“Whoever occupies territory is responsible for the needs of the population in it. That’s simply how it is” – this is the quote next to the photo of journalist Emmanuelle Elbaz-Phelps in an advertisement for the “Relevant” website. Why did Phelps-Elbaz bother to explain the obvious? Because Israel has invented an international ploy for itself: it is possible to occupy territory, control it security-wise, yet completely shirk responsibility for the needs of the occupied civilian population.

Although the ploy is not easy to execute, with a bit of creativity and chutzpah one can certainly become an invisible occupier. To achieve this, of course, one needs to find a partner willing to be dazzled by an original combination of flattery, false promises, and threats. This is what happened in 1993, when retired Chief of Staff Yitzhak Rabin met the legendary leader of the Palestinian people, Yasser Arafat. Rabin convinced Arafat to sign the Oslo Accords with the unwritten promise that one day the Palestinians would receive a state. Thus began the bloody saga that culminated on October 7, 2024.

The most terrible aspect of the Oslo Accords was that they tainted the word “peace.” Although Rabin, Peres, and Arafat received the Nobel Peace Prize, it was for an agreement that created a reality that did not fulfil the aspirations of either the Palestinians or the Israelis. In fact, the Oslo Accords provided fertile ground for the growth of the twin phenomena we have come to know: the extreme right in the form of Netanyahu and the settlers, and Hamas, which opposed Oslo for the opposite reasons. The Israeli right wants a Greater Israel, and Hamas wants Palestine from the river to the sea. Thus, for thirty years, extremists have taken over Israeli and Palestinian internal politics. The word “occupation” disappeared from the Israeli lexicon, and Israel disappeared from the Palestinian lexicon. Israelis and Palestinians stopped communicating, each side accusing the other of nationalist extremism.

While the Israeli left invented Oslo, the Israeli right, despite initial vehement opposition, did everything to maintain it, finally recognizing its advantages. The Israeli left fully supported Ariel Sharon’s unilateral withdrawal from Gaza, and the Israeli right vigorously opposed it. However, after Hamas expelled the Palestinian Authority from Gaza, the right again embraced this new arrangement: the existence of two separate, divided, and conflicting Palestinian entities eliminated any future danger of a political settlement.

The Israeli left also adapted to the new situation, and when Bibi’s right-wing brought “regional peace” with the Gulf states, it was the left that got excited about it, even though it came at the expense of a political solution with the Palestinians. Things reached a point where left and right united in the “government for change,” headed by Bennet-Lapid which lasted only one year. What characterized it was a mutual agreement to give up in advance on any “ideological” agreement, which is a euphemism for the Palestinian issue. They thought they could fight Netanyahu without a political programme and without ideology.

Another party that did everything to uphold the Oslo Accords was the Palestinian Authority. Without its consent the agreements could not have lasted until this very day. Thus, Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) swallowed the bitter pills of settlement construction; the separation wall; checkpoints; the “hilltop” settler youth; the dispossession in south Hebron hills, and the severe violations of Palestinian human and civil rights. Abu Mazen repeatedly declared that security coordination with Israel was sacred. He quickly became a corrupt dictator, disconnected from his people, and primarily concerned with the privileges of his close associates.

It seems that the American perception dictates that whoever lives in the Middle East must come to terms with the existing autocratic regimes there when there is not a single democratic regime to be found.

Hamas also accepted the arrangement but demanded special conditions befitting its status. While Israel had full control over the West Bank, the disengagement from Gaza and the absence of an Israeli presence there created a unique situation where Hamas became the sole and all-powerful ruler under the envelope of Israeli occupation. Gaza did not separate from Israel; instead, Israel became entirely dependent on Hamas. It acceded to all its demands, from Qatari suitcases stuffed with money through close ties with Iran, the construction of an elaborate tunnel network, turning UNRWA into its executive arm, transforming schools into hotbeds of Islamic brainwashing, and every hospital into a military headquarters. Israelis became so addicted to Oslo that the commanders of the women surveillance soldiers on the Gaza border treated their warnings about Hamas’ invasion preparations with complete disdain and ignored them.

