We see that clearly now. A whole world is crying out for an end to the war in Gaza. But Israel rejects a lasting ceasefire. The Israelis want to ensure that Hamas can never again enter the country and massacre, rape and mutilate innocent people. At the height, Israel can agree to a short-term truce – to get the hostages out.
The Israelis are united behind the war. But the Israelis are even more divided in their view of their leaders than they were before the terrorist attack on 7 October last year. Opposition to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is massive. At the weekend, there were extensive demonstrations in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and other Israeli cities, demanding that Netanyahu step down.
Merciless criticism
Two former prime ministers, Ehud Barak and Ehud Ohmert, are both openly calling for new elections. They are relentless in their criticism of Netanyahu. It is highly unusual for such criticism of the supreme leader of a country at war. It says a lot about the situation, as many Israelis see it.
Netanyahu’s main challenger and most likely successor as prime minister, Benny Gantz, is part of the war cabinet. There is reason to believe that the former general would have gone to war against Hamas in the same way that Netanyahu did right after the terrorist attack.
But Gantz had presumably handled both the war itself, and the relationship with the outside world, differently. Wiser, more responsive. Especially towards the United States, and President Joe Biden’s calls to pay more attention to human life in Gaza. And not least – with a clearer plan. Both for the war itself, and for what comes after.
Netanyahu seems to have neither. No plan for the war. And no plan for the day after. And he may be about to destroy relations with Israel’s most important ally and friend, the United States.
«From the river to the sea»
Netanyahu is a disaster. But several of the ministers in his government are even worse. The most extreme, Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir, want an Israel that runs from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean, including Gaza and the West Bank. That is, without a separate Palestinian state, and without any areas where the Palestinians can live their lives, in safety.
Key ministers in Netanyahu’s government therefore want Israel “From the river to the sea” – the entire area for themselves. In the same way that Hamas and their supporters want Palestine in the whole area, without Israel.
There is great disagreement, both among Israeli politicians and among most Israelis, about how relations with the Palestinians should be in the future. Also about whether a future two-state solution should be a long-term goal. But the vast majority of Israelis believe that Smotrich and Ben Gvir’s desire for a greater Israel is extreme and completely unacceptable.
Smotrich and Ben Gvir stand in the way of any possible solution to the conflict. And they continue to support violent settlers in the West Bank, who occupy Palestinian land, and terrorize Palestinians. These ministers are dangerous, both for Israel and Palestine.
Against all odds
There are different opinions, also here at home, about the actual creation of the state of Israel. But now Israel is there, as an independent state, recognized by the UN and by a majority of the world’s other states.
There is a big difference between thinking that the creation of Israel in 1948 was wrong, and thinking that today’s Israel has no right to exist. Many in the public debate have lost their way in these important questions.
Israel has fought for its survival from day one. Surrounded by enemies who have wanted to remove Israel from the map. Neighbors who have gone to war at irregular intervals, with the aim of wiping out Israel. Israel has won – every time. Often against all odds.
The just over 75-year-old state is a technological and economic exception in this part of the world. While many of the Arab countries have lagged behind the rest of the world in their development, Israel has been at the forefront in many areas.
Israel has been a world leader in start-up technology companies. Compared to its population, Israel has more inventions and more published research articles and medical innovations than most other countries in the world.
Own Islamists
Several Arab states have realized that they would benefit from a closer relationship with Israel as the Middle East’s economic and technological engine. They also have a coincident interest in building a front against their common enemy, Iran. Therefore, over the past few years, we have seen a rapprochement between Israel and several Arab states.
This ended with the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October and the subsequent war in Gaza. But much can indicate that Saudi Arabia will resume negotiations on a normalization with Israel when this war is one day over.
Both Saudi Arabia and other Arab states have problems with their own militant Islamists. Even if Arab leaders do not say it out loud, they benefit from Israel’s success in weakening Hamas. They do not want a victorious Hamas to inspire their own Islamists.
About the state’s future
Israel faces massive condemnation worldwide for its warfare in Gaza. With good reason. But it must be possible to simultaneously understand the fear and despair among the Israelis after what they have been through. And to see what Hamas exposes its own population to – every single day.
Nor can we ignore the Holocaust in the face of today’s Israel. The Jews know that those who wish to exterminate them may actually do so. That is why they do what they can to create security for their own. And if necessary hitch a ride in a world that doesn’t understand them.
For many Jews, it is about the future of the state. About whether Israel should survive as a Jewish state, as a last refuge for the world’s Jews.
The Jews live heavily with their history. It is old knowledge in this part of the world that whoever is not the strongest risks losing everything.
