The more moderate position thus becomes Netanyahu’s...

Without knowing any other context, this line sums up all one needs to know. Any time any of Netanyahu's views can be described as "more moderate" than such and such's view, we know we are in a profoundly absurd situation. The reactionary (I don't like the word radical for right wingers, as is used in the article) Right has hijacked this issue to such an extent that we can't even have a civil debate about reasonable policy positions that might actually work without being labeled some sort of extreme leftist. Saying that humans deserve to be treated with basic dignity has now become the domain of radicals and tree hugging idealists, instead of humanists and pragmatists.

We observe parallel tracks in Israel and the US, with the right wing media completely destroying anything that could be considered a policy debate. We could almost cut and past sentences from the Israel-Palestine conflict with the so call austerity debate here. It's not about conflict resolution or reason; it's about power and a sick brand of morality, where the haves must show their moral superiority over the have-nots. This won't change anytime soon. This is the down side of a free press--the freedom to practice yellow journalism as a for profit enterprise.