After October 7th, when Israel justly mourns the fate of the murdered, kidnapped, and displaced, when Gaza has become a battlefield with thousands of men, women, and children dead and wounded amidst an ongoing humanitarian crisis of immense proportions, both sides, the Israeli left and Hamas, want to continue maintaining the arrangement that led to this disaster. A long line of retired generals, speaking on behalf of the Israeli protest movement, emphatically tell the press that the war must stop. Retired general Israel Ziv said in an interview with Channel 12 what Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and Benny Gantz have not yet dared to say explicitly, “It seems that Gaza will be controlled by some sort of coalition, and that unfortunately Hamas will be a part of it.”

This is in essence the proposal in dispute between Defence Minister Gantz and Netanyahu. Gantz expressed strong opposition to the establishment of an Israeli military government in Gaza, which he perceives as a national disaster. The alternative he proposes: “The day after Hamas can only be achieved through the control of Palestinian forces with international supervision, which would serve as an alternative to Hamas.” The problem is that any Palestinian faction that takes responsibility for Gaza will depend on Hamas’s consent, as described by Ret. General Ziv above.

This formula is promoted by the Biden administration, which sees it as a magic solution to all of Israel’s pains – releasing all the captives, normalization with Saudi Arabia, an agreement with Hezbollah in Lebanon and with Iran regarding its nuclear program and securing shipping routes in the Red Sea. It seems that the American perception dictates that whoever lives in the Middle East must come to terms with the existing autocratic regimes there when there is not a single democratic regime to be found. All that remains is to try to contain extreme Islam in its Iranian or Saudi version. This is the essence of American policy not only in the Middle East. According to this model, Zelensky will also have to come to terms with Russia’s occupation of Ukraine, because the US is not seeking wars and is willing to go to great lengths to prevent them.

And so, we find ourselves at the threshold of an imagined “upgraded” Oslo, based on an upgraded Palestinian Authority and with a supposedly “tamed” Hamas, and we must choose between an Israeli military government and the same magic solution that brings us back to the reality of October 6th. The truth is, neither the Americans nor the Israeli military and its representatives in the government have any real alternative to a military government. And since “whoever occupies territory is responsible for the needs of the population in it,” as Emmanuelle Elbaz-Phelps rightly said, Israel will have no choice but to establish a military government as the only realistic alternative to Hamas rule.

Apart from defending Israel as a democracy (albeit flawed) against the right wing’s attempt to impose an undemocratic coup, the Da’am Party has found itself at variance with the Israeli left at every historical juncture: we vehemently opposed the Oslo Accords in 1993, we also opposed the unilateral disengagement plan from Gaza in 2005, and we strongly oppose the current American plan for an upgraded Oslo. All of these agreements have served only to strengthen the right and wipe the left off the political map – witness the fate of the Labor and Meretz parties.

Each of these plans has been designed to perpetuate Israeli control over the Palestinian people and has only increased hostility between the two nations. In 1993, the opportunity to establish an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel was missed. In 2005, the chance to reach an agreement with the Palestinians regarding the withdrawal from Gaza was also missed. Now, the left is working to revive the monster of the upgraded Oslo Accords to separate from the Palestinians at any cost, without considering their fate at all.

October 7 must become a lesson. The world is tired of the occupation, Hamas and Abbas are not partners for peace, and only a true pursuit of peaceful coexistence on an equal basis with the Palestinians will ensure both our and their survival in this region. The Israeli true interest is to encourage the growth of a democratic Palestinian movement, and the Palestinian true interest requires dialogue and cooperation with democratic and liberal Israeli forces. Unfortunately, the existence of military rule in Gaza will illustrate to Israelis that there are no shortcuts and no subcontracted occupation. The only way to exist here is on the basis of national and civil equality between the two peoples. Only with such an understanding can a political settlement be reached that will ensure the future of both Israelis and Palestinians.

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“Lead not by example of power, but the power of our example,” was President Biden’s rallying cry at the beginning of his tenure. Due to Donald Trump’s refusal to acknowledge his election loss, the United States narrowly escaped a coup attempt following the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021. Since then, democracy in America can no longer be taken for granted. The economic and social crisis that befell the U.S. following the 2008 financial meltdown shook the foundations of its democracy, leading to unprecedented social and political polarization. In Russia, autocracy replaced communism, and in the US Donald Trump was crowned as the representative of dictators, such as Putin through Bolsonaro, Orban to Xi Jinping.

Learning from the bitter experience of the failed Iraq and Afghanistan wars, Biden decided that the struggle for democracy would not be waged through military force akin to the methods of George W. Bush, but through profound economic and social change. America would return to its New Deal roots, and on a grand scale. This was undoubtedly a revolutionary approach. Such change could propel American society forward based on the technological revolution, investment in the public sector, especially in education, and thus surpass competitors, primarily China and Russia.

