Palestinian reaction to Israeli election results – “fascism”

Excerpt of an editorial by the official PA daily

Headline: “Old-new fascism!”

“History has taught us that in the end fascism eats up those who espouse it, as it has always been a recipe for violence, terror, and destruction. After the initial results of the recent elections in Israel indicated the lead of the extremist racist right-wing camp and the possibility that [former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu would return to the seat of power, we think that the one who needs to be most concerned by this result is the Israeli civil society itself. This is because with this camp – whose fascism was expressed in the mandates of [Israeli Parliament Member Itamar] Ben Gvir and his shouts of ‘Death to the Arabs’ (sic., PMW found no record of Ben Gvir saying “Death to the Arabs,” and he was filmed on July 22, 2022 rebuking a supporter who made the call) – it will not march towards stability, security, and prosperity…

From our perspective it is the same thing, because [Israeli Prime Minister Yair] Lapid has been no better than Netanyahu, and because either way we did not expect that the results of the elections in Israel would bring a ‘peace partner.’ …

But the fact that it is the same thing does not mean that we will not consider how to deal with this fascism. On the contrary, we must work to strengthen our situation of struggle, first of all through unity. We must not allow haphazard impulsive actions that the occupation will take advantage of in order to give free rein to its army forces.”