This episode examines the recent Israeli parliamentary election and its implications, arguing that Israel has abandoned any pretense of democracy to function as an explicitly racist ethnostate, and that the U.S. political class — across both parties — remains complicit in funding and enabling its worst excesses despite a decisive shift in American public opinion against the relationship.
The Israeli election exposed the ethnostate reality
The U.S. media covered the Israeli election with intense emotional investment while ignoring Canada’s election, despite Canada being a far more consequential neighbor and trading partner.
Fox host Mark Levin urged “fellow patriots in Israel” to vote or “lose your country to leftists, to self-promoters, to Arabs who hate your country,” explicitly framing Arab Israeli citizens — 20% of the population — as an existential threat to the Jewish character of the state.
Levin’s rhetoric casually admitted what defenders deny: Israel is not a democracy where all citizens have equal standing, but an ethnostate where power is reserved for Jews by bloodline, not belief.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared the election “stolen by Arab parties that support terrorism,” demanding police and Shin Bet investigate “election theft” because Arab citizens voted against him — effectively criminalizing their participation.
Netanyahu’s son Yair amplified the line, claiming Muslim Arab citizens “identify as Palestinians, justify terrorism, want to drive all Jews out” and should be barred from the Knesset under Basic Law Section 7A.
Ben Shapiro openly endorsed stripping voting rights from Arab parties, saying “it’s kind of an astonishing thing they’re allowed to sit in the Knesset in the first place” and urging the Supreme Court to ban them as it banned Kahanists.
The Arab parties in question ran legally, turned out at ~80% (up from 55% in 2022), and won ~16–17% of Knesset seats — functioning exactly as democratic participants.
Settler violence operates with total impunity in the West Bank
Never-before-shown video from a West Bank town shows masked settlers — dressed in black like ISIS — beating an elderly American citizen nearly to death, throwing rocks at his home, and firebombing his car.
The victim, an American, called the U.S. embassy (run by Mike Huckabee) and received no meaningful help; the family fears retaliation if identified.
Settlers — many dual U.S. citizens from places like Long Island — act with full impunity under Israeli military rule; Palestinians in the same territory cannot vote, cannot move freely, and have no legal recourse.
The U.S. ambassador, Mike Huckabee, has secretly met with Jonathan Pollard (who stole U.S. secrets for Israel, which passed them to the USSR) and faced no consequences.
Netanyahu’s cabinet includes Ben-Gvir and Smotrich, who openly celebrate violence against Arabs; even the Netanyahu government occasionally feigns distance when video evidence becomes undeniable.
Jeffrey Sachs: Netanyahu lost his majority; the Arab vote is the balance of power
Sachs has visited Israel for 54 years; he describes the current moment as a potential break in a 30-year disaster driven by Netanyahu.
The Jewish vote split roughly evenly; Netanyahu lost his governing majority. Arab turnout surged to ~80%, winning ~19–20 seats (out of 120) — the balance of power.
Two paths to remove Netanyahu: (1) opposition leader Eisenkot forms a minority government supported by Arab parties (they vote budgets/key bills but don’t join cabinet), or (2) a “Zionist unity” coalition of Netanyahu’s Likud and the opposition that forces Netanyahu out (possibly via presidential pardon for his corruption cases).
The anti-Netanyahu Jewish opposition vowed before the election never to cooperate with Arab parties — a pledge rooted in “vulgar anti-Arab racism” that Sachs calls a “deranged society.”
If they overcome that racism, a decisive majority exists to oust Netanyahu and begin repairing the damage; if not, Netanyahu may cling to power despite losing.
Netanyahu’s 30-year record: a cascade of U.S. wars and disasters
Netanyahu came to power in 1996 on a “Greater Israel” platform: crush Palestinians, launch regional wars — not a U.S. interest, but U.S. presidents signed on.
2003 Iraq War: Netanyahu testified to Congress it would “spread sunshine and light” and topple Iran; instead, trillions spent, chaos unleashed.
2011 Libya: NATO intervention (Netanyahu-backed) created a failed state and 15 years of African instability.
2011–present Syria: CIA Operation Timber Sycamore (Netanyahu-backed) armed insurgents to overthrow Assad; hundreds of thousands dead, Europe flooded with refugees.
2024–2025 Iran: Twice, Trump attacked Iran during active diplomacy — February 2025 strike killed Iranian negotiators at the Supreme Leader’s residence the day before Vienna talks were to resume.
Each war deepened U.S. debt, raised interest rates, and served Netanyahu’s agenda, not America’s.
Religious extremism has hijacked both Judaism and Christianity
Original Zionism was secular (Herzl, Russian socialists); rabbinic Judaism opposed it for decades (the “Three Oaths” forbid mass return before Messiah).
Since the 1970s–80s, a “muscular fascistic Judaism” emerged — Ben-Gvir’s “Jewish Power” party celebrates violence (e.g., a noose on a birthday cake) and cites the Book of Joshua (a 7th-century BCE political tract boasting of genocides) as divine mandate.
This is the opposite of 2,000 years of Jewish ethics and of Christ’s teachings; Netanyahu weaponized Christian evangelicals not via the Gospels but via an apocalyptic “Jews must be there for the End Times” theology.
Sachs: opposing Israel’s mass murder defends Judaism; calling that opposition “antisemitic” is the “ultimate lie.”
The U.S. political class is complicit; the American people have turned
Both parties, funded by AIPAC and donors like Bill Ackman, have pretended Israel is a normal democracy while it commits genocide (100,000+ killed in Gaza) and enacts Jim Crow-style segregation (Arab schools separate and grossly underfunded).
Trump campaigned on “America First” and ending wars, then doubled down on Netanyahu’s agenda — betraying his base and revealing the deep architecture of U.S. subservience.
Young Americans, MAGA voters, and Democrats now overwhelmingly oppose funding this; 2028 candidates must credibly reject another Middle East war to win.
Congress is still trying to embed a clause in defense legislation merging Israeli and U.S. security apparatuses — “the most shameful behavior imaginable” — before the new session.
Israel’s future: reckoning without U.S. backing
Without U.S. money and diplomatic cover, Israel cannot sustain a project of crushing half the population (roughly 50/50 Arab-Jewish between river and sea).
The Arab Peace Initiative (2002) offered full normalization for a Palestinian state; Netanyahu’s entire career was dedicated to blocking it.
Two plausible futures: (1) Two states — still the international legal framework, still on offer from Arab world; (2) One binational state — “binationalism” like Belgium (five parliaments: federal, Flemish, French, Brussels, German), with Jewish and Arab self-governance on education/religion/community, joint governance on water/transport, and reserved issues requiring mutual consent.
A growing Jewish movement now accepts one state with equal rights as the only viable path if two states are foreclosed.
Sachs: “Israel in its current form… is at an end because that could only conceivably survive with American backing. And yes, American politicians backed that for the last 30 years… But now the American people are actually watching and they want the wars to end.”
