The Dark Ages Dawning on Israel

The Gaza unrest and the fortitude of the people in the south of Israel - kibbutzim, settlements and towns near the border with Gaza have had their full share of rocket and mortar fire from Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

They fired nearly 500 rockets, about 80% was intercepted by the Iron Dome anti-missile system over two days. No doubt, this did save many lives and damage to property. Nevertheless, some missiles did get through causing severe damage to homes, injuries and loss of life. An uncertain cease-fire was declared and it is anybody’s guess as to how long this will hold.

Just after all this, the Minister of Defense, Avigdor Lieberman, resigned nearly bringing down the coalition. The Minister of Education, Naftali Bennett 1 and his side-kick, Minister of Justice, Ayelet Shaked 2, of the extremist right-wing Bayit Hayehudi Party, threatened to resign over Netanyahu’s refusal to give Bennett the Defense portfolio and taking on the Defence portfolio for himself. Eventually, after Netanyahu’s speech, Bennett and Shaked went back on their decision to resign and the issue of early elections was avoided. Mr Bennett, leader of Israel's right-wing Jewish Home party, imagined he had placed a risk-free bet to elevate his status and share the limelight with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 3. The Government Coalition has a majority of one mandate (61 to 59). This will make its governing ability almost untenable.

The whole scenario after the shaky cease-fire was declared was an exercise in childish behaviour within the coalition that proves that many coalition members are there for their own personal interests. If Netanyahu manages to govern with a one mandate majority, theoretically elections will be held in a year’s time. If there is a crisis and the coalition breaks up then it will be sooner. If the latter occurs and there are early elections, it will cost the country billions of shekels and we shall get the same government re-elected with a few minor changes. Many Israelis have moved towards the right and extreme right and it is very unlikely that they will change. Ask any Israeli why he/she fears change, he/she will tell you with great conviction that there is nobody who can replace Netanyahu and he is the only one worth supporting. After all, the economic situation in Israel is very good and this is the bottom line that will determine what government will be elected as well as the security situation.

The opposition to the present government is weak and disunited. They are unable to offer an alternate message that is strong enough to convince Israel’s electorate that Netanyahu has governed for too long and needs to go. Even the various police investigations of Netanyahu over his suspected criminality makes no impact on the Israeli electorate as according to most of them, Netanyahu is the best prime minister Israel has ever had.

The Dark Ages are now dawning on Israel. It begins with the eroding of democracy. Those who are left of centre in their thinking are ostracised by the present government and are viewed as unpatriotic, treacherous and wish to harm Israel. The occupation and the messianic Orthodox Judaism of the Bayit Hayehudi Party and the ultra-Orthodox Parties in collusion with the Netanyahu Coalition are heralding the coming of Israel’s Dark Ages. This is part of the government’s plan to justify its rule that is becoming increasingly autocratic. More anti-democratic bills designed to clamp people’s mouths will be passed into laws. The latest bill is the Cultural Loyalty Bill introduced by Commissar of Culture and Sport, Miri Regev, will undoubtedly gain government support. Freedom of speech, freedom of culture and eventually books that are written that will be interpreted by Commissar Miri as being anti-Israel will eventually be censored or banned. The legal community have come out against this anti-democratic bill. Freedom of culture will be decided upon by the Commissar of Culture, whose duty will be to decide what can be defined as anti-Israel, unpatriotic, seeking the destruction of Israel and supporting terror from the narrowest definition in her agenda. Miri has no idea what culture is as she was never exposed to it. She is one of the initiators of Israel’s dark age. She and the Minister of Justice were working together to even fire the vice-Attorney-General Dina Zilber for opposing this anti-democratic piece of legislation. Dina Zilber is certainly not a pundit for harming Israel. The opposite is true.

Earlier we had the Nation-State Law to ensure the Jewishness of Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People. This is another piece of heinous, racist legislation that ought to be expunged from the statute book of Israel. We can expect more disgraceful bills to be enacted before the next election, reigning in a period in Israel that will bring it closer to a dictatorship that can be defined as Israel’s Darkest Age. We must bear in mind that a country that occupies another people cannot be a democracy in the long run. Slowly but surely, the occupying power will slip into a pseudo-fascist regime. Laws ensuring the purity of an occupying nation will protect its status. In Israel’s case, two laws were passed, the Nation-State Law and the Cultural Loyalty Bill (soon to become law). These laws have two principles in common. Both intend to weaken the opposition to the Netanyahu Government by showing who is the boss and to clamp mouths of those who are involved in avant-garde cultural projects that go against Commissar Miri’s agenda.

There is also no true freedom from religion and the excuse that this is a Jewish country. Pluralism in Judaism is not recognized. Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist Judaism is not recognized nor are their rabbis. The only Judaism recognized is Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox Judaism that ensures that there will never be a separation of Orthodox synagogue and state. They have also succeeded in alienating Diaspora Jewry, especially US Jewry who are mostly non-Orthodox observant. 

As I write this, I feel that Israel’s most brilliant philosopher of the 20th Century, Late Prof.Yeshayahu Leibowitz ז"ל 4 states it very well indeed. It is still relevant today:

”I am talking about the monstrous phenomenon of a regime that is imposed upon a population which is not made up of a single people but of two peoples who are enemies. On top of this national conflict, itself insoluble, there is a social conflict between these two peoples. One works and the other exploits the first. That is why there cannot be a democratic regime in this country, neither can human rights be respected. I insist: they cannot be. It doesn't depend on someone's goodwill. It is the consequence of the objective fact that the State of Israel is, today, a colonial power. Precisely when history, for the second half of the 20th century, has been characterized by world decolonization, the State of Israel and South Africa are the only remaining colonial powers”.
Yeshayahu Leibowitz 5

He continues: “I am not shocked, I am making an observation. If I raise my voice it is because some people still don't know. This is why I shout out loud: Judeo-Nazis do exist!”
Yeshayahu Leibowitz

This will also initiate a period of Netanyahu’s schmoozing with right-wing regimes in Europe that have a history of racism including anti-Semitism. This is a natural development expected within the right-wing regime of the Netanyahu Era.  

See:

1. "The Jewish Home" of Racism and Intolerance
2. Quotes of Yeshayahu Leibowitz  (29 January 1903 – 18 August 1994) was an Israeli public intellectual; professor of biochemistry, organic chemistry, and neurophysiology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; and a polymath known for his outspoken opinions on Judaism, ethics, religion, and politics.

References:

1.  "Naftali Bennett - Wikipedia." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naftali_Bennett. Accessed 22 Nov. 2018.
2. "Ayelet Shaked - Wikipedia." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayelet_Shaked. Accessed 22 Nov. 2018.
3. 20 Nov. 2018, https://www.thejc.com/comment/comment/naftali-bennett-david-cameron-style-gambler-loses-to-israel-s-smoothest-operator-1.472790. Accessed 22 Nov. 2018.
4. "Yeshayahu Leibowitz - Wikipedia." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeshayahu_Leibowitz. Accessed 22 Nov. 2018.
5. "Yeshayahu Leibowitz (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)." 29 Mar. 2011, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/leibowitz-yeshayahu/. Accessed 22 Nov. 2018.