By Daniel Sokatch, NIF International CEO
Across Israel today, there is a great struggle over the meaning of the horrifying Hamas attack of Oct. 7th, 2023. There are two powerful narrative visions at work.
One of these is the vision of Israel’s minister for national security, the far-right Jewish supremacist Itamar Ben-Gvir, and his allies. It is a vision of Jewish domination over Palestinians, and eternal religious war, one where both “sides” try to expel the other.
The other is a vision of Palestinians and Israelis forging a shared, secure future, together as equals. This was the vision of Vivian Silver, a revered peace activist who was killed on Oct. 7th, along with almost 1,200 other people. It is the vision of a small but growing peace camp in Israel — and it remains the best, and perhaps only, hope for Israel’s future as a democratic state.
Ben-Gvir aspires to the creation of a single, hardline religious Jewish state encompassing Palestinian territory in the Gaza strip and West Bank. He was banned from compulsory IDF service for his extreme racist views; he was convicted of inciting racism and supporting a terrorist organization; and, as a member of the Knesset, he has spearheaded major settler provocations at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
Palestinian national aspirations, a two-state solution, and even a political horizon for peace are anathema to his worldview. For those who agree with him, a primary goal is to prevent a resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and ensure that a two-state solution never comes to pass. In 2019, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu famously told Likud Knesset members that “whoever wants to prevent a Palestinian state must support bolstering Hamas.”
Indeed, as Ben-Gvir and his camp see it, virtually any Palestinian presence in Israel, the West Bank or Gaza is a threat to be dealt with — no means too extreme. This logic is part of what has driven nearly a year of decimation in Gaza. Ben-Gvir’s bet is that if Palestinians are forced to live with utter physical destruction, horrific death and carnage, and the obliteration of their dreams, they will leave their land, clearing the way for Israel to seize it.
This op-ed was published by the Forward. Click here to read the full story.
