The Most Extreme

It was clear, long before terrible news of devastation in Gaza and other parts of the Occupied Palestinian Territories in response to Hamas successfully taking more than a hundred hostages and killing several hundred Israelis, that Israel has a right-wing government.

“”Last year, elections brought to power the most extremist government in its history,” Ruth Margalit wrote in the New Yorker, this June.

This wasn’t the first time Netanyahu formed the most right-wing government in Israel, and I very much hope it’s the last time he’s ever allowed to see something other than the Hague. Ten years ago, in 2013, Richard Falk said that Netanyahu formed “the most right-wing, pro-settler government in the history of Israel, selecting a cabinet that is deeply dedicated to settlement expansion and resistant to the very idea of a genuine Palestinian state.”

More than a hundred Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since October 7, when Hamas reminded the world hat Palestinians exist. Settlements, which are often illegal under Israel law, and are always illegal under international law, continue to expand quicker than ever.

My point when I began writing this was that the term “the most extreme” changes over time, as Netanyahu’s extreme government is nothing like the current extreme right-wing government we see.