Thinkers and researchers said that the October 7, 2023 attack represents a new crack in the wall of Zionism, adding to several cracks in the foundations of Israeli society, and that the war on the Gaza Strip revealed the Israeli mentality of “evasion” and non-compliance with any agreements, and of employing the power of military deterrence to cover up internal disintegration.
Looking at the current position of the Israeli government in its dealings with the Palestinian issue proves this. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday, Sunday, that he is not ready to establish a Palestinian state, and will not allow the Gaza Strip to be handed over to the Palestinian Authority, and that he wants to establish a civil administration in cooperation with local Palestinians.
These writers and researchers view this position of Netanyahu as a summary of the Israeli vision regarding the issue of negotiations with the Palestinians since the Oslo Accords, which began in 1993, and the subsequent dream of establishing a Palestinian state whose negotiations extended for about 30 years. Then the dream disappeared behind a series of normalization agreements, and Netanyahu’s policy became clear. The same applies to his current position on the prisoner agreements held by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in the Gaza Strip.
evasion policy
In this context, it is possible to understand the “evasive” position of the Israeli Prime Minister regarding the negotiations with Hamas. In each round, the Israelis are keen to leak information that Tel Aviv agrees to the terms of the initiative and is waiting for Hamas’ response, which surprises everyone with its initial approval, so Netanyahu returns to sabotage all of these initiatives with his statements. As he did two days ago.
In this regard, the academic and researcher on Israeli affairs, Muhannad Mustafa, says, “The evasion method has been used by Netanyahu since the 1990s, when he failed the Oslo Accords with the end of the term of his first government in 1999.”
Mustafa added – in an exclusive interview with Tel Aviv Tribune Net – that Netanyahu always tries to be vague and take a step forward to win Israeli public opinion and reduce international pressure, but then he comes back and sets impossible conditions that the Palestinian side cannot accept, as happened.
Regarding the recent deal between Hamas and Israel, the specialist in Israeli affairs pointed out that Netanyahu did not come out with a single official and explicit statement that he agreed with the American proposal, but he relied on leaks and half-sentences.
Military trauma
In this context as well, it is possible to see the mentality controlling the far-right community in Israel, with its leaders’ tendency to employ the “military shock” theory to cover up the sense of disintegration that has begun to seep outside of Israel, all the way to the pro-Israel American pressure groups (AIPAC).
American writer Zach Beachamp says – in an article on the Fox website last May – that as the Israeli government moves more and more to the right – and is held captive by anti-Palestinian settlers – the pro-Israel movement in America has moved with it, leaving little room for it. For people like me, today I spend a large part of my professional life criticizing Israel on the anti-occupation left.
“When I was at university in the late 2000s, I was the president of the pro-Israel campus group at my university, but I gave up the position shortly afterward following a public argument with a member of the group after he supported settlement in the West Bank, a project I always see,” Beachamp adds. Immoral and politically unsuccessful.
The author sums up in a few words the absolute support for Israel by pressure groups in America by saying, “Israel’s leaders are the ones who determine what best serves the country’s interests, and AIPAC and its activists should support only this agenda.”
But in recent months, American universities hit the roof of the Jewish “lobby” in America with a heavy shovel, when several universities stood in solidarity with Gaza, and students staged a sit-in at these universities declaring their rejection of the ongoing Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, which claimed the lives of tens of thousands of Palestinians.
Tribal mentality and the idea of revenge
For his part, academic Muhannad Mustafa returns to explaining the structural nature of Israeli society, saying that Jewish society is based on the idea of revenge and revenge despite the state’s political institutions and the society’s own democracy, but Israel acts with the logic of a tribe seeking revenge, and therefore it came The idea of causing shock to the Palestinians and escalating deterrence to the last possible point.
When asked about the importance of this escalation in the aggression against Gaza, Mustafa explained that Netanyahu wants to make the Palestinians pay a greater price than they expected when the October 7 attack occurred, and it also represents a message aimed at preventing Israel’s enemies from thinking about attacking it.
Regarding the result that was achieved, the specialist in Israeli affairs pointed out that Netanyahu failed to achieve these goals, whether on the Palestinian front or on the Lebanese front, and instead of reconsidering the policy of military deterrence that he follows, he persists in escalation and takes it to the end.
The collapse of Zionism
In turn, Israeli writer Ilan Pappe believes that the level of escalation that Netanyahu has reached against the Palestinians clearly indicates that cracks are no longer visible only in the wall of Zionism, but have also reached the foundations of the Israeli state, which may lead to the collapse of public institutions, and it will not be able to provide services to citizens. , According to him.
In order to prove his idea, he says that “the process of disintegration begins slowly and then increases in speed, and in a short period of time the structures that seemed solid and cohesive fall.”
In his article – published last Friday in the “Side Care” blog – Pappe enumerates the reasons that prompted him to diagnose the current situation of Zionism, including:
- First – the division of Israeli Jewish society between two camps:
- A camp consisting of liberal Jews who represent the middle class, and have had political hegemony over the state since the establishment of Israel in 1948.
- The “Judea” camp, which arose among settlers in the occupied West Bank, currently represents a large electoral base that contributed to Netanyahu’s victory in the recent elections.
- Second: The economic crisis in Israeli society
The writer believes that the ruling political class does not have an effective plan to avoid the economic crisis amid the wars waged by the army, and this caused the general economy to decline by 20%. What is more dangerous is that after October 7, some economic and financial elites transferred their money outside of Israel.
- Third – increasing international isolation
The genocide in Gaza made Israel a “pariah state,” and this is evident in the unprecedented positions of the International Court of Justice, the escalation of criticism directed by global civil society against Israel, and the exposure of its leaders to arrest on war crimes charges.
- Fourth: Disengagement from Israel
There has been a significant change in the opinions of young Jews, and during the past nine months it seemed that many of them were ready to abandon their connection to Israel and Zionism, and there was no objection to joining solidarity movements with Palestine, as happened in the demonstrations on American universities.
- Fifth: The weakness of the Israeli army
Although the Israeli army has the most modern weapons and its strength in the region, many Israelis feel that it was lucky in the events of October 7, because the Lebanese Hezbollah did not join Hamas in a coordinated attack, otherwise the army’s weakness would have appeared, and it would be unable to provide protection. For the Jewish population.
- Sixth: The younger generation among the Palestinians
Young Palestinians represent a more united and connected generation, and their prospects are clear compared to the Palestinian political elites. This generation will have a major impact on the course of the struggle to liberate Palestine, especially with talk of forming real democratic organizations alternative to the ones that exist now.
Decisive stage
For his part, academic Muhannad Mustafa believes that the central weakness in Israel is the absence of a balanced political leadership that has a clear strategy and takes into account Israeli interests on both the local and international dimensions, and this is what historical figures such as former Prime Minister Menachem Begin achieved when he gave up Sinai in exchange for interests. Israel’s strategy of making peace with Egypt.
The second weakness – as the researcher himself sees it – is the division within Israeli society, which is an extended historical division in the Jewish heritage and their awareness, which led to the collapse of the ancient Jewish kingdoms in a historical era known as the “War of Brotherhood,” and the war on Gaza fueled this conflict within Israeli society.
The researcher on Israeli affairs concluded his statements to Tel Aviv Tribune Net by saying that Israeli society has passed the stage of agreement between the camps of state and religion, and is now in the stage of decisiveness that leads to the disintegration of society and the weakening of Israel from within, because decisiveness means victory for one team and the departure of the other team.