However, reality is much more complex, and Biden’s days of grace ended the moment Putin decided to seize control of Ukraine and capture Kyiv. Only a year passed between Biden’s entry into the White House and the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Lacking high technology and economic achievements to boast about, Putin decided to use his military power to maintain Russia’s status as a global power.

Putin decided to challenge Biden and managed to surprise him, despite his strategic failure to capture Kyiv. Thus, the American government entered a confrontation between two superpowers, with Biden concerned that Kyiv would survive, but on the other that Russia would not be utterly and disgracefully defeated. This formula served to play into Putin’s hands, as he succeeded in proving that the United States fears of spreading the conflict throughout Europe. A year and a half passed between the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Hamas’s invasion of Israel, and more than one line connects these two events.

The Tehran-Moscow axis was formed during the war in Ukraine, without a clear opposing axis being formed against it. The Netanyahu government, and later the Bennett-Lapid government, adopted a “neutral” stance towards Ukraine. Netanyahu, out of sympathy to the anti-liberal camp led by Trump and Putin, and Bennett-Lapid out of narrow considerations of safeguarding Israeli interests, even if they come at the expense of US interests and those of democracies in Europe.

Thus, the gap between Israel and the American government widened, especially with the establishment of the ultra-right-wing government under Netanyahu. The rupture in relations between the US and Israel, Netanyahu’s attempted judicial coup, his government’s loss of international legitimacy, and the massive protest movement that erupted in Israel going as far as threats of refusal to serve in the IDF, if Israel goes all the way in its judicial coup  – all these created optimal conditions for the October 7 massacre.

During the three years since Biden entered the White House, the power of positive example has only weakened, and American democracy has failed to overcome the looming threat to the regime. Donald Trump continues to threaten democracy and strengthen in polls despite the legal proceedings against him. Alongside this, the American Congress has become an example of utter lack in governance, with a small group of extremists controlling its agenda.

Biden failed in spreading the American example worldwide, while Putin managed to organize an extreme faction within the Republican Party that succeeded in delaying approval of American aid to Ukraine for six whole months. This is the harsh reality in which the US (and thus the world) finds itself, and from which American foreign policy is derived. Biden is now primarily fighting for the survival of democracy in the US, and his considerations are subordinated to the goal of thwarting fascism at home.

From here, one can understand the White House’s position regarding the Gaza war. October 7 was a strategic blow that threatened to undermine Israel. When Netanyahu’s government was paralyzed and in disarray, Biden arrived in Israel within 12 days to clarify America’s full support. From America’s point of view, an Israeli defeat was not possible because it would have represented a victory for Putin and Iran, endangering not just the Middle East but Europe too. Biden’s support for Israel stemmed primarily from a vital interest of American democracy itself.

However, Israel is not viewed with the same sympathy as Ukraine; it carries the stain of 55 years of occupation and the most right-wing, fascist government in its history. Additionally, the political and security establishment, from both right and left, nurtured, and fed the Hamas monster. On that cursed day, Israel found itself weakened and defeated despite its absolute technological and military superiority.

After the world recovered from the horrors of October 7, it began to express its full condemnation of Israel. The scenes of destruction and the deaths of over 30,000 Gaza residents automatically transformed into accusations of genocide and deliberate starvation of the civilian population. Ironically, Netanyahu is now subjected to severe criticism for his past refusal to occupy Gaza and eliminate Hamas. The justification for his refusal appears in a passage from his book “Bibi – My Story,” written a year ago:

“In light of the recurring public demands from Bennett, with Lieberman’s support, to occupy the Gaza Strip, I convened the cabinet. I asked the Chief of Staff to present a ground occupation plan and the human cost it would entail. I then asked the Ministry of Defence to assess the resources needed to manage Gaza after the war. I believed that the human cost and resources did not justify such action.”

In other words, the occupation of Gaza and the immense toll it exacted in destruction and loss of life did not stem from an Israeli plan. It was a result of the arrogance and madness of Hamas. Only a fanatic organization like it could carry out such an unjustifiable massacre. However, all of this doesn’t interest the radical faction within the Democratic Party, for whom white Israel represents the villains, while Palestinians are seen as the good guys, even if they support Hamas.

