POLITICAL DISORDER AND INSECURITY IN ISRAEL
POLITICAL DISORDER AND INSECURITY IN ISRAEL
Didier BERTIN -November 7, 2023
I-THE RISE OF POPULISM
We published an article on May 30, 2023 in the Times of Israel describing the dismantling of the Jewish national home “as Zionism had designed and built it” and this by the action of Likud aggravated by the deleterious and persistent role of Netanyahu. Netanyahu clung to power to avoid facing justice in personal corruption cases and this led him to form a coalition where he could: with the populist far right. Today Israel and world Jewry are unfortunately paying the price for these maneuvers. Netanyahu wanted to call Israeli democracy into question by trying to weaken the role of the Supreme Court, to allow both clerics to impose their law and settlers to expand their territory. Netanyahu even wanted to appoint a deputy prime minister (Dery) who had escaped a heavy conviction for corruption because he had committed to leaving politics.
A democracy is not only defined by universal suffrage but by the prior establishment of a system which protects it from the errors of its leaders and even from those of the vote when the population has been deceived. By calling into question the prerogatives of the Supreme Court to be able to pass “unreasonable laws”, Netanyahu wanted to undermine Israeli democracy. President Joe Biden, whose country is the true guarantor of Israel's security, had nevertheless warned him and refused to receive him until this project was abandoned.
The principle of protecting democracy against the errors of its citizens had already been put in place in the ancient Republic of Athens and ostracism (ten years of banishment) was a condemnation against those who aspired too much to keep power.
Netanyahu deceived the population by assuring them that he alone was capable of guaranteeing Israel's security while at the same time consolidating Hamas' position in Gaza by facilitating large transfers of money to them from their friends of Qatar.
To form his majority, he allied himself with dubious characters like Smotrich whose goal is to colonize the entire West Bank. There are already nearly 475,000 settlers today in the West Bank where most settlements have been authorized. Netanyahu has also allied himself with Goldknopf who would like to replace Israeli democracy with a Theocracy similar to that which governs Muslim countries.
The Jewish national home resulting from the Zionist movement had a socialist and secular character that these populist parties are destroying to the point that it becomes unaffordable and unlivable for modest secular Jews to take refuge there.
Religion can inspire traditions and references, but it is life in the Diaspora that inspired Zionism “outside the religious field”. Religion is only a conviction arising from the irrational, whereas Zionism aimed to rationally save lives and not just souls. Theocracies are dictatorships of faith that do not recognize the fundamental rights of men. Judaism is an identity, a solidarity, a nationality and for some only a religion. “The Shoah both strengthened Jewish identity and unfortunately ruled out any idea of divine protection.”
Netanyahu has made Israel a country where consumer prices are very high and where access to property has reached records unrelated to the median salary of citizens. The most deprived must live in the most dangerous areas (south and north of Israel far from high value-added activity zones). It even happens that modest families have to live in the West Bank settlements because Israel has become too expensive.
II- NETANYAHU’S TARGET
In order to favor his most fanatical electorate which wants to expand throughout the West Bank, Netanyahu has deliberately weakened the Palestinian Authority by strengthening Hamas with the help of Qatar as we mentioned. In addition, Hamas also benefits from funds from Iran and the European Union diverted largely for the benefit of its terrorist action and its leaders. Mahmoud Abbas in fact no longer has any power and his corruptibility, the bonuses he offers to terrorists and his negationist position no longer make him the right man to act for the benefit of the Palestinians. There have been no elections in any of the Palestinian territories since 2005 to prevent the rise of Hamas. Hamas had executed all the leaders of the PLO in Gaza. Netanyahu thought he had solved the Palestinian problem in Gaza by strengthening Hamas (whose goal is the destruction of Israel), in order to weaken the PLO. Netanyahu therefore consciously increased insecurity in Israel by electorally selling the opposite argument.
