It’s like we’ve been taken over by a deranged, masochistic demolition squad. Except that the coalition’s Jewish supremacists, empowered by Netanyahu, know exactly what they’re doing
Coalition lawmakers crowd around Justice Minister Yariv Levin to take a celebratory selfie in the Knesset plenum, as they pass the first of the coalition’s judicial overhaul laws, July 24, 2023
David Horovitz reports in Times of Israel 3 August 2023
The words that follow are inadequate to describe what’s playing out in Israel right now.
I’ve spent the entire seven-month lifespan of this government to date (having written numerous warning pieces in the previous months as well) attempting to explain the harm it was unleashing upon our beloved country, imploring the prime minister to stop, and trying to encourage those who can influence him to do so. The dire predicted reality is now unfolding — as rapidly and dangerously as in the gloomiest of my pieces.
It’s like we’ve been taken over by a deranged, masochistic demolition squad. Except that the Jewish supremacists in the coalition know exactly what they’re doing. And the prime minister who empowered them is dissembling as Israel implodes, fanning the flames as the country burns.
Israelis have been turned against each other. Our enemies are emboldened, our allies baffled and horrified. The economy is collapsing. The military is torn.
The police force is being urged to use more violence against protesters by a thuggish minister who is working assiduously to oust dissenting commanders. IDF generals — trying to counter a rising tide of terrorism, and to prevent growing violence by settler extremists — are being denounced by coalition politicians. On a right-wing TV network, a panelist calls for the release of our former prime minister’s assassin and some in the studio audience applaud.
Volunteer reservist pilots are choosing not to report for duty. Innumerable former IDF, Shin Bet, Mossad and police chiefs are sounding the alarm. Polling, anecdotal evidence and some hard data indicate that some Israelis are preparing to leave and others are moving their money out of the country.
And at the helm of a government seemingly bent on turning Israel from a thriving first-world democracy into an unsustainable third-world autocracy sits a man seemingly unmoved by, well, almost anything, including his own mortality and legacy, not to mention the fate of the nation. A man who tells us that the economic contraction he is impelling is growth, reminds us that “we are all brothers” with “just one country” even as he cynically sows division, and asserts that the Jewish supremacism he is fostering and the near-absolute power he seeks constitute the strengthening of what was once our liberal democracy.
On the edge of the crowd at Saturday night’s pro-democracy demonstration in Jerusalem, an Israeli youth stood with a homemade placard that stated, “I’m about to be drafted. What should I do? Can you advise me?” A few people stopped to offer their guidance. Many more read the sign, sighed or pursed their lips, and walked on — apparently not knowing what to tell him.
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The Knesset dispersed for its summer recess on Monday, its damage done.
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