Israel can now put an end to Netanyahu’s genocide, and war : Marwan Bishara

Let's bring in Marwan Bishara, who is Al Jazeera's senior political analyst, joining us live from London. Marwan, you heard that last voice there from Hebron saying he doesn't expect much change. Do you think he's right? You know, tonight, my heart does go out to Hebron. I'm not sure if our viewers around the world are privy to the latest from the city, But 5,000 Palestinians have been forced out of their homes, according to a report from Israel today. 5,000 people have been forced out of their homes. Neighborhoods, shops, businesses have been bulldozed in Hebron. The city is basically under siege, and the military calls it an operation. But in fact, it's an offensive. It's a military offensive. The Israelis are ravaging Hebron as they did Jenin and Nablus and Tulkarm and Hawara and certainly Gaza and so on and so forth. So as the election goes on, as we talk about the arithmetic of forming a new government, the Palestinians are living under the most horrendous conditions possible in all of the occupied territories. Marwan, you recently published a book called 12 Days That Shook the Middle East, Origins of a Genocide. And I actually see it there in the bookshelf there behind you. I mean, in this book, you actually examine the first 12 days after the October the 7th attacks. And you argue that there was already sort of a blueprint in place for this genocide. So what does that mean for this election and what it means for Gaza? I mean, is that same blueprint going to remain in force no matter who becomes the next prime minister? That is the most important question facing us as we speak about the election results, because the idea of a continuation of more of the same type of fanatics and fascists ruling in Israel and hence dominating and launching wars of the type that we saw in Gaza or against Iran and Lebanon and so on and so forth, It's going to be no less than catastrophic. That same mindset that took us to a genocidal war that was basically, as you said, decided in those first 12 days of the war remains the same. In fact, Netanyahu feels a bit vindicated, if you will, by the fact that he just got a majority of Jewish votes despite his genocidal war, despite his failure on October 7, despite the fact he's been indicted on corruption charges in Israel, despite the fact that he's been indicted on war crimes at The Hague. So he feels vindicated and he feels that he gets the support of the American president. And hence, my fear is that he's going to be so vengeful if he gets his hands on the premiership once again. We're going to see more of the kind of Gaza's that we've seen before. I term it no less than apocalyptic. And that's why that's precisely why there is an opportunity today in Israel. And that's the other side of the results in Israel, that there is a camp, a camp made of almost 50 opposition figures on the Jewish side and almost 20 parliamentarians on the Palestinian side. They make up something like 70, you know, 60 plus seats in parliament. They could change the Speaker of the Parliament tomorrow, they could put restrictions on Netanyahu tomorrow, and they could eventually form a government of some sort that will block Netanyahu and that will speed up his legal trials, and he should end up in prison rather than in the Prime Minister's office waging another war. Of course, blocking Netanyahu is one thing, but actually changing policies is a whole different ballgame, right? Because, I mean, according to these latest estimates that we have now, we're almost at 90 percent of the votes counted. These Arab-Israeli parties have 19 seats in the Knesset. Will they be able to make any kind of real difference in Israel's strategy towards Gaza, for example, here in the new parliament? There's absolutely no doubt, Per, that Gabi Ashkenazi has a dark past with his military record. We've heard about that tonight and yesterday. A lot of your guests have spoken about him being the architect of the Dahiya doctrine, whereby disproportionate use of force was used against civilians in Lebanon. We've seen that, of course, in Gaza when Gabi Ashkenazi was a member of the war cabinet. We've seen that before when he was chief of staff of the army. basically ordering the army to shoot at largely peaceful Palestinians injuring more than 35,000 civilians. So he does certainly have a dark past. Today, he says that, you know, not exactly that he's a changed man, but he does not approve of Netanyahu's policies, mostly domestically, but also in terms of Netanyahu's adventures against Iran, in terms of Netanyahu's sponsoring of terrorism by those rogue settlers in the West Bank. He calls it, in fact, Jewish terrorism. So I think perhaps, perhaps, and maybe I'm being overly optimistic, let's call it hopeful, that he can he can see a way that this is a chance to put an end to the slide towards fascism in Israel that he could come together in some form of an agreement with the Arab parties allowing him to form a government and push Netanyahu out of the way in that coalition of fanatic religious fascists in order for Israel to have a new beginning with the Palestinians starting by you know respecting the Supreme Court in the country respecting the laws of the country and working together in tandem with the Palestinian citizens in Israel that came out in droves to prove that they are and they do make up one-fifth of the population and today if they go into a coalition of some sort they would make up 40 percent of that coalition this is the kind of a national unity if you will, if you must call it that way, government that Israel needs, not one between fascists and fanatics. It's one between Palestinians and Israelis, or at least Israelis with the support of the Palestinians from the outside. Well, once again, they can push Netanyahu out, put an end to the fanaticism and fascism on the part of the Ben-Gvirs and the Smotrich and others who have seen what they've done, torturing prisoners, banning the harvest of olives. Who the hell bans harvesting olives but those fanatics that are roaming, you know, outlaws in the occupied territories and have committed genocide in Gaza? Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera's senior political analyst, joining us live from London. Marwan, thank you, as always.