Netanyahu, Bolsonaro, Vucic... and Trump?
Likud, led by Benjamin Bibi Netanyahu, was the most voted party in Tuesday's Israeli elections, but it nevertheless received a significant electoral punishment and was left very far from being able to form a government, even by adding the ultra-Orthodox, Zionist, and far-right partners that have supported it in recent years. Together, they would total fifty seats, when the majority in the Knesset is sixty-one (in the previous legislature, Netanyahu and his partners had sixty-three). There is a consensus among analysts that Netanyahu has paid at the polls for the radicalism of his last term, which many attribute precisely to the extreme positions of his partners. Two ministers, in particular, the fanatical head of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, from the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, and the cynical head of Finance, Bezalel Smotrich, from the Religious Zionist Party, also far-right and ultra-nationalist, have personified anti-Palestinian radicalism and are the direct reason for the strong mobilization shown in these elections by Arab Israeli voters, who have gone to the polls in mass. If an electoral repeat is not forced, the Arab parties will be key in the formation of a new executive led by Gadi Eisenkot and his party Yashar (which defines itself as center-right, although this is a quite elastic label) and which could include secular right-wing forces such as Israel Beitenu, or center-left ones like The Democrats. Whatever happens, however, Netanyahu may lose the immunity that has given him impunity, and have to account for pending corruption charges before the Israeli justice system. Or be tried by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity, for the genocide in Gaza.
The situation of Flávio Bolsonaro is clearer, who lost the elections in Brazil against the odds and literally fled like a rat. One of the preferred economic activities of the leaders of the new rights is gambling and betting, and Bolsonaro's son is being sought by the justice system of his country for crimes related to digital betting. Curiously, Aleksandar Vucic, until recently the strongman of Serbia, also likes gambling games very much (Belgrade is full of betting chain establishments, controlled by friends and businessmen close to the ultra-nationalist right). Vucic was defeated at the polls last Sunday in quite an interesting way by a youth movement with a party, the Student List, which has been able to gather all the weariness and discontent caused by twelve years of authoritarian and corrupt government. Vucic, at least, acknowledged the defeat. Bolsonaro did not, and rushed to take refuge under the foul skirts of Donald Trump, who may suffer a significant defeat next Tuesday in the midterm elections.
Not in Brazil, nor in Serbia, nor in the USA, nor even in Israel, are the spokespersons of hatred and the destroyers of rights and freedoms invincible. It is necessary that in Europe we work with this conviction.
