The French magazine L’Obs said that the unity of the Israelis regarding the war against the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and solidarity with its detainees in the Gaza Strip did not last long, so that after 12 weeks of war, cracks appeared in the national consensus on the war, and doubts about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s management of the conflict, according to The opinion of Jack Bendlak, a researcher in social sciences in Jerusalem.
If the Hamas attack last October 7 united the sharply divided Israelis at the time over the judicial reform proposed by the Netanyahu government, then the continuation of the conflict – according to the writer’s opinion in his article for the magazine – and its long duration revived doubts in Israeli public opinion regarding the management of the war and the detainee crisis.
This has revived – according to the author – divisions with all their strength, mainly between the rich and the poor, between the right and the left, and between those calling for the establishment of Greater Israel and supporters of the two-state solution.
The rich and the poor
The writer believes that the war did not affect all Israelis equally. It hit southern Israel hard, as the poverty rate – according to the Poverty Report in Israel for 2022 – rose to 25% in the southern region compared to 15% in the central region, especially among the Negev Bedouins and many Sephardic Jews in Beersheba, Sderot, and Netivot.
According to a recent survey conducted by the Israeli non-governmental organization “Latet” – which fights poverty and food insecurity in Israel – the income of the population It has decreased by 19.7% since the beginning of the war.
45.5% of Israelis fear falling into major economic insecurity, especially since partial and very slow compensation from the state will only exacerbate the glaring social gaps and inequality within Israeli society.
right and left
On the other hand, the war reignited the division between the right and the left in Israel, so that the percentage of the right increases when the Israelis see that a war poses an existential threat to their state.
Very quickly, the demonstrations of solidarity with the detainees in Gaza turned into a confrontation between Netanyahu’s supporters and his opponents, with the first team demanding a ceasefire agreement and the release of the detainees, while the other side supports war at all costs until the elimination of Hamas.
Many Israelis criticize Netanyahu for not bearing responsibility for the outbreak of a conflict whose imminent danger he knew, and for refusing to discuss the scenario of ending the war and the future of the Gaza Strip, which makes him lose credibility even in his political camp, and thus the Israeli left is no longer alone in demanding his departure.
Greater Israel or two states?
If the war has sparked debate in Israel regarding a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the government does not want to talk about the future of the Palestinian territories, especially since Netanyahu, after forming his current coalition government, has become a prisoner of the Zionist and religious extremist right, whose leaders unconditionally support “Greater Israel,” which includes the West Bank. West, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.
At a time when recent opinion polls confirm the collapse of his popularity, Netanyahu realizes that the end of the war in Gaza will be the end of his political career, and he therefore rules out the two-state solution to satisfy his far-right allies, on whom his government coalition depends so that he does not lose power.