorist organizations and the use of violence. If all forms of resistance constitute terror, how can one resist the occupation without being a terrorist? It’s not clear what Gantz was thinking when he signed the order.
Is he, like Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked, flirting with an imaginary right-wing electorate, dreaming of the day he’ll be crowned to lead the right after Benjamin Netanyahu? Is it an attempt to counterbalance his meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, which gave him a leftist taint?
In any case, it’s indicative of complete confusion, which positions the so-called ‚change government‘ in the extreme right and turns the participation in it of leftist and centrist parties into a joke.
If this is the change the government is leading and these are its political colors, it’s not clear how its continued defense in the name of a fear of the alternative of another election can be justified. We can only hope that in the absence of internal resistance, the harsh U.S. reprimand and request for clarifications will end this shameful move.
