An American website confirmed that the dangers of a civil war erupting are now threatening Israel, highlighting that its causes are deeper than being linked to the war in Gaza or the conflict with Hezbollah.

The Counter Punch website explained in a report that the resignation of a number of Israeli leaders, such as Defense Ministers Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot, revealed deep divisions within Israel, despite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s keenness to stress that an Israeli civil war will never see the light of day.

The report continued that the division within Israel cannot be viewed like the ongoing polarization in Western democracies, not only because Israel is not a democratic state in its essence, but because the political formation in Israel is unique.

Deep struggle

He added that the terms right and extreme right may give the impression that the political conflict in Israel is essentially an ideological conflict, but reality confirms that the causes of the conflict are much deeper, and are linked to the desire of the new right (Netanyahu and his allies) to reshape the political nature of Israel.

The report explained that hundreds of thousands of Israelis have gone out since January 2023 in mass demonstrations with the support of elites described as liberal, whose goal was to prevent Netanyahu from making radical changes that affect the balance of political forces that have governed since the date of the declaration of the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.

Although the discussions were keen to clarify that the differences increased people’s desire to confront Netanyahu’s desire to marginalize the Israeli judicial institution for personal reasons, the site believes that the roots of the dispute that threaten the outbreak of a civil war are completely different.

He explains this by saying that the matter is related to the relationship of political authority with the army, and he believes that the issue came to the fore when Netanyahu clearly attacked the army generals, saying, “Israel is a state that has an army, not an army that has a state.”

Army and war

The report stressed that the truth is clear, which is that Israel was founded and continued through war, and this explains the army’s special position in Israeli society, as it enjoys important privileges when it comes to Israeli political decision-making, and there is no evidence of this than the arrival of senior army commanders to the most important position of authority, including Including David Ben-Gurion, Ariel Sharon, and Ehud Barak.

Here lies the real problem - the author explains - as Netanyahu, as he began restructuring Israeli political institutions in an effort to marginalize the army and strip it of its political power, disturbed the basic foundation of the Israeli political balance that has continued since 1948.

The writer recalled the armed conflict that broke out between Ben Gurion's army, which was dominated by the Haganah, and the leaders of armed militias, when the army bombed the ship "Altalena", which was carrying weapons to the Irgun, and "killed and arrested many members of that militia."

He said that talk has returned within Israel about “this mini-civil war,” and the fact that the differences that are deepening day after day may force the army to abandon the historical balance that was achieved following that event, which could have ended Israel’s future as a state days after its establishment.

Source: American press