Occupied Jerusalem- Israeli society is still reeling from the shock of the events of October 7, 2023. With the 100th day of the war on Gaza passing, it becomes clear that the wheel of life for Israelis and the history of Israel is still at a standstill at the “Al-Aqsa Flood,” which is considered a turning point in the future of internal relations between Israelis. It constitutes a turning point in the conflict with the Palestinians.
At a time when analysts have converged estimates that the Israeli government, headed by Benjamin Netanyahu, has not achieved any of its goals in Gaza, readings and studies by research centers have unanimously agreed that the continuation of the war brings internal differences and conflicts back to the forefront, and deepens the rift within Israeli society.
The societal rift reflects the reality of the falsity of the artificial unity among Israelis that was evident at the start of the war and which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought to frame by promoting that “Israel is waging an existential war,” calling for a rise above internal differences and unity that soon cracked after the failure to liberate all… Israeli detainees and failure to achieve war objectives.
Israeli disputes
The activist in the “The Day After” movement, Natan Raz, says, “Israel is stuck at the events of October 7, and Israeli society is still living in shock, and the battle is existential, as the Netanyahu government promoted, and so the war comes and continues despite the unprecedented losses it has incurred.” Israel at all political, military, social and economic levels.”
However, the Israeli activist indicated to Tel Aviv Tribune Net that the day after the war, which seems to be still far away, must examine the future of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and settle the conflict through political solutions, but he also says that “the overall relations between the Israelis themselves must be investigated, And also relations with Arab citizens of Israel who are dealt with under emergency regulations.”
In addition to the Israeli debate regarding the discrepancy regarding the goals of the war and the possibility of achieving them, and the division over the prisoner exchange deal and the detainee file, Raz pointed out that internal Israeli disputes surfaced again with the prolongation of the war, as issues of governance, religious and biblical legislation, amendments to the judiciary, and undermining the powers of the Supreme Court returned. Netanyahu is being tried in corruption cases.
The power of the right
In a reading about the stages of the war on Gaza and how Netanyahu exploited it for his personal political interests and was exploited by the far-right parties to maintain the government coalition at the expense of deepening the rift in Israeli society, Dr. Issaf David, head of the Israel in the Middle East Department at the Van Leer Institute in Jerusalem, says: “Netanyahu’s government has gone to war. Hamas has no choice.”
Dr. David, one of the founders of the Forum for Regional Thinking, reviewed in assessing a position, a copy of which was received by Tel Aviv Tribune Net, how the Netanyahu government exploited the war in its various combat phases under different names for the sake of the strength of the coalition and to serve the far-right project.
He pointed out that the Netanyahu government, which went to war reluctantly, saw the stages of fighting as a means to serve its goals and projects, whether within Israeli society or even with the Palestinians.
From the point of view of the Israeli researcher, the Netanyahu government is waging war on the backs of Israeli and Palestinian civilian detainees in the Gaza Strip, all to prevent the dismantling of the government.
He pointed out that Netanyahu, in light of not achieving any of the goals of the war, is seeking in the third phase of the fighting to maintain the strength of the right-wing camp to remain in power if early elections are held, even if that is at the expense of deepening the rift in Israeli society.
Cracked start
Regarding the developments and changes that may occur in the political scene, David believes that the emergency government, which was originally formed to support the Israeli army in the war on Gaza, may not last long because of the far-right coalition.
David warned of the beginning of a crack even in the Israeli consensus on the war, recalling the voices that are rising and the protests escalating in the face of the coalition of right-wing parties that insist on sending soldiers and officers to fight for the unattainable goals set for them by a divided, conflicting, and heterogeneous government, which has brought Israeli society to an unprecedented disaster. Preceded.
The extreme right, which dominates the political and partisan scene in Israel, says David, “It only understands force, and does not know how to talk to its opponents and enemies, whether Jews or Palestinians, except by force. It has gradually turned Israel into a crazy state, without the slightest thought about the day after the war, and all its hope is for the survival of 200 A thousand Palestinians in Gaza instead of 2.2 million.”
The survival of Hamas
With the continuation of the war on Gaza, the interim results and the facts on the ground, the Israeli writer Menachem Klein says that “the Israeli government is putting Hamas in its hands to lead the Palestinian people,” recalling what happened after Israel lost the October 1973 war, when it refused to let the West Bank be under control. Jordan’s rule helped strengthen the influence of the Palestine Liberation Organization (Fatah) to be the sole representative of the Palestinian people.
Now, based on the way it waged war in Gaza and dealt with the Palestinian issue, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the war on Gaza, Kalalin points out on the “Siha Mekomit” website that “Israel may do the same thing with Hamas to place it at the head of the Palestinian national movement.”
The October 7 Hamas attack hit Israel in a way that no Palestinian organization had before, and for this reason, Klein says, “any body that comes to take control of the Gaza Strip or rehabilitate it will at least be required to obtain Hamas’ approval, and perhaps “Also participating in some way in the government.”
Difficulty in deciding
On the Israeli security level, the research on national security, intelligence, and the Arab-Israeli conflict, Professor Uri Bar-Sof, a lecturer at the University of Haifa, described the “Al-Aqsa flood as an earthquake” and asserts that it is the most important event in the history of Israel since the Six-Day War in May 1967.
“The Al-Aqsa flood and the war are a turning point in many areas, and one of the most important of them is the concept of national security, and the failure of the current concept was clearly evident in the results of the Hamas attack,” Bar-Suf said in an assessment of a position he published in the Haaretz newspaper.
As the war on Gaza continues, the national security researcher says, “Here we return to the main point. The Israeli security concept and military superiority that lasted for 75 years have become bankrupt.”
He believes that what Israel lacks is the political element, whose role, Klein says, will be “to limit the motivations of our enemies to wage war against us, and reduce the burden of the equation of deterrence, warning, and decisiveness. Without that, deterrence will fail, warning will not stand the test, and the army will find it difficult to decide.” “.
