“Israel goes from shock to anger, denial and fear”
JVL Introduction
What is going on inside Israel? Here we learn more about the rise and political influence of the messianic right – fundamentalism in all its horrors. People are again protesting against Netanyahu and see him as, at least partly, responsible for the fate of the hostages in Gaza. Israel is losing in many ways, in international stature and also economically. It is also losing many people such that there are shortages of doctors and teachers.
Meanwhile we also see the fear and anger generated by the October 7th attack and the consequent understanding that Israel is not invincible and, indeed, it has not despite a year of fighting with vastly superior weapons, succeeded in “eliminating Hamas”. Meanwhile many Israelis do know what is being done to Palestinians in Gaza and yet this barely enters the discourse, even while there are discussions on TV justifying torture. After all “what can you do?”
There is much of interest in this piece not least the bleak future that seems to lie ahead. “… historian Adam Raz of the NGO Akevot (footprints) Institute for Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Research, which supports investigation into the true facts of Israel’s past, believes denial feeds anxiety. Since 7 October, ‘by claiming force is the only solution, Netanyahu has made us all criminals, me included. We’re going to have to live for decades with the fact that we’ve killed tens of thousands of Palestinians” (my emphasis)
LL
This article was originally published by Le Monde Diplomatique (Sept 2024) on Wed 18 Sep 2024. Read the original here.
Israelis ask, ‘All this, for what?’
Since 7 October the ascendent ultra-nationalist, messianic right has pushed its agenda hard. But for many ordinary Israelis the prosecution of the war has raised questions about their country’s future.
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Very intelligent read. Thank you for posting this.
If Israel was a person it would now be close to having a nervous breakdown. You can see all the symptoms … stubborn denial there’s anything wrong with terror and despair hiding behind it; the closed-mindedness; the focus on self of the trapped; and the desperate efforts to escape the horror (whether by flight or furious activity).
If Israel was a person it’s a split personality at war within. Sadly the strongest “selves” within it are those with the greatest interest in keeping the other “personalities” mired in the swamps they’re stuck in.