'For those who care about Israel, this is a dark hour,' Tom Friedman says

Israel’s rightward political shift means it is 'sinking ever deeper into a de facto binational state controlled by Jewish extremists.'

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Updated: MAY 25, 2016 16:39
New York Times op-ed columnist Thomas Friedman (photo credit: AFP PHOTO)
New York Times op-ed columnist Thomas Friedman
(photo credit: AFP PHOTO)
The removal of Moshe Ya’alon as defense minister and the elevation of Yisrael Beytenu chief Avigdor Liberman in his stead is the latest manifestation of a “dark hour” enshrouding Israel, leading foreign affairs commentator Thomas Friedman wrote in The New York Times on Wednesday.
The intense backlash thrown Israel’s way is a result of the country’s “desire to destroy itself” as evidenced by “Netanyahu’s steady elimination of any possibility that Israel will separate itself from the Palestinians in the West Bank.”
“Soon, this newspaper will have to call Netanyahu what he’s made himself into: ‘Prime Minister of the State of Israel-Palestine’,” Friedman, the Grey Lady’s former Jerusalem bureau chief, wrote.
Israel’s rightward political shift combined with the diplomatic stalemate is a sign that it is “sinking ever deeper into a de facto binational state controlled by Jewish extremists.”
“Netanyahu is a man who is forever dog paddling in the middle of the Rubicon, never crossing it, always teasing you (‘I’m coming your way — I’m going to make a decision’), only to remain right where he is, balancing between all his rivals, so that he alone survives,” Friedman writes.
The commentator said that Netanyahu’s conduct in criticizing the army over recent comments by generals as well as his waffling over the Hebron shooting of a subdued Palestinian assailant by an IDF medic.