Leaders of Israel’s political left shouted until they were hoarse when Education Minister Rabbi Rafi Peretz expressed support for gay “conversion therapy,” rejecting the basic right of human beings in general and Jews in particular to choose a partner of the same sex. They then suddenly remembered that Peretz, the leader of one of the country’s ruling parties, has also rejected the basic right of human beings in general and Palestinians in particular to elect their leaders and be elected to their ruling bodies.

In fact, in that same July 13 interview, the leader of Israel’s religious right also expressed his desire “to impose Israeli sovereignty over all of Judea and Samaria”, i.e., the entire West Bank.

Peretz, head of the United Right party, has no qualms about openly admitting that Israeli sovereignty would not grant equal rights to all those living in the territory to which he refers by its biblical names “Judea and Samaria,” which remains "the West Bank" for its 2.5 million Palestinian residents. Peretz generously pledged to “take care of [the Palestinians’] needs and make sure it is good for them … but of course, they would not be able to vote.” As far as he is concerned, call it “apartheid” if you want. He knows better than most that apartheid has been a reality in the territories east of the Green Line for 52 years and there are no signs of improvement.

The revulsion engendered by the education minister’s vision notwithstanding, one must remember that Peretz represents a small party that temporarily enjoys the lack of general political stability generated by the April elections. (Israel is now ruled by a transition government ahead of the September elections.) His declarations do not have an iota of international or regional implications, unlike every word uttered by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The political and media storm generated by the chair of the United Right overshadowed a far more important pronouncement by Netanyahu three days earlier at a July 10 event marking the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the Judea and Samaria regional council (the settlements’ umbrella organization), when he publicly declared the demise of the two-state solution. “This is a pledge, write it down,” he told the thousands of guests at the event held in the settlement of Revava. “I am making it in my name, but it is unlimited in time. I will not allow the uprooting of any settlement in Israel in any diplomatic [peace] plan. We simply won’t uproot communities — not of Jews and not of Arabs.”