With his Likud Party having now won 30 seats in the Knesset, Israel’s extremist right-wing prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, will seek to establish a coalition with other ultranationalist factions in Israel’s parliament. What does Netanyahu’s election victory mean for the world? Given Netanyahu’s pledges not to allow an independent Palestinian state and to continue with settlements in the occupied territories, we can expect, in the Middle East, only amplification of conflicts that are now so intense that they cry for resolution.

What few people realize is that Israel, under its Likud Party, is palpably in violation of international law as specified by Articles 2 and 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. This indictment has been passed by the UN Security Council, the UN General Assembly, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the International Court of Justice. What’s more, Israel is in violation of international laws governing conduct of warfare in its use of bunker busters and cluster bombs in areas with dense civilian populations.

It’s especially interesting that Netanyahu, in this bid for office, has contradicted his previous support in principle for an independent Palestinian state – seen by many as a key resolution needed in the Middle East. Why this policy shift? If an independent Palestinian state were established and if this state received full UN recognition, Netanyahu would find himself in the Hague, facing well -founded charges of war crimes.

What is especially disconcerting here in the United States is that our Republican establishment apparently applauds the continued reign in Israel of a despot whom the international community regards as a war criminal. We have to ask: How can the world at large see us as credible when we condemn an Islamic extremist group such as ISIL and, at the same time, support a militant Zionist extremist?

Tom Wright

Aztec