Remember when I blogged about the possibility of donald "Loser of the Popular Vote (Twice)" trump refusing to leave the White House after he lost to Biden? The possibility that trump would physically cling to the building itself crying out "I don't wanna leave!" Sadly, it never sank to that level of stupidity and we missed out on some great PPV opportunities there...
Well it turns out it's another authoritarian SOB who lost his job as leader who's throwing his own temper tantrum in that regard. Heading over to Israel where ousted ex-Prime Minister Benjamin "On Trial for Bribery" Netanyahu has camped out in the PM's official residence until next month (per AP newswire link through NPR):
Netanyahu was unseated as prime minister earlier this month. Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and Prime Minister Naftali Bennett succeeded in cobbling together a government in the aftermath of Israel's fourth consecutive election in two years.
Netanyahu, who served for 12 years as prime minister until Bennett's government was sworn in last week, has yet to move out of the prime minister's residence in Jerusalem.
The residence on Balfour Street was the scene of weekly protests calling on Netanyahu to resign while on trial for corruption charges in the past year. Netanyahu refused to step down from office and has denied any wrongdoing. The country's repeated elections were largely a referendum on his fitness to serve.
In a joint statement late Saturday, Bennett and Netanyahu's offices said they had agreed that the Netanyahu family would leave the residence no later than July 10. Thereafter, the statement said, "the residence will transfer to the use of Prime Minister Bennett..."
Anybody willing to bet on that? They're giving him and his family enough time to barricade every door and window for the next three weeks.
Netanyahu has repeatedly vowed to topple the newly formed government, which he has called a "dangerous leftist government." It is comprised of eight parties, including several headed by former allies and proteges of Netanyahu, smaller liberal parties and an Islamist faction.
Guarantee you, Netanyahu is scheming up ways to sabotage the government to force another election before he's literally forced out of that home and likely forced out of his seat of office. It's a big tell that Bibi is calling the new government "leftist" even when it's being led by Naftali Bennett, who is more Far Right than Netanyahu himself.
Netanyahu is showing a lot of signs of refusing the reality that his political power is waning. Ever since the corruption charges came out against him, he's been unable to form a stable parliament with four elections in two years mostly revolving around his corruption as a major voting issue. His Likud Party may be a major power in Israel, but it's been weakened by his own presence, and yet he's got such a dominant cult-of-personality type hold on it that they dare not kick him out to save their own skins.
...Sounds a little familiar here at home, don't it...?
Anyway, the drama in Israel isn't over by any means. Netanyahu's trials ought to continue soon. Bennett's harsh pro-settlement and anti-Palestinian stances suggest the ongoing bloodshed and poisoning of Gaza and the West Bank won't end soon.
You'd hope the new leadership won't fall into the same traps and corruption the way Bibi's did. Time will tell on that...
Update 7/11: Spiteful little bastards, aren't they?
#Breaking: Netanyahu left.
— Noga Tarnopolsky (@NTarnopolsky) July 11, 2021
A Netanyahu family spokesman issued a statement at 2:28 am announcing that "shortly after midnight, the Netanyahu family left the Balfour St residence." pic.twitter.com/lnflvU7ynw
1 comment:
"If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck. A nuclear duck." said the man who has a "secret" nuclear arsenal.
Bye bye Bibi.
-Doug in Sugar Pine
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