Despite all efforts to “balance” support for Israel with support for Palestinians, warnings by Biden and his officials about the large number of casualties, the humanitarian crisis, Israel’s refusal to accept the two-state solution, refusal to accept Netanyahu in the White House, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s explicit call to oust Netanyahu and hold elections now, have turned into a coordinated campaign. This made the war illegitimate because the government is not legitimate. Even the hostages became a card in the hands of the United States to pressure and vilify Israel. It seems that the situation has spiralled out of control: Hamas has gained legitimacy, and the Muslim Brotherhood leaders are leading protests across Europe and infiltrating campuses in the US. It has come to the point where even Iran has joined the bloodbath and launched unprecedented missile attacks on Israel.

The power of example has weakened to the extent that following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Biden unwillingly went to Riyadh to visit Mohammed bin Salman, the man responsible for the Khashoggi murder, and to sign a strategic agreement with Qatar. Recently, Thomas Friedman proposed in a New York Times article that Israel needs to choose between Riyadh and Rafah. In other words, to choose between an agreement to allow Hamas to remain in Gaza in exchange for the gift of normalization with Saudi Arabia, or to abandon both. The democratic vision has shrunk to a “day after” vision that many in the Israeli left are enthusiastic about, despite being based on the autocratic Saudi kingdom, with its extreme ideology and religious regime, such, that Smotrich and Ben Gvir can only envy.

The vision of world peace and democracy cannot exist alongside Putin, Khamenei, Xi Jinping, and Mohammed bin Salman. It also cannot exist alongside Trump, Netanyahu, Orban, and the extreme European right. America must stand with every democratic force in the world, especially if such a force does arise in the Arab world. In Israel, we took to the streets for months in support of democracy, yet we have not found even one Palestinian partner. If, amid all this destruction, a new Israeli-Palestinian democratic movement is created that aspires to build a shared democratic and egalitarian future, we can also be part of the force of example, and forever abandon the example of force.

The post The Power of Example first appeared on Da'am Party: One state - Green Economy.

Chuck Schumer, the American Senate Majority Leader, urged Israelis to hold elections to oust Bibi Netanyahu, signaling a profound disruption in US-Israel relations. Schumer’s impassioned plea reflected concerns about Israel’s future following the October 7th events. However, what truly unnerves American officials is Trump’s looming presence, which casts a shadow over Biden’s presidency.

Netanyahu’s fate hung in the balance that fateful Saturday, as he and Israel’s military leaders teetered on the brink of total paralysis. It was only Biden’s resounding cry – “Don’t!” – that stopped this collapse and gave the nation a chance to regroup, though the trauma remains.

Despite his socioeconomic policies and positive macroeconomic indicators, Biden’s fate hangs in the balance. His firm stance against Putin’s aggression and his support for workers, African Americans, and women do not help his popularity. In contrast, as Donald Trump ramps up his fascist rhetoric, loses ground in legal battles against him, is depicted as a pathological liar, thief, and provocateur, his popularity only rises.

The severe blow suffered by Israel, coupled with its lack of preparation for mentally and militarily handling the magnitude of the disaster caused by Hamas’s attack, compelled Biden to reluctantly enter a destructive and perilous arena. The American president found himself unwittingly starring in a horror movie, depicting unprecedented destruction, death, and starvation, leaving the world horrified and questioning how can a powerful military force like Israel be let to crush a civilian population of refugees who have already lost so much.

In the streets of Israel, the contemptuous slogan “You’re the head, you’re guilty” is directed at Benjamin Netanyahu, who refuses to acknowledge his responsibility for the October 7 massacre. Simultaneously, mass protests are erupting in the streets of New York and numerous cities across the US, with demonstrators labeling Biden as “Genocide Joe.”

Israel is accused of genocide, while Biden is directly blamed for its actions in Gaza. The protesters’ demand that Biden declare an immediate ceasefire implies granting a lifeline to Hamas and giving the green light to advance its plan to establish the Islamic state “from the river to the sea”. The problem is that the protesters are part of Biden’s coalition, and without their support he will struggle to prevail over Trump. The latter’s victory would plunge the US into the abyss. We’ve already seen this movie.

