Battles rage inside and outside Israel concerning its rampage in Gaza. Intense talks attempt to bring about another cease-fire and hostage-release deal as Israel prepares to attack Rafah, where more than one million Palestinians have sought refuge. “We're going to do it,” said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “We're going to get the remaining Hamas terrorist battalions in Rafah, which is the last bastion." This prospect has forced Egypt to station troops along the common border to prevent a flood of frightened Palestinians from fleeing into their country once the fighting begins. President Joe Biden describes Israel’s actions as “over the top” and warned against invading Rafah “without a credible and executable plan for ensuring the safety of and support for the more than one million people sheltering there.” Netanyahu’s aggressions have also divided Israelis and caused problems for the Jewish diaspora. Recently, Israeli scholar Moshe Zimmermann wrote that the greater significance of Netanyahu’s governance is that “the Zionist solution is not [really] a solution. We are arriving at a situation in which the Jewish people who live in Zion live in a condition of total insecurity, and not for the first time. Beyond this, we need to take into account that Israel is causing a reduction in the security of Diaspora Jewry, instead of the opposite."
Professor Zimmermann blames the current government’s adherence to a right wing, radicalized, anti-democratic, and ultra-religious sub-culture. “The Israeli case of 2023 can be likened to every point in history in which the government was a kakistocracy – a term meaning 'government by the worst citizens' – be it Nero, Czar Nicholas II or Donald Trump. If there were a competition, the present Israeli government would be fighting for a place at the top of the list," wrote the Professor who is an esteemed Israeli scholar of German History. "Israel does everything to place weapons in the hands of its enemies. The moment the Israeli government includes outright racists who talk about 'Jewish power,' 'erasing the Arabs' or `annexation’, you are serving those forces.”
Polls inside Israel reflect disillusionment with Netanyanu but coalescence, politically and strategically, around major issues. “History will remember Netanyahu as Israel's worst prime minister, who caused its greatest disaster,” wrote Haaretz political reporter Yossi Verter. The country’s largest newspaper, Israeli Hayom, published a piece headlined: “Netanyahu still believes he is the right man for the job, but he must go.” About 85 percent of Israelis agree that Netanyahu should leave office after the war, then an election must be immediately held.
On the other hand, most Israelis agree with the goal to crush Hamas, but also want the return of hostages to be a priority. “In the poll conducted by the Israel Democracy Institute, 56 percent of those questioned said continuing the military offensive was the best way to recover the hostages, while 24 percent thought a swap deal including the release of thousands more Palestinian prisoners from Israel's jails would be best. But a mere 15 percent want Netanyahu to be prime minister once the war is over, and his political rival and present war cabinet partner, centrist Benny Gantz, garnered support from 23 percent of interviewees. Around 30 percent named no preferred leader.”
There’s also a disconnect between Israelis and world opinion concerning what should happen after the war ends. Few agree with the international consensus that there must be a two-state solution. A December poll by Gallup showed 65 percent of Israelis opposed an independent Palestinian state and in January another poll commissioned by Politico Europe described the two-state solution as “dead”. “Today, Israelis don’t believe a Jewish state can live alongside a Palestinian one. As it stands, they have lost all faith in a two-state solution — not that they had much to begin with, even before Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks on southern Israel. Rather, they want bigger and better fortifications and greater vigilance in the wake of the intelligence and security lapses that failed to prevent what was clearly a long-planned pogrom.”
Professor Zimmerman believes that rejection of an independent Palestine is irrational and dangerous. “It's clear that the two-state solution needs to be the logical result, even though at the moment it looks hopeless and totally absurd,” he wrote. “The alternative is either for us to execute a Nazi-like act against the Palestinians, or for the Palestinians to execute a Nazi act against us, meaning an attempt to destroy [Israel] – an apocalyptic 'solution' of Armageddon.”
That seems hyperbolic, but consider that is what Netanyahu’s radical Heritage Minister, Amichai Eliyahu, suggested in October. On a radio broadcast, he told listeners that dropping a nuclear bomb was “one way” to deal with Gaza. He was also dismissive about providing humanitarian aid at all, then commented “we wouldn’t have given the Nazis humanitarian aid. There’s no such thing as innocents in Gaza.” Following an outcry, Netanyahu suspended him from the war cabinet, that conducts the military operation, but he still remains Israel’s Heritage Minister.
