- The year 2024 witnessed the militarization of Israeli society, such that a “Jewish Sparta in the Eastern Mediterranean” emerged.

- The majority of Israelis believe that peace with the Palestinians is not possible and that war is the only solution to ensure security.

The Palestinians are entering a phase of strategic self-defense that requires them to preserve their strategic assets.

Since July 10, 2018, the French journalist and historian Dominique Vidal published an article entitled: “In Israel: The Three Dimensions of Fascist Deviation,” in which he noted that “the authoritarian and fascist excesses of the State of Israel are largely downplayed by the European media and political leaders, but they are real and pose risks for the entire Middle East,” identifying three dimensions of this deviation.

The first dimension is represented by the “colonial project in Palestine,” which is witnessing a “historical turning point” in light of the expansion and acceleration of settlements, the legitimization of settlement outposts, the escalation of calls to annex the occupied West Bank or large areas of it, and the pursuit of adopting a law: “the nation-state of the Jewish people.” The second dimension is the growing hostility shown by far-right leaders towards the Palestinians. “During the last Gaza war [in 2014], Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked posted on her Facebook page a text describing ‘the entire Palestinian people as an enemy of Israel’, justifying ‘their destruction, including their elderly, their women, their cities and their villages’, while Naftali Bennett called for killing all arrested ‘terrorists’ rather than putting them in prison, explaining: ‘I have killed many Arabs, and that is okay’, while Avigdor Lieberman asserted that ‘Israeli Arabs have no place here’. The third dimension is Benjamin Netanyahu’s alliance with European far-right leaders, especially in Hungary and Poland, who do not hide their anti-Semitism and anti-Islamism. Dominique Vidal concludes: ‘Netanyahu and his allies know that their reckless impulse will only exacerbate the international isolation of the Israeli government in the long run.’”

The Future of Israel According to the Far Right

Under this title, researchers Nimrod Flashenberg and Alma Yitzhaki published an article on December 16, 2024, in which they highlighted how the events of October 7, 2023 deepened the fascist deviation whose three dimensions were presented by Dominique Vidal. These events, which highlighted “the latent tendencies in the State of Israel, especially its reliance on the army and its ethnic character,” created “a sense of insecurity and a pessimistic vision of the future,” and provoked “revengeful anger against the Palestinians,” estimating that the war waged by Benjamin Netanyahu’s government would have “many devastating consequences for Israeli society.” In addressing the manifestations of the deepening fascist deviation in Israel, the researchers focused on the phenomenon of the escalation of repression against Palestinian citizens in Israel, the widespread proliferation of individual weapons among civilians, the expansion of colonial rule in the occupied Palestinian territories, the dehumanization of Palestinians, and the growing trend toward militarization of the state.

In the first few weeks following October 7, the Israeli government launched a wave of investigations, arrests and indictments against Palestinian citizens accused of “incitement to violence” and “support for terrorism.” Many of them were arrested for “posts on social media, particularly expressions of sympathy and grief for the suffering of the people of Gaza.” Palestinians were “threatened at work, in schools and in public places, creating an atmosphere of intimidation and censorship, with harassment particularly prevalent at universities.”

In the weeks following the Hamas attack, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir decided to expand the possibility of obtaining firearms permits to as many people as possible in order to “save lives” and “enhance the possibility of self-defense,” which led to a 64% increase in the number of civilian gun owners, to about 100,000. Ben-Gvir also made it easier for Israeli women to obtain firearms, with “42,000 women applying for permits, and 18,000 applications approved, according to the ministry,” which was strongly criticized by the Gun-Free Kitchen Tables organization, which was founded in 2010 by feminist activists fighting the proliferation of weapons in homes and includes 18 organizations, warning that “the proliferation of weapons in civilian areas leads to an increase in violence and murder, especially against women,” and stressing that “it is time for the state to understand that the safety of the people is its responsibility.”

In terms of expanding colonial rule, Finance Minister and Civil Administration official in the occupied territories, Bezalel Smotrich, has accelerated settlement in the West Bank, such that “2024 broke new records in the rate of approval of plans for new buildings, and attempts to retroactively legalize illegal homes and outposts, including on privately owned Palestinian land,” and “twenty-four new outposts have been built since the beginning of the war and dozens of new roads have been paved.”