Fate has set the stage for a head-on clash between Biden and Netanyahu, each grappling with an existential dilemma. On one side stands Bibi’s coalition with Ben Gvir and Smotrich, facing off against Biden’s coalition with Bernie Sanders and Rashida Tlaib. These are two opposing coalitions, with the former comprising extreme right-wing elements and the latter including radical leftists and the activist Black Lives Matter movement. Biden is employing every possible tactic to dismantle the partnership between Bibi, Ben Gvir, and Smotrich. He has labeled them undesirable figures, imposed sanctions on settlers, and emphasized to Bibi that their actions and statements are causing significant reputational damage to Israel.

However, Bibi is not yielding. He understands that ending the partnership with Ben Gvir and Smotrich would collapse his government and mark the end of his political career. The confrontation between Bibi and Biden began over a year ago when Minister of Justice Yariv Levin announced the overhaul in Israel’s judiciary and Smotrich called for the wiping out of Huwara. Today, five months after the October 7th onslaught, with Gaza in ruins and images of death and despair broadcasted worldwide, the relationship between the two leaders has deteriorated into a zero-sum game: Bibi or Biden.

It appears that both sides have abandoned restraint. Netanyahu has mustered 100 Knesset members to oppose the idea of a two-state solution, and he is once again mobilizing his base for a direct confrontation with Biden. In doing so, Netanyahu positions himself as the singular leader capable of “standing up to American pressure”; the sole figure capable of preventing the formation of a Palestinian state; and the only one who can lead Israel in “eliminating Hamas.” Those who align with Biden are painted as betrayers, while anyone advocating for immediate elections undermines the prospect of achieving “total victory.” Biden is portrayed as someone who has shifted from ally to adversary. According to the Israeli government’s perspective, Biden is working against Israeli interests due to electoral considerations, and Chuck Schumer is criticized for treating Israel as a puppet state.

And who bears responsibility for the grave failure on October 7th? According to Bibi’s narrative, the primary culprits are the Army Chief of Staff and the head of the Israel Security Agency, both of whom should be dismissed. But what about Bibi himself? He insists on remaining. While every official or general has a potential successor, Bibi does not. As demonstrated over the past two decades, each time it seemed Bibi was on the verge of downfall, he managed to rebound. According to him, the Israeli populace seeks a resolute leader like Netanyahu, who, along with other “strong” leaders such as Putin and Erdogan, eagerly awaits the return of their ally Donald Trump to the White House.

Biden’s challenge doesn’t just lie with Bibi and his administration. Chuck Schumer, in his address, highlighted the malignant influence of extremism, which obstructs any prospects for peace. Alongside Smotrich and Ben Gvir, he also indicted Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. This list could be extended to include figures like Khamenei, Ben Salman, and Nasrallah, who govern oppressive regimes antithetical to democratic principles.

Moreover, akin to Bibi, Biden finds himself contending with extremist factions. One faction seeks to transform the entirety of Israel into a halachic, autocratic state, while the other aims for Palestine, from the river to the sea, as an Islamic, fundamentalist state. However, while Biden and Schumer grapple with the extremist fringes within their party, Netanyahu fully aligns himself with the far-right. He’s willing to imperil Israel’s future, its democratic ethos, and its standing among civilized nations, all in pursuit of maintaining his grip on power.

There exists a crucial factor capable of safeguarding democracy, both in America and Israel. It’s an element seldom acknowledged, yet it remains potent. It’s the sole force capable of offering alternatives, having thwarted regime changes through sustained and unwavering activism. If Biden has an ally in Israel, it’s the protest movement—hundreds of thousands of activists once again taking to the streets, clamoring for “elections now.”

While all coalition parties and most opposition parties were entangled in a mindset that aimed to manage rather than solve the conflict with the Palestinians, allowing the situation to fester, the protest movement emerged as a formidable force against messianic extremism, ultra-Orthodoxy, settler movements, and any aspirations to transform Israel into a dictatorship. The protest movement envisions an egalitarian, democratic Israel that lives in peace and harmony with its Palestinian neighbors. Supporters of democracy refuse to accept an apartheid state or a halachic state, prompting them to take to the streets to forge a new reality and secure the future for generations to come.

This is why Israel urgently needs elections. The political leadership and security establishment have lost the trust of the people. The upcoming election won’t revolve around the question of whether to establish a Palestinian state, as Netanyahu would prefer. Instead, voters will face a straightforward query – who is accountable for the October 7th tragedy? Who advocated and advanced the failed strategy? In the upcoming elections, the debate will focus on whether to manage or resolve the conflict. Those who were willing to empower Hamas in order to block a political resolution will find themselves sidelined. Their approach will be relegated to the dustbin of history.

