Israel's Fanatics Have Come to Power. Will It Be a Wake-Up Call for Biden? | Opinion

Ben-Gvir is not the only fanatic expected to hold a central position in the incoming Israeli government. Bezalel Smotrich, who is expected to be Israel's next Defense Minister, openly supports segregation, opposing mixed marriages between Jews and Arabs and home sales to Palestinians. He has insisted that it's preferable to "let Jews live a Jewish life without non-Jews." He even advocated for segregation between Jewish and Palestinian women in maternity wards. Like Ben-Gvir, Smotrich lives in an Israeli settlement built on Palestinian land and deemed illegal under international law and advocates for more lethal violence against Palestinians.

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Yet if the level of anti-Palestinian racism expressed by Ben-Gvir and Smotrich feels like a complete departure from the norm in Israeli politics, then you haven't been paying attention.

The soon-to-return Netanyahu once made clear that Israel is "the national state, not of all its citizens, but only of the Jewish people." Outgoing Prime Minister Yair Lapid, who is considered a centrist in Israel, once said, "We need to get the Palestinians out of our lives. What we have to do is build a high wall and get them out of our sight." The Prime Minister before him, Naftali Bennett, famously bragged, "I have killed lots of Arabs in my life—and there is no problem with that."

It is simply mainstream in Israeli politics to talk about Palestinians as not equal human beings.

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But more important than the pronouncements of Israeli politicians are the policies that Israel has pursued for decades, like placing millions of Palestinians under permanent military occupation without basic rights, like systemic discrimination, like land theft and violence. These policies are so widespread that a consensus has emerged in the international human rights community that Israel is practicing the crime against humanity of apartheid against Palestinians. This is now recognized not just by Palestinian human rights groups but also by leading international human rights organizations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, the UN, and even Israeli human rights organizations.