{"id":1630,"date":"2012-07-29T05:19:16","date_gmt":"2012-07-29T11:19:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=1630"},"modified":"2012-07-29T05:28:04","modified_gmt":"2012-07-29T11:28:04","slug":"knessets-danny-danon-unapologetic-israeli-nationalism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/knessets-danny-danon-unapologetic-israeli-nationalism\/","title":{"rendered":"Knesset&#8217;s Danny Danon: unapologetic Israeli nationalism"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By URIEL HEILMAN<\/p>\n<p>JERUSALEM (JTA) \u2013 If there\u2019s one thing Danny Danon doesn\u2019t do, it\u2019s shy away from controversy.\u00a0Danon, a deputy speaker of the Israeli Knesset and chairman of World Likud, has come under fire for describing African migrants in Israel as a \u201cnational plague,\u201d for hosting controversial U.S. TV personality Glenn Beck at the Knesset and for demanding government investigations of left-wing NGOs.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1633\" style=\"width: 210px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/Danny_Danon_headshot_edit.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1633\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1633 lazyload\" title=\"Danny Danon\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/Danny_Danon_headshot_edit-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"Danny Danon\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/Danny_Danon_headshot_edit-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/Danny_Danon_headshot_edit.jpg 600w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 200px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 200\/300;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1633\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1633\" title=\"Danny Danon\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/Danny_Danon_headshot_edit-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"Danny Danon\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/Danny_Danon_headshot_edit-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/Danny_Danon_headshot_edit.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-1633\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Danny Danon, chairman of World Likud and deputy speaker of the Knesset, owes his rapid political rise in part to his unapologetic Israeli nationalism. (Miriam Alster\/FLASH90\/JTA) )<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Though Danon is in his first term in the Knesset, his profile is rising quickly on the Israeli political scene &#8212; perhaps more than anything else because of his unapologetically nationalist vision for Israel\u2019s future.\u00a0He wants Israel to annex all the Jewish-occupied and uninhabited land in the West Bank. He wants Palestinians living on the remainder of the West Bank to become part of Jordan, Egypt to take control of the Gaza Strip and the international community to reject the establishment of a Palestinian state on the west bank of the Jordan River (it\u2019s fine by him if the Palestinians take over the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan on the east bank). Danon does not believe in land for peace or the two-state solution.<\/p>\n<p>Danon outlines his blueprint for Israel&#8217;s future in a book due out in September, \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.jta.org\/?URL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fgp%2Fproduct%2F0230341764%2Fref%3Das_li_tf_tl%3Fie%3DUTF8%26amp%3Btag%3Dj025-20%26amp%3BlinkCode%3Das2%26amp%3Bcamp%3D1789%26amp%3Bcreative%3D9325%26amp%3BcreativeASIN%3D0230341764\" target=\"_blank\">Israel: The Will to Prevail<\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=j025-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=0230341764\" alt=\"\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" border=\"0\" \/>,&#8221; though the book focuses more on history than the details of the blueprint.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m working very hard to present a different approach for the peace process,\u201d Danon told JTA in a recent interview in his Knesset office. \u201cOur goal should be to annex the maximum land with the minimum Arab population,\u201d he said of the West Bank. \u201cWe should speak about our rights and not apologize for it. We have biblical rights, historical rights, rights according to international law. We also have common-sense rights: We won the war.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While his ideas might seem far-fetched and antiquated &#8212; a throwback to notions that haven\u2019t been discussed with much seriousness since the pre-Oslo era &#8212; Danon believes Israelis are warming to them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe live in the Middle East; everything is dynamic here. With time it can be feasible,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t accept that my views are on the fringe. I do believe one day they will be accepted.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Danon\u2019s detractors fear this is becoming true \u2013 in Israel, at least.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOstensibly, one could even ignore the existence of this Likud backbencher, but little Danny Danon will be big, the sugar of the Israeli right,&#8221; Haaretz columnist Gideon Levy, a left-wing critic, wrote last summer. &#8220;So it&#8217;s better to pay attention to him now rather than later.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Levy&#8217;s\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.jta.org\/?URL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.haaretz.com%2Fprint-edition%2Fopinion%2Fmk-danny-danon-is-the-new-mccarthy-1.374361\" target=\"_blank\">column<\/a>\u00a0compared Danon to Joe McCarthy for backing legislation targeting left-wing nongovernmental organizations and for initiating a bill to dismiss Israeli-Arab Knesset member Hanin Zuabi for participating in a flotilla aimed at breaking Israel\u2019s naval blockade of the Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDanon&#8217;s contribution to the political discourse is important: Enough with the euphemisms, dump the deceit, down with the pseudo-democracy under which one can be both a proponent of the occupation and a democrat, an oppressor of minorities and a liberal, a nationalist and enlightened, the way Likud \u2018moderates\u2019 are trying to be,\u201d Levy wrote. \u201cTrue, Danon is making Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu look like a moderate and Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz look even better, but Danon is Likud&#8217;s 3G.