Thousands of Orthodox Jews started leaving Israel after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that his government would end their exemptions from military service.
An opinion poll, conducted about a year ago, recorded a reluctance among European Jews to immigrate to Israel, and a quarter of adult residents of Israel are considering leaving it. Despite the extreme secrecy surrounding an existential topic of this kind, it turned out that the request for European citizenship by Israelis increased by 20 percent, and immigration requests increased by 15 percent. The reason is the fear of religious extremism, which has tightened its grip on a government that is trying to gradually change the regime.
The so-called judicial reforms frightened secularists and made them feel that they would be at the mercy of a dictatorial grip. A change in the nature of the management of some ministries has already been announced, and the powers of the Supreme Court are being withdrawn, as is its role as a monitor of the Knesset and the government. Efforts are being made to reduce the apex court’s powers. This is considered a coup against democracy and a flaw in the separation of powers.
There are those who ask whether the Israeli left, which played a major role in the establishment of the country, still exists, or whether it was buried by the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin in 1995, and his family still believes that Netanyahu is not innocent of his assassination. It is known that Rabin was one of the planners and executors of the expulsion of Palestinians from their land during the Nakba of 1948.
Events of October 7 restored some cohesion to the fragmented Israeli society. It seemed united to wage the most horrific wars against Gaza. Then, the disasters which followed, the massacres and horrors which claimed tens of thousands of victims, and the turn of world public opinion against Israel, accusing it of genocide and labelling it as apartheid restores the rifts to be worse than they were. It has ignited the flames of accusations over responsibilities. It also raises doubts about the future in the minds of Jews who rarely criticized or denounced their revered state.
But none of those who predicted the failure of Zionism closed the door or considered the matter over. They still believe that their dream can be realised, and each of them has his own formula, ranging from a two-state solution to a single state. As for the right-wing and religious extremists, they have no road map other than stealing more lands and expelling those on them.
The differences are not fundamental, as the goal of Zionism is to seize what they can, by force. They talk about peace agreements only when it is not possible for them to take what they want through military robbery.
There were questions: Would the Jewishness of the state be declared or would there be some more wait? Is it safer to expel all the Palestinians or keep some of them for a while? What is the appropriate moment to get rid of what remains?
We are not faced with good Zionists and evil Zionists, as the Zionist dream is clear in the eyes of all of them. Establishing a homeland for Jews in which they can find security and end the danger of anti-Semitism. Zionism was supposed to be the solution, but did it solve anything?
[by Sawsan Al-Abtah in Asharq Al-Awsat]
Compiled and translated by Faizul Haque