Will Netanyahu’s departure from the political stage resolve the Palestinian issue? Probably not. Ultimately, the fate of this question rests with the Palestinians themselves. Unfortunately, many Palestinians view the Palestinian Authority as an inevitable fate and are swayed by Hamas’s extremist and militant rhetoric, as well as its imagined triumphs. Ultimately, it will be their decision to chart their future course.

And what about Biden’s future? Netanyahu’s exit will undoubtedly bolster Biden’s position and empower the moderate factions within his party, potentially leading to victory over Trump and the fascist camp in the United States. If that scenario unfolds, good enough!

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On a popular daily morning radio program, Hili Tropper a cabinet minister of the more moderate National Unity, was asked his position on Biden’s two-state proposal. Tropper’s answer was unequivocal – “currently irrelevant.” If we add to this, Netanyahu’s utter rejection of the American-Egyptian hostage deal proposal, it seems Biden is gradually losing ground among Israeli leadership. Biden’s popularity peaked when he stationed the USS Eisenhower off the Lebanese coast, expressing unconditional support for Israel. His triple warning of Hezbollah and Iran – “don’t” – is well remembered.

It is difficult to speak of a Palestinian state when 80% of Palestinians in the West Bank support the Saturday, October 7^th attack by Hamas, while the majority in Israel utterly deny full Palestinian sovereignty, especially considering the Hamas assault.

Israeli society is more divided than ever. The government against the military command, the right against the left, with debate over the fate of the hostages hanging above it all. Should we agree to an end to the fighting to save the hostages from Hamas, or continue the war, hoping that military pressure will soften Hamas?

The political issue also divides society. The government refuses to discuss the “the day after,” a refusal which the military claims results in the loss of military achievements attained with the blood of some 200 dead soldiers and thousands of wounded. A Palestinian state is not part of the discussion at all, and it appears there exists a massive short circuit in communication between the Americans and Israelis.

Notwithstanding, the cabinet’s political debate is interesting. It divides the unity government. Netanyahu claims that discussion about “the day after” will take place when the war ends, while Gantz and Eisenkot (and Tropper) claim the day after is here and now. In other words, the war in its intense form is over, and we must now decide what to do. One might ask, how is it possible that Netanyahu and Gantz are sitting in the same war cabinet, managing the battles together while disagreeing on a fundamental question: war or no war?

The reality on the ground makes it possible to better understand this conundrum. In fact, Israel divided Gaza into two, Gaza North and Gaza South. In northern Gaza, the war ended, and the army partially withdrew. This is the area over which debate exists – what to do with it and who will control it. Benny Gantz is gambling on local Palestinian officials to manage the lives of the 150,000 Gazans who remain there, while Smotrich and Ben Gvir want to annex the territory to Israel and settle it with settlers. And what does Bibi want? He wants to survive. If he goes with Smotrich and Ben Gvir, he will lose the partnership with Gantz, and Biden will come out against him. If Bibi goes with Gantz, his coalition falls apart and his political future ends in failure.

While Biden is attempting to get to the root of the problem, searching for a sustainable solution to the bloody Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Israel’s coalition and opposition are squabbling over the future of northern Gaza. The Israelis are not currently open to radical solutions. In truth, they never were. They have always preferred conflict management over conflict resolution.

Despite the inner feeling of every Israeli that October 7th is a definitive moment, the greatest disaster that has befallen the country since its founding, there is currently no openness or mental energy to get to the bottom of things. On the surface, everyone understands that the army failed and trust in it was shattered. Everyone understands that the primary person responsible for the disaster sits at the top of the pyramid, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. He denies responsibility while placing it on the army, all of whose commanders have already taken responsibility for this failure.

And here is the absurdity: What is Netanyahu’s failure? He trusted Hamas, financed it, allowed it to grow stronger in order to weaken the Palestinian Authority and bury the two-state idea once and for all. After all this, Biden come’s to him yet again with the same mantra of a Palestinian state. Netanyahu’s conclusion: There is no one to trust, neither the Palestinian Authority nor Hamas. And what should be done? He doesn’t currently have an answer and anyways be quiet, there is fighting going on!

Faced with this colossal failure, which brought Israel to its knees and forced the United States to come to its rescue, the American president, who put all his eggs in the Israeli basket, is scratching his head. How can Israeli eyes be opened, how to convince them that the illusion that the conflict can be managed instead of solved is what underlies the October 7 failure? I will bring them a solution in the form of a Palestinian state wrapped in Saudi finery. Maybe they won’t like the gift itself, but the wrapping will tempt them to accept it.