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Born in Ramat Gan, a city contiguous with Tel Aviv, Danon, 41, was raised in a deeply Zionist household. His father, who immigrated to Israel from Egypt in the early 1950s, was wounded in 1969 while serving in the Israel Defense Forces during the War of Attrition with Egypt. Danon grew up steeped in the Beitar youth movement, the Revisionist Zionist society founded by Ze\u2019ev Jabotinsky.<\/p>\n<p>Aside from his penchant for controversy, Danon has a few things going for him: He\u2019s personable, media savvy and articulate in English. (He earned a bachelor&#8217;s degree at Florida International University and later worked in Miami as an emissary for the Jewish Agency for Israel.) Earlier this year, Danon won praise for co-sponsoring a Knesset bill that compelled advertisers to disclose on their ads whenever they digitally alter images to make models appear thinner.<\/p>\n<p>But Danon is better known for sponsoring nationalist legislation targeting left-wing groups and Israeli Arabs. Aside from his bills aimed at Zuabi, Danon in 2008 filed a petition with the Israeli Supreme Court to rescind the citizenship of former Arab Knesset Azmi Bishara for possibly aiding Hezbollah in the 2006 Second Lebanon War. The effort, aimed at stripping Bishara of his Knesset pension, ultimately failed.<\/p>\n<p>Danon, who accuses Israeli-Arab leaders of trying to \u201cuse democracy to destroy democracy,\u201d also wants to outlaw Israeli-Arab incitement against Israel. Under his plan, Arab Israelis would be required to take an oath recognizing Israel as a Jewish, democratic state; those who refuse would not be able to obtain a passport or driver\u2019s license.<\/p>\n<p>When a growing chorus of left-wing Israelis backed a boycott last year of a new cultural venue in the Jewish West Bank settlement of Ariel, Danon proposed a law allowing settlers to sue those behind the boycotts. The bill passed.<\/p>\n<p>And when controversy erupted in May over illegal African migrants in Israel, Danon led the calls for their immediate expulsion, using his bully pulpit as chairman of the Knesset Committee for Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs to warn of the influx of Sudanese Muslims into the Jewish state.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1635\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/Danny_Danon_wIvory_Coast_Consul_edit.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1635\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1635 lazyload\" title=\"Danon in the Knesset\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/Danny_Danon_wIvory_Coast_Consul_edit-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/Danny_Danon_wIvory_Coast_Consul_edit-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/Danny_Danon_wIvory_Coast_Consul_edit.jpg 824w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/199;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1635\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1635\" title=\"Danon in the Knesset\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/Danny_Danon_wIvory_Coast_Consul_edit-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/Danny_Danon_wIvory_Coast_Consul_edit-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/Danny_Danon_wIvory_Coast_Consul_edit.jpg 824w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-1635\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Deputy Knesset Speaker Danny Danon, left, at a Knesset hearing on the issue of African migrants in Israel, sits beside the consul general of the Ivory Coast, June 12, 2012. Danon, who advocates immediate expulsion, chairs a group called Deportation Now. (Miriam Alster\/FLASH90\/JTA)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>It\u2019s all part of Danon\u2019s ultimate goal: the fostering of an unabashedly Zionist state stretching from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River with as few non-Jews as possible.<\/p>\n<p>More often than not, Danon has found himself on the wrong side of history.\u00a0When Yitzhak Rabin shook hands with Yasser Arafat on the White House lawn in 1993 during the signing of the Oslo Accords, Danon, 22 at the time, was on the street out front protesting. When Ariel Sharon pulled Israel out of the Gaza Strip in 2005, Danon opposed it. When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu endorsed a demilitarized Palestinian state in a speech at Bar-Ilan University in June 2009, Danon spoke out against it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI haven\u2019t changed my policies or ideology for last 20 years, since the Oslo Accords,\u201d Danon said.<\/p>\n<p>But now, Danon believes, history is coming around. Israelis\u2019 confidence in the principle of land for peace has been shaken by the Arab Spring and the newly bellicose tone from Egypt; by the wars and rocket fire that has followed Israel\u2019s withdrawals from Lebanon and Gaza; and by the instability of the Arab regimes around Israel. While polls show most Israelis remain committed to a two-state solution, few think it\u2019s achievable right now. Israel\u2019s left-wing opposition is in tatters; the right wing is growing.<\/p>\n<p>The idea of scrapping a Palestinian state and letting Israel annex most of the West Bank may be a non-starter internationally &#8212; not to mention in most of Tel Aviv &#8212; but Danon has one word: Wait.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the Middle East you cannot put a time frame on peace. People look for an instant solution, but it\u2019s not going to work,\u201d he said. \u201cI think we have to fight to present our case. I don\u2019t have control over what happens in Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt, but I want control over what\u2019s happening in my backyard.\u201d<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Knesset%27s%20Danny%20Danon%3A%20unapologetic%20Israeli%20nationalism\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[373,8781,8790,8795,86,8788],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1630"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1630"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1630\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1634,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1630\/revisions\/1634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}