Logically, an “end game” without a two-state solution will result in permanent occupation of these territories by Israel — or mass deportation of all Palestinians — neither of which is acceptable internationally. Critics of Israel’s invasion strategy point to the fact that Israel repeats the post-9/11 events: American-led forces invaded Afghanistan and Iraq after the terrorist attack to destroy Al-Qaeda, another elusive terrorist proxy living in the shadows. Both those countries were devastated which created more problems. Most terrorists hid or escaped and thousands of innocent civilians became casualties. Both countries were occupied for years at enormous expense and both still struggle as terrorists continue to spread conflict. “Nobody knew what it [Al Qaeda] was or where it was and the mission morphed into re-installing governments into these places,” commented military expert Clint Watts.
But occupation is already the result and Netanyahu is determined to send troops into Rafah, a move The Wall Street Journal and others endorse as essential to destroy Hamas. However, the risk is that without mass evacuations and civilian protections, an humanitarian disaster and a refugee crisis in Egypt will result. Next Cairo will withdraw from the Camp David Accords — which has stabilized the Middle East for 50 years. The rich Gulf states, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and others, want the UN Security Council to intervene immediately. “Those who say that under no circumstances should we enter Rafah are basically saying `lose the war, keep Hamas there’,” Netanyahu defiantly told ABC News.
Sadly, Israelis have begun to vote with their feet by leaving or disinvesting. Secular Israelis resent that radical religious Israelis remain exempt from military service or work or taxation. Others are upset that human rights are ignored by radical Israeli settlers in the West Bank who mistreat Israeli-Palestinians and have illegally confiscated a huge proportion of their lands. But Netanyahu’s base of support are these settlers and the religious Haredim, whose religious rules, if fully adopted, would “disenfranchise” secular Israelis, Druze, Christian Israelis, women, Arab-Israelis, Palestinians, and homosexuals. They are a powerful, and dangerous, force: In November 1995, a far-right religious zealot assassinated Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin because he signed the Oslo Accords, a blueprint for Israeli-Palestinian reconciliation.
Hundreds of thousands of Israelis have left since the war began. Many may return once the fighting stops. But not Zach Berlinski, a tech worker. He explained in a newspaper interview why he has decided to permanently leave. “I am very much of a Zionist, I love Israel very much, but it's hard for me here….I was in the army for five years, I contributed to the state, I did reserve duty. And I'm also gay, and I feel that the state did not do well by me over the years. And I don't have the will or the desire, for good or for ill, to change things. So I'm looking for an escape hatch.”
Thank you, Diane for an excellent blog and one that touches on all the right issues. I noticed that you, yourself, did not take a position, but you let Prof, Zimmerman (a truly wise and righteous man) do it for you.
Yes, there can be no other solution that can be called just and humanitarian than a two-state solution. It is a painful one for Israel because the territory is tiny and getting pretty crowded. And then there is the religious issue that so many Zionist Jews believe strongly that God gave the territory to the chosen people. Many of the Zionists have expanded their control and territorial possessions by unlawfully expelling Palestinians from the West Bank to accommodate their holdings. The judicial system in Israel heavily favors Jews so Palestinians do not have much of a chance for justice. And the demographics create another layer of complexity because the ultra-religious and nationalist Jews also have the largest families and they are a growing political force rather than a static or receding one.
It's time for the Jews who understand all this and disdain Netanyahu - including those in the Diaspora - to stop wringing their hands in desperation and take a strong position. There are times when a patient has to be forced to take some distasteful medicine as the only way to save his life. Doctors do it all the time when they cut off a gangrenous limb to prevent a fatal infection from spreading to the rest of the body. President Biden understands this and is to be credited for taking a principled and eminently just position despite the political cost to himself.
A two-stade solution looks like an unrealistic one. “We cannot understand October 7 without knowing History.” If you want to do just that, read the Israeli historian Schlomo Sand latest book: Two Peoples for One State.
“For my part, I am not “for” a binational state, I say that we have no other solution. Eight hundred and fifty thousand Israelis, and among them six ministers, live in the West Bank, and these people will not be torn from the place where they live. Two million Arabs are integrated into Israel. I don't see how we can be separated. I am for a kind of federation as advocated by Menachem Begin ... There is no future here for my grandchildren without the Palestinians. So I am for a federation, a confederation, whatever. Remember that the peaceful Swiss, before the Confederal State of 1848, were tearing each other apart! We must fight against Hamas, but give hope to those who agree to live alongside us. We must recognize the tragedy of 1948, and partially correct the injustice suffered. It is a painful process but we have no choice.”