The trouble with Biden is that he doesn’t really have anyone with whom to work. The players he counts on are very far from his worldview and policies. How can one trust Saudi’s Mohammed bin Salman, the same MBS whom Biden declared upon his election to be an undesirable personality? What Palestinian Authority can be built with a bloody prince who despises democracy, and slaughters political opponents? What kind of Palestinian Authority can be established when its representatives are involved in corruption and suppress every sign of freedom and democracy?  Above all, what kind of “upgraded” Palestinian Authority will be built when Hamas hides behind it? Isn’t this simply a replication of the Hezbollah model, which hides behind the Lebanese government but is the determinant player?

So, what’s left of the Biden plan? Not much, except that it helps get rid of Israel’s messianic, extreme right-wing government once and for all. Is this a worthy goal? Yes. Is it essential? Yes. Is it practical? Yes.

2024 is an election year in the United States and possibly in Israel as well. The two election systems are intertwined. On one side will stand the Trump-Netanyahu duo, on the other Gantz and Israel’s entire opposition together with Biden. Trump symbolizes chaos and the trampling of democracy while Bibi symbolizes the end of democracy and nurturing the annexation ambitions of Smotrich and Ben Gvir. The overthrow of Netanyahu would undoubtedly be an achievement for Biden and the turning of a new Israeli page, while Trump’s victory would be a blow to every liberal and democrat all over the world and a disaster for the Americans.

But, in the end, the truth is that a solution depends solely on the Israelis and the Palestinians themselves. They have lived side by side, on the small area of land between the river and the sea for eight decades. Their safety and well-being depend only on themselves, and what they decide or not decide to do. Neither Biden nor Muhammad bin Salman can save them from themselves.

 The democratic camp in Israel, which demonstrated many months for a democratic Israel, cannot be satisfied solely with overthrowing Bibi’s failed government. If the democratic camp wants to defeat the messianic Jews, the fascists, the corrupt and to reboot Israeli society, it must grab the bull by the horns. It is not enough to strive for unity among Israelis. This reboot requires resolving the conflict with the Palestinians.

The road is indeed long. Relying on dictators like bin Salman, Sisi, and Abdullah will not shorten it. To secure the future of the Palestinian people, the growth of a Palestinian democratic movement is essential. Such a movement does not currently exist, to the detriment of both the Palestinians and Israelis. Every Israeli democratic movement that sincerely strives for peace is obliged to clearly and unequivocally recognize the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination, freedom and equality. This right, which cannot be undermined, should be guaranteed in whatever political form is decided upon at the end of the process.

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On the “day of disruption,” when hundreds of thousands took to the streets in protest against the planned repeal of the reasonableness clause, thousands gathered in front of the American Embassy in Tel Aviv, waving American flags alongside Israeli ones. The protesters’ demand from US President Biden is clear: “don’t give in,” and don’t invite Netanyahu to the White House as long as he doesn’t reject the anti-democratic legislation. In an interview with Fareed Zakaria two days before the demonstration, Biden spoke harshly against the Netanyahu government, defining it as “the most extreme in the history of Israel.” Biden clarified that not only the legal coup bothers him, but also the composition of the current coalition and its fascist positions.

To remove any doubt, New York Times commentator Thomas Friedman “translated” Biden’s intention. Friedman wrote that for generations, American administrations maintained special relations with Israel based on a “fiction” that Israel acts according to its acceptance of the two-state principle. On this basis, American administrations regularly vetoed any condemnation of Israel in the UN Security Council. Now, however, Israel’s right-wing government has put an end to this fiction. The appointment of Bezalel Smotrich as governor of the West Bank essentially buries the idea of two states. Smotrich intends to officially perpetuate the apartheid regime that Israeli governments set up for him in the West Bank. Thomas Friedman goes further and proposes, according to this logic, not to exempt the half million settlers from visas to the US, unless the same exemption applies to the 2.5 million Palestinians in the West Bank.

The Biden administration, whose support the protesters requested in front of the embassy, also presents them with a challenge. The administration is troubled not only by the judicial coup, but also by the fate of Israel, because it continues to control 5 million Palestinians who lack all rights or status. After all, the connection between the coup and apartheid is clear: first the High Court is eliminated, then the West Bank is annexed.

