And the best chance of neutralising Iran’s nuclear threat was destroyed by right wingers in Israel and the States.
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I agree. There can be big questions asked whether the Zionist way of taking the Palestinian land was legitimate or not at the time, but it went through with the blessing of the Western states and right now, things are what they are. Israel is a reality.
Most Arab countries have come around that idea since a long time. In my opinion, Israel lost a big opportunity when they went on their current confrontational course. They could have played the appeasement card (they won all their defensive wars against the Arab countries and are the only nuclear country in the region after all), but chose to go on a more and more dangerous and confrontational path.
For me, the arrogance on show is still a result of their fear of being eradicated. Their idea is that they permanently need to bully the Palestinians and their immediate neighbours, in order to show them who is the boss, and never give them any show of weakness.
The problem is that this belief hinders them now to de-escalate the situation. Even an outstretched hand, calling for friendship, will be interpreted as weakness, within their population and also unfortunately, outside of the country.
My only hope in that regard is the action of people who try to link Jewish and Palestinian people together, through sport, music and other cultural activities. Daniel Barenboim and his West–Eastern Divan Orchestra is a shining example of this.
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Which incidentally we now know even they didnt believe. They pushed a line their internal security agencies were not supporting because it played into Bibi’s domestic political strategy.
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The important thing is not the current reality, which can always be changed, but what goes on in people’s heads. Jewish people are deeply traumatized by what happened to them during WW2, and that’s before you bring in centuries of discrimination and pogroms in Europe. The idea of being eradicated isn’t an abstract theory for them. They can all point to family members who have effectively been eradicated. You can’t expect them to have a purely rational view on the idea of their own eradication.
As others said, Arab leaders past and present have been stupid enough to trigger that trauma time and time again. Fear is the main reason why people in Israel vote for opportunistic idiots like Netanyahu and his far-right colleagues. So, the best way to go forward for Arab countries would be to fully acknowledge the existence of Israel in the first place, and to cease the stupid and inefficient menaces.
Of course, it would help if Israel found the willingness to handle the Palestinians with respect and dignity. Their current ways are abhorrent, and, as Barenboim says (one of my idols! 
), in the long run very dangerous for the very existence of Israel.
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I’m not sure there is any existential threat to Israel anymore. They’ve made relationships with SA , UAE etc. I think the Arab countries have washed themselves off of Palestine. They never should have gotten involved in the first place probably.
Well it depends. Imagine that Israel continues to be ruled by people like the current nationalists, and that Israel becomes to be seen as a rogue state at international level… Nothing is ever written in stone.
But I don’t think either that they’ll cease to exist. But they’ll have to question their existence as a religious state imo. This is the crux of the question, and interestingly, the same problem which haunts most Arab states. If they can manage to separate religion and state, they’ll be fine. But as things are currently going, that’s probably for the next century or so.
One project which is being touted. The Saudis are pushing themselves as a balancing force in central Asia. (Ironic I know).
This is supposedly being done to facilitate ports and then shipments to India and beyond. Pakistan is a problem with direct connectivity to India via land obviously but with the rapid rate in which Pakistan is selling off its assets , the situation can rapidly change. Then there’s the iran-saudi peace deal.
As of this time , principles have been set aside for profit. This is probably why I say that Israel has succeeded in making this conflict into one which is not related to other countries. Whether I agree with it or not , that’s a huge diplomatic win for them.
We see words of outrage , sympathy in the Arab world but nothing that makes them act against Israel.
Usa being a key ally of both the Saudis and Israelis no doubt had their hand in getting them closer.
Wars for resources often don’t see commonalities. And land in itself is a resource.
A striking feature of Netanyahu’s premiership have been the warnings from those now more commonly referred to as the ‘Gatekeepers’ , i.e. old heads of Shin Bet , Mossad and even ex-premiers such as Ehud Barak. By no stretch of the imagination could anyone describe such figures as leftists or pacifists , but all have warned about the sheer recklessness of Netanyahu’s populist strongman policies. If people had had the sense to take their warnings more seriously then Israel might not have found itself on the precipice that it now teeters.
Fixed for accuracy
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Actually how this nickname of mine came up , as a joke in an old social networking site called orkut
Since this thread was started , inspired by the convulsions rocking Israeli society over the proposed changes to Israeli law and the demonstrations they have inspired , almost six months have passed. In that time weekly protests have seen tens of thousands take to the streets , culminating yesterday in a march on Jerusalem in anticipation of Monday’s deciding vote in the Knesset. Something truly momentous is about to happen and nobody can be sure of the consequences. The only thing seemingly guaranteed is an absolute schism within Israeli society.
The NYT lays out just where we are now with a very informed piece with some real nuggets of information in it. Like this for example ;
"In an extreme example of Mizrahi (Jews of middle east descent as opposed to Ashkenazi Jews who are mainly of European descent) resentment, a prominent Mizrahi activist recently used antisemitic slurs to berate anti-government protesters in northern Israel.
“You whores, burn in hell,” Itzik Zarka shouted at the demonstrators. “I wish another six million would burn,” Mr. Zarka added, referring to the six million mainly Ashkenazi Jews who were killed in the Holocaust.
Freed article here : https://archive.md/JBpuv
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Thanks for the free link
What? You mean it’s not your real name? 
“There is only one person who can prevent this disaster from harming our country …I ask Netanyahu, as someone who sees himself as a Jewish leader who is perhaps as great as Moses, to save this nation and prevent civil war.” - Former President of Israel , Reuven Rivlin , addressing a crowd in Jerusalem yesterday.
This was discussed on this weeks Rest Is Politics podcast:
It’s a frightening development indeed. I wonder if the people will accept their new life under dictatorship, or if the revolt will grow and finally eject these cunts from power as they deserve.
Netanyahu is the worst thing to have happened to Israel since its creation imo. Worse people than him could succed him in time, but in my book, he’s the Israeli equivalent of GW Bush for the US, a major gravedigger of democracy in his own country.
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The thing is they have a mandate now , no matter how slim (and gerrymandered) their parliamentary majority. As long as they stay united they will remain in power. With regards to Netanyahu , he now finds himself , for the first time , subservient to others. Any compromises he might be persuaded to consider will be answered with a threat by the extremists to collapse the government , thereby depriving him of his get out of jail card.
I couldn’t agree more about him being the worst thing to have ever happened to the country. He really should have been finished a long time ago , about the time he was turning up at the UN with his ridiculous cartoon bombs and warnings of armageddon. That the Israeli people chose to stick with him is on them. Complaining now about a bunch of religious fanatics taking their rights away is a bit rich when they have supported the same extremists doing precisely the same thing to the Palestinians for years.
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