III-TERRORIST ACTION BY HAMAS UNTIL 2023
Hamas' primary objective has therefore always been the expulsion of Jews from all of Palestine and in order to achieve this, it has built in recent years with funds intended for Palestinian civilians, an underground fortress comprising 500 km of tracks and storage spaces sometimes up to 60 meters deep. This fortress includes gigantic warehouses of weapons, oil, rockets and even a rocket factory; this place is intended to protect terrorists because according to Hamas the protection of Palestinian civilians is the domain of the UN. Strategic warehouses are located under civilian buildings so that they serve as human shields. This conception poses no moral problem for Hamas because greatness and happiness come after death because their heavenly paradise offers all the sensual advantages of earthly happiness.
Hamas launches numerous rockets at Israel ever further and with more precision, disorganizing the country and putting in great danger the most modest inhabitants living near the Gaza Strip.
Israel should have destroyed this fortress but that might have weakened Hamas and strengthened the PLO. Israel chose to turn its back by adopting “the very expensive Iron Dome” permanently when for any attacked country it should have only represented a transitional solution.
IV- THE FAILURE OF THE IRON DOME
The sending of an increasing number of rockets into Israel was increasingly testing the effectiveness of the Iron Dome, which is particularly expensive to operate.
In January 2023 we were able to see on Russian TV the deep underground, the weapons stocks and hear the terrorists claiming to be preparing for the great battle against Israel. Egypt and the Shin Bet would have alerted Israel of the coming danger, but Netanyahu must have had greater confidence in Qatar's benefits to Gaza.
To shake the entire Jewish people and call into question the very idea of a “protective” Jewish national home, Hamas launched a Pogrom of extreme pathological violence on October 7, 2023. This Pogrom was not limited to the massacre of 1400 Jews but exceeded all the limits of sadistic violence coming from the brains of the worst psychopaths: Murder of infants, disemboweling of pregnant women, burning of children, slitting of throats, decapitations...and kidnappings hostages.
But we must include among the victims of this pogrom approximately 300 soldiers massacred between October 7 and 9 because they were insufficient in number.
The number of victims of the Pogrom is around 1700 dead and not 1400 and that of kidnappings is around 240 whose fate cannot be guaranteed.
After the worldwide fear against this horror, Israel's retaliatory measures against Gaza quickly led to a movement of sympathy for the eternal victims of the evil Jews. Anti-Semitism has taken precedence, especially among Muslims who follow the directives of the Koran in this regard. This was undoubtedly the goal sought and achieved by Hamas.
V-NETANYAHU’S RESPONSIBILITY IN THIS DRAMA
While a large part of the army was concentrated in Judea and Samaria to protect the settlers, Netanyahu's voters around 300 soldiers were responsible for guarding the Gaza border where there were around 30,000 terrorists. As we said, these soldiers were massacred and “Hamas said it did not expect it would be so easy to enter Israel and that his army would collapse so quickly.”
The loss of these 300 soldiers is linked to the Pogrom and should not be included in those of the “Iron Sword” operation currently being carried out in Gaza. The investigations that will be carried out against the Israeli government for having been incapable of protecting the population must include civilians and soldiers abandoned to their fate. It would have been necessary to light 1940 candles on November 7, 2023 for the civilian and military victims and the hostages.
The active Israeli army amounts to approximately 165,000 soldiers apart from the reserve soldiers of around 450,000 people. This means that only 0.2% of the active army was responsible for guarding the border with Gaza. This heavy decision with serious consequences may be linked to electoral considerations and must be the subject of investigation and very serious sanctions. In any case, too many suspicions weigh on Netanyahu who in this case must resign immediately.
VI- NEED TO CONSTITUTE A PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT
Pending the end of the crisis in Gaza and a legislative reorganization of Israel which would produce stable and moderate governments according to the criteria of a Western and modern democracy, it would be desirable for Benny Gantz to take over for a limited period the role of prime minister and that the Knesset be dissolved. His military experience would guarantee the security that Israel needs as a priority. The reorganization of Israeli institutions could be done with the assistance of the largest Western democracies including the USA (Lower House, Upper House, Constitutional Council, Supreme Court, Court of Justice of the Republic, etc.).