The continued audacity of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, despite the international condemnation of his merciless 50-day war against Gaza, which cost the life of over 2,100 Palestinians, many of them women and children, is deplorable but not surprising, considering the virtual silence of key Western nations.

Here is the highlight of his new measures, revealed on Monday after an Israeli Cabinet meeting.

He ordered a number of new harsh steps, including the demolishing of the houses of Palestinian protesters, particularly in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem.

This harsh response comes in the wake of an Israeli bill that was recently sanctioned by the Israeli Knesset that approves the imprisonment of Palestinian stone throwers up to 20 years, including minors.

He declared: “Those who protest against the state of Israel and in favour of the Palestinian state, I say to them, simply, go there, to the Palestinian Authority or Gaza.”

He added: “I promise you that the state of Israel will not make it difficult for you, but for those who stay here, we will make it difficult if you are a rioter or a terrorist.”

His shocking position is in sharp contrast with the position of the Israeli people, a majority of whom prefer renewed peace talks with the Palestinians in order to prevent more riots and attacks by Palestinians in the occupied territories or in the predominantly Arab communities in northern Israel, known as Galilee.

A November 3-5 poll conducted by the Israel Democracy Institute and Tel Aviv University, reportedly asked Israelis whether it was best to prevent further attacks by renewing diplomatic negotiations with the Palestinians or end them.

Favouring calling for renewed peace talks were 57.2 per cent Israelis (of these, 52.5 per cent among Jews and 81.2 among Arabs).

Favouring cancelling contacts with the Palestinian Authority were 28.5 per cent Israelis (of the figure, 33.19 per cent Jews and 5.7 per cent Arabs).

In other words, Netanyahu’s Cabinet, which includes several right-wing members who do not wish to accommodate the Palestinians, does not represent the feelings of Israelis, whose views must have come as a shock.

A headline in the Israeli liberal daily Haaretz said, on November 9 in an article about the just-concluded American election, that it is “time for American Jews to confront Israel’s demons”.

It said: “The same Jews who are sensitive to every minute slight against minorities in America are strangely deaf to the heaps of abuse hurled at Israel’s Arab minority on a daily basis, especially after the summer’s Gaza war. They scream bloody murder when the US government tries to stifle dissent, but manage to look the other way when basic freedoms are challenged in Israel.

“What’s good for the goose is good for the gander, apparently, and while American Jews are quick to accuse the world of double standards, they are curiously blind to their own.”

The paper concluded that “American Jews should practice what they preach and demand that Israel be just as democratic, freedom loving and respectful of minority rights as America is, or as they would want it to be.”

Coincidentally, a poll by the Ramallah-based Palestinian Centre for Public Opinion indicated that there is more support on the Palestinian street for bilateral diplomatic moves.

Over half (54.3 per cent) of Palestinians support the two-state solution, while a little less than a third (31.3 per cent) oppose it.

What all this means is that Netanyahu has few choices. He either reshuffles his Cabinet or resigns, allowing new, reasonable elements to join the Israeli government.

Otherwise, the Palestine poll reports that “half of the Palestinians anticipate a violent confrontation with Israel in the near future amid daily clashes and rising tensions in Jerusalem”.

Another trigger that might launch a serious conflict is the report that Israeli soldiers have notified Palestinians of Israeli plans to confiscate 3,176 acres (12, 852 dunums) around the West Bank village of Beit Iksa, which is close to Jerusalem, for military purposes.

The order gave the Palestinian residents until the end of 2017 to leave the area.

In 2009, Beit Iksa lost 20 dunums to the high-speed train project from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv.