A recently published survey in Israel shows that 60% of the Jewish population considers the danger of a civil war to be "real and tangible," a trend clearly on the rise amid radical polarization of which the population is aware. Other data revealed in the same study indicate that the sociological situation is, overall, the most problematic in the history of the country founded in 1948.
The survey was conducted by the Institute for Policy of the Jewish People (JPPI), a well-known think tank that considers itself independent and regularly conducts studies on the situation of the Jewish people, and especially on the situation in Israel. The latest study is particularly alarming, and confirms a consistent evolution in a highly dangerous direction.
The danger of a civil war is a recurring theme in local media, an issue that is also regularly discussed by the political class or qualified members of academia. It has been on the table since the mid-1990s, when Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by an Israeli extremist, but in recent years, and particularly in the last four years of Benjamin Netanyahu's mandate, it is a very repeated and ubiquitous topic.
The danger is within
Two-thirds of those surveyed by JPPI consider that the internal danger is greater than the external danger, a worrying fact if we take into account that almost the last three years have been marked by external wars with Iran, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Well, despite this, those surveyed see the internal situation as a more serious threat to Israel.
79% of those surveyed consider that during the last year the internal situation has been bad from a social perspective, that is, apart from the wars. Only half of Jews trust the state's institutions and authorities, and only 49% see possible compromises between the different sectors of the population. The same percentage, 49%, view the future with pessimism.
Many Jewish Israelis in recent years have sought a second passport, mainly European, a circumstance that historically was frowned upon in Israeli society. In Israel, someone who applies for a second passport is usually seen as a person who does not fully trust the future of the Jewish state.
A defiant Netanyahu
It is obvious to everyone that over the last four years Netanyahu has modified dozens of laws to promote what almost everyone considers a judicial revolution that seeks to give absolute powers to the executive at the expense of the Supreme Court.
The Minister of Justice, Yariv Levin, one of the most belligerent members of the government, said on Sunday that the Supreme Court cannot be above the government and Parliament. He said this with the government's announcement that it will not obey a recent Supreme Court ruling, the first time in Israel's history that a government has so challenged the highest judicial authority.will not obey a recent Supreme Court ruling, the first time in Israel's history that a government has so challenged the highest judicial authority.
The opposition denounces that Netanyahu is asking the people for personal loyalty to the leader, himself, which is above loyalty to institutions. The next elections, scheduled for October, will be crucial in determining the direction taken by a country deeply divided and polarized between religion and secularism, extreme and not-so-extreme nationalism, and the populist right and the liberal center.
