They are our special allies, because Israel is a democracy, just like ours, except when it isn't.

Israel bans Arab parties from election

I know you’re a big fan of everything Israel, but a bit of truth and objectivity would be nice.

Smotrich is an extremist member of the fascist criminal Netanyahu government. But his talk about going to war in the West Bank represents only himself. It got barely a mention in foreign mrdia, because it’s considered lunatic ranting. In Israel it got plenty of negative attention. The Netanyahu coalition has very little chance of forming a new government after the upcoming election, in large part due to its extremism toward the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.

Regarding the ban of the Arab parties, it’s not a final decision. It was made by the central elections committee which is a political body controlled by Netanyahu’s coalition. The decision is now headed to the Israeli Supreme Court which is very likely to overturn it.

In terms of electoral democracy, Israel is in better shape than the U.S. There is no real concern that the election will be stolen through voter suppression, gerrymandering, or seizing of ballot boxes. No one doubt that Netanyahu will step down if he loses the election.

There are two mostly Arab parties running in the election. One of them, Ra’am, is committed to joining a government formed by the opposition to Netanyahu, should the opposition win a majority of the seats in the new Knesset. The other Arab party, Balad, is a combination of communists (real Communists, not the liberal types Trump derisively calls commies), and adherents of the Muslim Brotherhood. Such a party would never be allowed to run in America. In Israel it is very likely to be cleared to run by the Supreme Court, despite its implicit support for the annihilation of Israel.