Zionism on dangerous ascent in Israel

For Americans who still want to pretend that the interests of Israel and the Uhited States should move in lockstep, let me introduce you to what passes for a mainstream politician there.

Danny Danon of the ruling Likud Policy is not a "backbencher." He's deputy speaker of the Israel Parliament, the Knesset.

Here's his Middle East peace "solution": Annex the Israeli-settled part of the West Bank. No, really.

While most voices in the Israeli and international news media are calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to grant major concessions to the Palestinians to forestall such a move, he should in fact do the opposite: he should annex the Jewish communities of the West Bank, or as Israelis prefer to refer to our historic heartland, Judea and Samaria.

And put the Palestinians in the unannexed but Israel-surrounded areas into citizenship-lacking apartheid.

No, really.

These (unannexed) Palestinians would not have the option to become Israeli citizens, therefore averting the threat to the Jewish and democratic status of Israel by a growing Palestinian population.

And, because the U.S., above all, has kissed Zionism's (not "Israel's") butt for decades, Danon says Israel can do this and get away with it too.

No, really:

In 1949, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion moved the Knesset to Jerusalem and declared it the capital of the State of Israel despite the 1947 United Nations partition plan, which had designated the city an international zone. Immediately after the 1967 Six-Day War, Prime Minister Levi Eshkol annexed East Jerusalem and declared that the city would remain a united and undivided entity. And in 1981, Prime Minister Menachem Begin extended Israeli sovereignty to the Golan Heights.

In each of these cases, Israel’s actions were met with harsh international criticism and threats of sanctions; all of these decisions, however, are cornerstones of today’s reality.

In 1967, when Israel attacked the USS Liberty, LBJ should have strafed Tel Aviv. And, no, given Israel's four-decade record since then of stealth assassinations and more, the claims that the attack was deliberate are NOT conspiracy mongering.

But, no matter the current or upcoming occupant of the White House, the kissing of Zionism's (not "Israel's") butt will continue as certainly as sunset follows sunrise.