By Gideon Levy
December 18, 2022:
Information Clearing House
-- "MEE"
-To the onlooker,
Israel is visibly changing. The shift is
most conspicuous from the outside: the world
sees a western liberal democracy moving with
alarming speed towards ultra-nationalism,
fundamentalism, racism, fascism and the
breakdown of democratic structures as a result
of the
recent election.
While correct, this view is also distorted.
It assumes that until now, Israel was indeed a
western democracy, and that it is now visibly
becoming something else. The truth, however, is
less about Israel fundamentally changing, and
more about it shedding its masks and disguises.
The extreme right in Israel is much more
extremist than the right in Europe, and
perhaps even than in the US
What is changing is the appearance. The
cracks appearing in Israel’s image bear little
relation to the underlying essence. From this
standpoint - and this standpoint only - the new
government can be viewed as a harbinger of a
positive message: the truth about Israel will
come to light, albeit at a heavy cost in terms
of the oppression of
Palestinians and the rupture of fragile
democratic structures that hitherto served
Israel’s Jews.
The new government will be the most
right-wing and religiously conservative in
Israel’s history. The truth, at least in terms
of the ideology of most of its ministers, is
that it will also be the most extremist
government anywhere in the West today. The
extreme right in Israel is much more extremist
than the right in Europe, and perhaps even than
in the
US.
It will now rule Israel and control the most
senior positions. A government in which Benjamin
Netanyahu is the standard-bearer for the secular
and liberal is a very extremist government
indeed.
Threats lie in wait from all sides:
destruction of the justice system, harm to
minorities, a shameless ramping-up of Jewish
supremacy, the heavy hand of religion in
everyday life, and an
occupation ever more cruel to its
Palestinian subjects. It is difficult at such an
early stage to know which of these will actually
come to pass.
Israel has already had right-wing governments
and extremist parties whose ascension to power
had a moderating effect on their plans, for all
kinds of reasons. “Things look different from
here than they did from there” is the
usually-accepted explanation. But it is
certainly within the realm of possibility that
Netanyahu’s new partners are made of sterner
stuff and will carry out the looming threat of
regime change in several areas of crucial
significance for Israel.
Hitting the panic button
Faced with a potential actualisation of this
extreme scenario, the Israeli left and centre
have hit the panic button, notably by embarking
on a campaign of attempted intimidation. Not a
day passes without another
prophecy of doom - and some, if not all, of
these predictions will surely be borne out.
Nevertheless, one cannot help but ask: is the
threatened change really such a radical one? Was
Israel truly such a lone outpost of democratic
norms, equality under the law, protection of
human rights and sanctity of judicial
systems that this new government could enter
stage right and destroy it all?
Was that Israel of the “good old days” - the
one before the new government - a country so far
removed from fascism, ultra-nationalism and
apartheid that the new government can come
to power and change everything, so that Israel
turns into that kind of country now?
Obviously not. Without downplaying the
dangers posed by the new government and its
chosen path, one cannot help but notice that the
alarmist campaigns in response to its
declarations seem to have a covert subtext about
how good it was here when the Zionist left and
centre were in power; how all of that will come
to an end now, and how bad it will all be. That
picture, however, is far from accurate.
Consider the 166 Palestinians, including at
least 39 children, who died by acts of the
Israeli military and settlers in the West Bank
and East Jerusalem since the beginning of this
year. An additional 49 Palestinians, including
17 children, who were killed in Gaza during
Israel's three-day onslaught in August on the
besieged strip.
Were they killed under the terrifying new
government featuring
Itamar Ben-Gvir and
Bezalel Smotrich, or under the so-called “government
of change” featuring the liberal promises of
Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz, whose tenure is now
ending?
The difference between regimes will most
likely be, first and foremost, one of rhetoric:
the centre-left tries to gloss over the facts,
whereas the extreme right will hide nothing. In
some ways, this may prove advantageous.
