Skip Navigation
Politics @beehaw.org Kwakigra @beehaw.org

Israel Is Facing Existential Threats From Inside and Out. There's One Solution

archive.is /XqsOm

This is a fascinating survey of the political realities of contemporary Israel from the perspective of an Israeli leftist. Although I don't endorse every view expressed by the author I do consider this piece to be an excellent tool to understand the internal political influences pushing and pulling in Israel right now.

Please be skeptical of the claims made in this article. This was posted for purposes of cultural insight

4
4 comments

  • It is, on the other hand, Israel's very existence that is threatened, on multiple fronts.

    The first is an immediate military threat emanating from at least six sources: Hezbollah, Hamas, West Bank Palestinians, Yemen, Iran and Syria.

    I'm already skeptical of this author after they put west bank palestinians on this list. Like, Iran? Sure, Iran is an adversary of Israel, not an existential one but an actual adversary. But The west bank is fully occupied and controlled by Israel, you cannot colonize a group and then say they're the threat to you, it makes no sense.

    The zionist idea that Israel is under threat from all sides, even from the half-starved orphans in their own colony is absurd. It's a non-starter.

    • There are many claims to be skeptical of in this article; I had to put a disclaimer in the body of my post under the link. That was the first red flag which went up for me as well. The reason I posted it was as an insight to how Israelis view the situation from their Haaretz-reading left. I was reading through many articles in their paper yesterday and this one seemed like the most relatively helpful to better understand the parties in Israel other than the outright bigots and denialists whose motivations are easier to understand.

      Edit: I mean the above as in the difference between a proud right-winger who is openly and proudly bigoted who argued they are justified vs those who have convinced themselves that there is no alternative but to go along with the bigots while recognizing the bigotry is not justified. There are clear parallels here in the US of course.

    • If I understand the reasoning correctly, having any Palestinians on the land, is an "existential threat" in two ways:

      • It gives standing to the "Two States" proposal, which goes against Israel's goal of controlling all the land.
      • There are about as many Palestinians as Israeli citizens, meaning if they were to ever hold a democratic self-determination referendum on the land, the state of Israel could actually lose.

      The zionist idea that Israel is under threat from all sides, [...] is absurd.

      It's part of the amended Zionist strategy after they realized Holocaust refugees wouldn't be enough to meet their goals: pissing Arab countries so much, that it'll put Jewish citizens under threat, so they want to seek refuge by populating Israel.

      Now they keep playing the same card both to appear as the underdog who needs aid, and to keep their own population convinced that it's a bad idea to leave Israel, but a great idea to take arms and risk their life to defend the land, while continuing the ethnic cleansing.

  • Companion Piece

    "Unfortunately, what we hear in mainstream media; this so-called 'discourse' or this so-called 'debate' between the right and the left is about that. It's about 'do we want a large Israel which is arab free or do we want a small Israel which is arab free?' This is the debate that's taking place."

    -Ronnie Barkan, Israeli Human Rights Activist, 2017