Israeli Prime Minister (PM) Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to consolidate as many right-wing votes as possible in the final week of his election campaign. Among a series of election pledges, his recent promise to the Zionists is the annexation of all West Bank settlements. How can he make such a promise when the settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law?

The support of the United States (US) and the virtual silence of the western countries empower Netanyahu. It’s the US support and Western silence that allows him annexing one part after another that Palestinians consider essential to their future state. It is heart-wrenching to see that the Palestinians have been paying for Europe’s guilty conscience for more than seventy years.

Furthermore, the global success of right-wing populist leaders has made it clear to Netanyahu that shoring up nationalist support is the way to win. Netanyahu knows it better than anyone else that nothing today is more popular, more unifying, than sowing anti-Arab hatred. Therefore, Netanyahu is promising to undertake an ambitious goal of even annexing the Jordan Valley. If these pledges of the Israeli PM are not an explanation of the Zionist project, what else is?

The Palestinian Authority held a Cabinet meeting in the Jordan Valley to protest the vow of Netanyahu. But the Zionist does not care what the Palestinians or even Arabs say about it. The Israeli state has the backing of some of the most powerful countries in the world that justify all its illegal actions.

Today is Election Day in Israel. True that Netanyahu is facing a substantial opposition; however, the profoundly racist society that Israel has become can fall for Netanyahu’s extreme-right pledges. And if the incumbent PM wins the election, he, with the support of Washington, will move forward to annex the West Bank. With the annexation of the West Bank, he will make apartheid an official and undisputed reality.