The new government, by word and deed, may
force Israel’s allies, along with the almost
non-existent leftist camp in Israel, to look
honestly at Israel and acknowledge the reality.
With a government like the one that’s coming, no
longer will there be an option to ignore, avert
the gaze and obfuscate, attempting to make do
with weak condemnations and clinging to a
fictitious “peace process” or a
two-state solution that has long been
unrealistic.
The new government will force the West to
look at Israel and admit, at least to itself:
this is an apartheid state. Continuing the
masquerade ball with Israel will become
untenable. The new government may even compel
Israel’s allies to move one step forward and,
for the first time in Israel’s history, take
practical actions against it.
Reason for hope
Not all of this may happen. Israel may not
radicalise to the extent that some would have us
fear; or, despite its radicalisation, the West -
especially the US - may go on insisting that
rhinestones are diamonds, claiming that Israel
is the West’s frontline outpost in the Middle
East and insisting that criticism of the state
is forbidden because of the Holocaust.
But there is also another possibility. When
Israel legislates appalling ultra-nationalist
laws; when
house demolitions and expulsions in the
occupied West Bank soar; when Israel’s Supreme
Court is stripped of all power; when the army
kills unimaginable numbers of Palestinians and
the
annexation of the occupied territories
becomes a fact no longer deniable - perhaps
then, the West will have no other option than to
turn its back on its beloved Israel, world
champion of impunity, for whom almost everything
is permissible.
Perhaps then, the West’s position will have
to change. Maybe the West will finally
understand that there is no legal or moral
difference between the
occupation in Ukraine and the occupation in
Palestine, and that the measures it took
immediately against the
Russian occupation can finally be considered
against the Israeli occupation, after 55 years
that only postponed the ultimate outcome?
It is true that the new government, and
especially some of its ministers, may take
irreversible steps that could further amplify
inequality, oppression, deprivation,
discrimination and Jewish supremacy in all areas
of life. Also true is that the first to pay the
price for all this will be Palestinians in the
occupied territories and Palestinian citizens of
Israel. Their lives could certainly change, but
let us bear in mind that their situation has
already been intolerable for decades.
A handful of human rights activists in Israel
may also pay a price, along with freedom of
expression, which is already facing significant
attempts at curtailment.
In addition, the expected damage to
governmental checks and balances could endanger
the entire state structure, from a planned “override
clause” undermining the power of the Supreme
Court in a country without a constitution, to
proposed legislation designed to allow
convicted criminals to serve in government.
Many opinion pieces have already been written to
warn against these dangers, which should not be
taken lightly.
Meanwhile, the time has come for Israel to
undergo a fundamental shakeup, including in the
attitude of its friends in the West. For more
than five decades, Israel has claimed that the
occupation of 1967
was temporary, and the world bought into
that bluff.
The new government will put an end to that.
The occupation will be permanent, not temporary,
and there will clearly be no intention to ever
grant national rights to half the people living
between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean
Sea.
This demands an international response; it is
not an internal Israeli matter. Anyone who
thinks that Israel will ever change course
willingly, of its own accord, does not know
Israel very well. Israel has no reason and no
incentive to do so. The world has thus far
accepted Israel with its apartheid and its
oppression, while Israel ignores the
international community, its institutions and
its decisions.
No other country can thumb its nose at
international law as Israel does and not pay a
price. But apparently, there is a point at which
a critical mass of insolence, arrogance and
over-confidence could leave the world no choice
but to take action. The hope is that this new
government will bring Israel closer to precisely
that point - apart from which, few hopes are
evident in the vicinity.
Gideon Levy is an Israeli journalist and
author. Levy writes opinion pieces and a weekly
column for the newspaper Haaretz
Views expressed in this article are
solely those of the author and do not necessarily
reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House.
in this article are
solely those of the author and do not necessarily
reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House.
Reader financed- No
Advertising - No Government Grants -
No Algorithm - This
Is Independent
