Israel is facing an existential crisis. And the threat is its own government, not outside forces

It's not just Ya'alon issuing dire warnings. A few weeks before he spoke out, so did General Golan. Now former PM Barak is so making out in no uncertain terms

But before I get into that......

I used to post a lot in I/P, often defending Israel against attacks that I thought were flat wrong. Years ago, this forum was a lot wilder, and there was a disturbing amount of antisemitism. Lithos was an excellent moderator and good at tombstoning those people who kept popping up.

I don't hate Israel. There are quite a few things that I admire about the country. I am disgusted by calls to move Israel to... wherever. Although I no longer have much hope for it, I still support two states. I understand the Israeli desire to maintain Israel as as Jewish state and I realize that that's at least as much rooted in culture as it is in religion.

But. And it's a big but.

Israel's radical shift to the right isn't just Netanyahu. It's also the Israeli public. Ignoring that is denying reality. Why do you think people like Barak and Ya'alon are speaking in such harsh terms? Not, obviously, because they hate their country. What they are all saying, in one way or another, is that long term occupation destroys the occupier as surely, if more insidiously, as it destroys the occupied. Here is what Barak had to say:

<snip>

Israel’s ex-prime minister has warned that his country is “infected by the seeds of fascism.”

Ehud Barak, the former Israeli prime minister and defense minister, said in an interview on Israeli TV on Friday night that fascistic, extreme right-wing politics are on the rise in his country, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.

“What has happened is a hostile takeover of the Israeli government by dangerous elements,” he cautioned. “And it’s just the beginning.”

<snip>

Former Prime Minister Barak, from Israel’s centrist Labor party, said Ya’alon’s resignation is “the end of a chain that began with the case of the soldier who shot” a wounded Palestinian assailant who was lying on the ground incapacitated, killing him in an incident in the illegally occupied West Bank that was caught on camera.

In the interview on Israel’s Channel 10, Barak cited ultra right-wing legislation that is being pushed by members of the ruling coalition, adding, “This government needs to be brought down before it brings all of us down.”

“There are no serious leaders left in the world who believe the Israeli government,” the former Israeli prime minister said.

<snip>
http://www.salon.com/2016/05/21/israel_is_infected_by_the_seeds_of_fascism_and_has_been_taken_over_by_extremists_warn_ex_prime_minister_and_defense_ministers/

These Israel leaders from the center and the right are issuing a loud warning. They are clear: Israel is in an existential crisis due to the extremist right.

The appointment of Liebermn, a man as hateful and radically right wing as anyone in any government, is appalling. This man called for "disloyal" Arab-Israelis to be beheaded. And so much more. Minister of Defense? A man who has called for genocide? Even more insane than his previous position as Minister of Foreign Affairs. It's not only Netanyahu and Lieberman. Liked leadership is riddled with bigoted fascists.

<snip>


At least one prominent far-right Israeli politicians has even identified as a fascist. In 2012, lawmaker Miri Regev boasted in a TV interview that she is “happy to be a fascist.” Regev now serves as Israel’s minister of culture.

Israel’s justice minister, Ayelet Shaked, is also a extreme right-wing nationalist who has essentially echoed calls for the genocide of Palestinians.

<snip>

http://www.salon.com/2016/05/21/israel_is_infected_by_the_seeds_of_fascism_and_has_been_taken_over_by_extremists_warn_ex_prime_minister_and_defense_ministers/

Pointing this out isn't hating Israel. It's not defending Hamas. It's facing reality. This way lies madness.


A wise man once said that Nationalism is a state of mind in which a man hates another's country more than he loves his own. That charge has often been leveled at the Palestinians. It fits Israel today. (The wise man was Friedrich Reck-Malleczewen)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Reck-Malleczewen

I realize I've broken I/P protocol with this post. I would hope that those of you who disagree with it, won't rush to alert, but if so and this thread is locked, so be it.