By Mickey Gitzin, NIF’s Director in Israel
Something has changed in Israel’s public discourse over the summer months. Something disturbing, evoking anxiety. The right, like the entire country, was rattled after October 7, but it appears that Benjamin Netanyahu has managed to stabilize a narrative of his own.
Behind what appears to be inaction lurks an orderly plan: continuing the war, advancing the judicial coup and a takeover of law enforcement agencies, Israeli rule over Gaza, a de facto annexation of the West Bank. In our camp there is despair and uncertainty on how to proceed.
Israel’s future has never looked so gloomy. Itamar Ben-Gvir, until recently a figure from the moonstruck political margins, is completing his takeover of the police. The Bibi-ist poison machine is at work again, and even the abandonment of the hostages to their deaths does not perturb the supporters of this government. We always believed that something in our history, or in our internal cohesion, immunizes us against the fate of failed states or of countries that turned fascist. This belief now seems naïve. There is no certainty that our camp will be victorious.
But there is no certainty that we’ll lose, either. In fact, at no point over the last decades has a right-wing coalition been so fragile. Even before October 7, Netanyahu was an unpopular leader, who in four consecutive elections could not manage to form a government. What keeps this messianic coalition alive is not public support but the opposite — the fear of an election. Ministers and lawmakers on the right see the opinion polls and hear the citizenry. They know their window of opportunity will slam shut at the voting booths. Their ship is sinking, so they’re grabbing onto each other.
In contrast, the liberal democratic camp, which is so alarmed today, is situated at the core of this country’s power.
Click here to read the full article by Mickey Gitzin at Haaretz.