On the other hand, settler violence against Palestinians has reached “an all-time high, often with the protection, if not the active participation, of the police and army,” with “nearly 1,000 violent attacks reported this year,” activists report, “the conscription of many settlers into the reserve forces makes it impossible to distinguish between settlers and soldiers, and attackers enjoy near-total impunity,” and “nineteen shepherd communities in the Jordan Valley have been expelled and their land confiscated.”

This has been accompanied by an unprecedented dehumanization of Palestinians in Gaza, with “public responses to the killing, starvation and terror inflicted on the population of Gaza ranging from shrugs to calls for murder.” While Israeli leaders have made “hundreds of genocidal statements, as documented by the International Court of Justice and a recent Amnesty International report,” Israel’s dominant media “systematically suppresses reports of civilian suffering in Gaza, most of which are reported by no source other than the Israeli military itself,” and Israelis are not shown “the horrific images and reports available to the world.”

While only a small minority opposes war, “the overwhelming majority accepts the narrative that only military intervention can restore security.” In this context, 2024 has seen “the endless militarization of a society already largely ruled by the armed forces,” with the emergence of “a Jewish Sparta in the eastern Mediterranean, led by God in a perpetual crusade against the Arabs, and this vision of Israel, promoted by the religious right, is now welcomed with open arms.”

This permanent expansion of the armed forces in a relatively small country has significant social implications: “This militarization requires an extension of military service for men,” “increased investment in the army (in weapons systems, training, personnel, etc.) will come at the expense of social services,” and the growing importance of military service “will have a direct impact on the country’s productivity, since soldiers do not produce any economic value.” Faced with this bleak picture, many Israelis “who have the opportunity and the means—professional experience and a foreign passport—are leaving the country, whether they support the war or not, they do not want to live in a military state,” and this trend is particularly evident “in sectors that Israel needs to maintain its economy if it is to be sustainable: high-tech, universities, and medicine.”

War will not be a means to ensure security and eliminate the national aspirations of the Palestinians.

The majority of Israelis believe that peace with the Palestinians is not possible, and that the only solution to ensure Israeli security is war. But there are a few far-sighted people who do not see war as a means to ensure Israeli security or to destroy Palestinian national aspirations, such as Aluf Benn, editor-in-chief of Haaretz, and Avraham Burg, former speaker of the Knesset for the Labor Party.

In an article titled “Why Israel is Headed for Self-Destruction,” published about a year ago, on February 15, 2024, Aluf Benn noted that October 7 “was the worst disaster in Israel’s history, and a national and personal turning point for everyone living in or connected to the country.” Although the Israeli army responded to the attack “with overwhelming force, killing thousands of Palestinians and destroying entire neighborhoods in Gaza,” the Israeli government “did not take into account the hatred behind the attack, or the policies that could prevent another attack.” He estimated that in order for Israel to enjoy peace, “it will finally have to come to terms with the Palestinians, something Netanyahu has opposed throughout his career. He devoted his term as prime minister, the longest in Israel’s history, to undermining and marginalizing the Palestinian national movement, and promised his people that they could thrive without peace.” He promoted the idea that Israel “can continue to occupy the Palestinian territories forever, without much cost to it, either nationally or internationally, and even today, after October 7, it has not… Change this message".

But Israel, as the editor-in-chief of Haaretz continued, “can no longer be so blind. The October 7 attacks proved that Netanyahu’s promise was hollow, and that the Palestinians, despite the faltering peace process and the loss of interest from other countries, kept their cause alive.” The shock of October 7 forced Israelis once again “to realize that the conflict with the Palestinians is central to their national identity and a threat to their well-being, and cannot be ignored or evaded. Continuing the occupation, expanding Israeli settlements in the West Bank, the blockade of Gaza, and the refusal to make any territorial compromise (or even to recognize Palestinian rights) will not bring the country lasting security.”

On October 6, 2024, Abraham Burg published an article entitled “One Year After October 7: Drowning in Hatred, Violence, and Despair,” in which he noted that the century-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict “has begun to change in nature, as Israel has come to believe that it is possible to manage the conflict without ever resolving it,” relying on “maintaining a delicate balance of power through a combination of military control, security measures, and limited economic aid to the Palestinians.” He asserted that the Hamas attack caused the collapse of this strategy and “shattered the illusion that the status quo could be maintained indefinitely.” He explained that “the belief that technological superiority and military deterrence can guarantee the country’s security is a false belief, so that October 7 was a shocking wake-up call,” and demonstrated the error of “the assumption that military force is capable of containing the Palestinians’ desire for independence and freedom by preventing any peaceful agreement with them.”

