Thread by @ArielElyseGold

Yesterday Israel voted down one of its most racist laws which had prohibited Palestinians w/Israeli citizenship from having their West Bank or Gaza spouses to live w/them

Stop, 🛑 wait, don’t applaud or get excited. Read the full 🧵1/7

The apartheid law, which was up for renewal, did not fail bc there was an increase in support for equality & Palestinian rights thanks to the new “change” govt. It failed bc Netanyahu wanted to humiliate the new PM & show that Bennett’s govt is weak. 2/7

To this end, Netanyahu got his far-right bloc to vote against the apartheid law they view as essential.

On Bennett’s side, two parties in his coalition, Ra’am & Meretz, should have voted against the law and celebrated its defeat. They didn’t. 3/7

Ra’am should have voted against the racist law bc Ra’am are Palestinians. Ra’am’s leader, however, & all but 2 members of Ra’am voted for it—a shameful betrayal of their people.
Meretz should have voted against it bc Meretz professes to be a pro-Palestinian rights party 4/7

Bennett got Ra’am & Meretz to vote against their people, interests, & principles by reducing the law’s extension from 1 yr to 6 months & promising to create a committee to examine how to reduce bureaucratic hurdles for Palestinians that Israel doesn’t mind having 5/7

The Palestinians Israel doesn’t mind having, in theory, are ones that won’t procreate, thereby not threatening the Jewish majority.
*If you believe the compromise would have resulted in more Pals getting residency & citizenship, I’ve got a NYC to Jerusalem bridge to sell you 6/7

What does it mean that the racist law failed: on one hand it’s always good to get an apartheid law off Israel’s books. But, on the other hand, Israel will simply now use bureaucracy & open racism to deny Palestinian family unification. 7/7