The new Israeli cabinet formed last week is the logical conclusion of decades of policies pushed by the radical right, and what it portends could be ugly for Palestinians in the region. This is the view of Jennifer Lowenstein, free-lance journalist, former lecturer at UW-Madison, and one of the founders of the Madison Rafah City Project, who joined the Thursday edition of the 8 O’clock Buzz and host Tony Castaneda to discuss the political situation in Israel. This new Israeli milieu was demonstrated by one of the ultranationalist cabinet ministers who shortly after joining the new administration seemed to be deliberately provoking the Arab minority with a controversial visit to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, a revered Islamic holy site. This has drawn sharp rebukes from many countries including the U.S. but Ms. Lowenstein doesn’t see any U.S. policy changes in relations with Israel, at least in the short term. However, longer term relations could be impacted as most of the American Jewish community oppose the direction of the Israeli far right.

Photo courtesy of Raimond Klavins on Unsplash

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