The former Knesset speaker continued that October 7 showed that “reliance on military force alone does indeed have its limits,” as “the multiple operations carried out in Gaza failed to establish peace or lasting security,” and “the war raised crucial moral and political questions,” creating an ideological and political vacuum in which “extremist ideas are gaining ground, with radical voices calling for the reoccupation of Gaza and the mass expulsion of Palestinians from the West Bank; these ideas, which were once marginal, are becoming more and more important, driven by growing despair.”

How can this reality be changed?

Researchers Nimrod Fleischenberg and Alma Yitzhaki assert that change “cannot come from within the Israeli political system,” since “the shocking rupture of October 7 and the successive waves of repression dealt a fatal blow to the left and the peace advocates, who retreated to the margins.” In this context, the option of war can only be abandoned “with decisive international intervention, starting with an arms embargo,” and resorting to international pressure “to bring about change in Israeli society.” Only then will “an alternative force emerge in Israel, capable of saying no to the extreme right, no to the militarization of society, no to the ethnic cleansing of Palestine and the ignition of the region.”

Aluf Benn, however, is pessimistic about the beginning of a “dark era,” considering that “it will be extremely difficult to recover from this war and change course, not only because Netanyahu does not want to resolve the Palestinian conflict, but also because the war struck Israel at the most divided period in its history. In the years preceding the attack, the country was torn apart by Netanyahu’s efforts to undermine its democratic institutions and transform it into a theocratic nationalist authoritarian state.” He estimates that “Israel is unlikely to hold a serious discussion about reaching an agreement with the Palestinians,” after “Israeli public opinion as a whole has shifted to the right” and “there will be little will or incentive to resume a meaningful peace process in the near future.”

While Abraham Burg believes that “a bilateral solution with the Palestinians is not enough, the conflict requires a regional approach that would place it within a broader framework of economic and security interests” and could “help balance Iran’s growing influence in the Middle East.” But Israeli society and its leaders, he continues, “are not yet ready to embrace a comprehensive diplomatic initiative, and popular support for the Palestinian cause in the Arab world creates internal pressure on governments seeking to normalize relations with Israel.” However, he expresses his conviction that “a year after the important events of October 2023, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict finds itself at a critical turning point; instead of relying on endless military confrontations, the region needs a new model, rooted in cooperation, in which the Palestinians are part of a broader agreement with the Arab states; this vision, despite its ambition, is the only way to avoid further deterioration, because if a solution is not reached, the October 2023 war could be just the beginning of a much more serious conflict.”

Conclusion:

In light of this theocratic and authoritarian nationalist trend that Israel is witnessing, as Aluf Benn sees it, and which will receive the support of the Donald Trump administration, the Palestinians are entering a phase of strategic self-defense, which requires them, in my opinion, to strive to preserve the strategic assets they possess, the first of which is steadfastness on the homeland and providing its components, which is a complex task that includes political, economic and social dimensions, and to reconsider the means of struggle followed and resort to those most compatible with the reality of the occupied Palestinian territories, and to agree on an appropriate struggle strategy not to confront Israel’s abandonment of its obligations in the agreements it signed with the PLO but also to confront its efforts to reoccupy the West Bank and return it to what it was before the “Oslo Accords”, but without bearing the cost of occupying it, and to make the “day after” in the Gaza Strip a unified Palestinian day by forming a national consensus government to manage it, and finally to continue to internationalize the Palestinian issue and impose more international isolation on Israel, and to choose appropriate means to influence Israeli society and contribute to changing the trends of public opinion therein.

These are big challenges, but the seriousness of the situation requires that we confront them.

* Researcher and Historian - Institute for Palestine Studies - Beirut.

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The option of war cannot be abandoned “except through decisive international intervention, starting with an arms embargo,” and resorting to international pressure “to bring about change in Israeli society.” Only then will “an alternative force emerge in Israel, capable of saying no to the extreme right, no to the militarization of society, no to the ethnic cleansing of Palestine and the ignition of the region.”