Israeli leadership candidate vows to reject US military aid

The think tank here at Falling Downs has had Moshe Feiglin on the radar since that crop circle incident five years ago.

In the interval, Feiglin has fired up more than his bong; he's fired up a new political party too. To say the man brings some intriguing ideas to the election is an understatement of epic proportions.

He wants to privatize health care. Then Israel will presumably have health outcomes more aligned with the US, which has the most expensive health care system in the world with outcomes that barely rise to mediocre.

And by all means, lets privatize education too! Haiti boasts an education system 90% in private hands and provides an inspirational model.

Paying Palestinians to leave isn't exactly an original idea, and while it would no doubt draw the wrath of the human rights hand-wringers, it would be vastly preferable, at least in PR terms, to shooting them down at the Gaza fence.

Nor is annexing the West Bank an original idea. It needs to be fleshed out a little, though. Do you annex before you pay them to leave? Or do you pay them to leave first? What if they take the money and don't leave? Clearly this needs a little more thought.

But where Feiglin's genius shines through is in his vow to never take another penny in American military aid. This is going to be enormously disruptive to US politics, where for many years political careers have been made and unmade on the basis of who can promise to lavish the most free stuff on Israel.

Obviously, Moshe has not thought this through. Is it really his intention to give succour to the new wave of anti-Semites infiltrating the Democratic Party?

I'm sure Ilhan Omar would love this idea.

Trump's brazen interference in the Israeli election

Trump's gifting of the Golan to Israel on Thursday was a present meant to give Netanyahu's election campaign a boost, nothing else.

Bibi finds himself bedevilled by various corruption probes and up against the toughest competition of his political career since Ariel Sharon. The race between Netanyahu and Benny Gantz is so close that this could tip the balance.

This move can only be seen as a provocation by Arab states in the region, and provoking Arabs and Palestinians has long been a feature of Netanyahu's electioneering.

And you can't deny that it works.

Unfortunately, it comes at a time when there is a growing rift between the ever more right-wing tilt of Israeli politics and the attitudes of Jews in the US, especially the younger generation. As an example, consider that in recent memory any aspiring US political leader found it expedient to show up and speechify at the annual AIPAC convention.

This year, almost half of the Dems who have declared for the 2020 presidential race are taking a pass. This is a big deal. The Democrats are in the early stages of a generational sea-change. The momentum is clearly with the OAC-Ilhan Omar contingent. Last century Dem bigs like Pelosi and Schumer will still show up at the AIPAC shindig, of course, but anyone who wants to be perceived as progressive will give it a wide berth.


American policy in the Middle East has been an unmitigated disaster for at least fifty years. Legitimising Israel's theft of the Golan just makes it worse.