Isn’t this good news? Shouldn’t we be happy that someone who is on the right but is not a Kahanist and has Arabs on his slate is taking support away from Smotrich and Ben-Gvir? I wouldn’t vote for Ofer Winter either but his entrance into politics is good news. Netanyahu is very upset about it.
I think Netanyahu is upset because Winter drags Smotrich under the threshold and wastes right-wing votes, less because of his politics. That's why his answer was merge or quit.
On policy, there's little daylight between them. Winter said the solution in Gaza is emigration and there will be no Palestinian state. That's Smotrich's and Ben Gvir's platform, said by a brigadier general with an Arab number two beside him, which makes it easier to say.
Well, Ofer Winter says he supports voluntary emigration from Gaza and the state should facilitate it. That’s also the stated position of Smotrich and Ben Gvir sure. But when it’s coming from a guy whose #2 is Arab it’s sincere. From a guy who doesn’t want his wife to give birth in a hospital with Arabs or worse from a guy who had a picture of Kahane in his living room for years, it reads as an obvious euphemism for forced expulsion. Winter is right wing because he thinks right wing policy will solve the conflict and prevent more wars (obviously I’m to his left, though I’m to your right). Smotrich and Ben Gvir are hateful bigots who dislike Arabs. There’s a tremendous difference.
Nothing to applaud.
Isn’t this good news? Shouldn’t we be happy that someone who is on the right but is not a Kahanist and has Arabs on his slate is taking support away from Smotrich and Ben-Gvir? I wouldn’t vote for Ofer Winter either but his entrance into politics is good news. Netanyahu is very upset about it.
I think Netanyahu is upset because Winter drags Smotrich under the threshold and wastes right-wing votes, less because of his politics. That's why his answer was merge or quit.
On policy, there's little daylight between them. Winter said the solution in Gaza is emigration and there will be no Palestinian state. That's Smotrich's and Ben Gvir's platform, said by a brigadier general with an Arab number two beside him, which makes it easier to say.
Well, Ofer Winter says he supports voluntary emigration from Gaza and the state should facilitate it. That’s also the stated position of Smotrich and Ben Gvir sure. But when it’s coming from a guy whose #2 is Arab it’s sincere. From a guy who doesn’t want his wife to give birth in a hospital with Arabs or worse from a guy who had a picture of Kahane in his living room for years, it reads as an obvious euphemism for forced expulsion. Winter is right wing because he thinks right wing policy will solve the conflict and prevent more wars (obviously I’m to his left, though I’m to your right). Smotrich and Ben Gvir are hateful bigots who dislike Arabs. There’s a tremendous difference.