The American perspective is much broader, and stems from internal and global interests. The Biden administration is fighting for America’s soul. It stands against Trump and his fascist movement, which is an existential threat to the US and the world, no less than the messianic right is an existential threat to Israel. It is no coincidence that from the beginning of his term, Biden divided the countries of the world into two camps, the democratic versus the autocratic. If the judicial coup succeeds, Israel will belong to the autocratic camp represented today by Putin, Orban, and Xi Jinping.

Biden is surely aware of the dangers arising to any democracy following adoption of the market-based neoliberal approach. This conservative theory, the so-called “trickle-down economy,” was enthusiastically embraced by Netanyahu. Yet this economy, in the US as in Israel, has created tremendous social gaps, which have led to poverty and despair concerning democracy, and through which nationalism, racism, homophobia and fascism have penetrated. When elected president, Biden presented a new-old paradigm, returning to Roosevelt’s New Deal updated for the 21st century. The state, that same “fat” apparatus that Netanyahu loves to vilify, returns to play a central role in the economy.

Biden declared himself the best friend of organized labor. Today, instead of favoring multinational corporations, he prioritizes the middle class and the workers. He invests hundreds of billions to advance high-tech enterprises, renewable energy, public infrastructure and support for students and poor families. In this way he is changing the face of the United States. This is how the “Bidenomics” economy was born, putting an end to 40 years of “Reaganomics.” Biden’s victory over Trump was a direct result of huge protest movements that swept the US. Black Lives Matter and the women’s movement, among others, brought Biden a victory by 7 million votes over Trump, who to this day refuses to acknowledge these results.

Herein lies the great difference between the Israeli protest movement and the American. In the Biden administration, white, black, Latina, indigenous and LGBTQ persons serve side by side, in a tremendous display of tolerance and diversity. In contrast, Jewish Israel expresses a religious, national, and gender monolith. To eradicate Israeli messianism, much more is needed than halting legislation. Those who seek Biden’s support must look at and embrace the principles of Biden’s politics and their assimilation into Israeli reality.

Since the Israeli protest aims at the broadest common denominator, it ignores the above-mentioned “fiction” of an eventual two-state solution, taking care not to mention the “occupation” (a taboo word). This is perhaps the greatest victory of the messianic camp. Although the protest movement sees this camp as the root of all evil, detesting its claim that “we are all brothers,” it may be laying the foundations for dealing with the “fiction” after overthrow of the government. Yet that overthrow would also leave us with an unresolved issue: we don’t have a Biden, and we don’t have a party similar to the Democrats, which includes all the protest movements. The candidates to replace Bibi are Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz, both of whom advocate a hawkish security policy and the same neoliberal economic platform that created the enormous social gaps on which Bibi’s populism rides.

And another obstacle: when the Israeli protest movement waves the American flag, the Arab society in Israel and the Palestinians in the occupied territories remain indifferent and inactive. While the black movement in the USA supported Biden wholeheartedly and rallied for his victory, here the Palestinians and the Arabs in Israel cling to the old clichés. They view Biden as a representative of “American imperialism” that supports Israel unconditionally. This is a great historical tragedy. Not only does the Israeli protest remain without a Palestinian ally, who could influence its attitudes and shape the identity of a future state, but the Palestinians themselves are perpetuating the horrible reality in which they live. The anti-democratic and homophobic movements set the tone, and all that is left for the Palestinian intellectual is to blame the occupation, Israel, the protest, Biden, the Arab world and the rest of the world for his troubles, never himself.

The guarantee of the protest’s success is not only the infinite dedication of its members, but also the support of the American government. However, in order to turn this support into a sustainable relationship, the protest must embrace Biden’s worldview, his fight for democracy at home and abroad, his uncompromising support for Ukraine against the Russian invasion, and an economic doctrine that strengthens democracy in the United States and in the world. Biden’s victory will guarantee the victory of democracy in the United States, in the world and in Israel. A Trump victory would give Israeli fascism a huge boost, and be a fatal blow to the protest movement.

The Israeli protest movement is moving in the right direction. The very fact that it knew how to draw the dividing line between democracy and dictatorship puts it on the right track, and it flows with the direction of human history. If one day millions of Palestinians join it in a broad Jewish-Arab democratic movement, democracy will win and ensure its existence for many years.

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Joe Biden said an unequivocal “no.” Bibi Netanyahu is not invited to the White House until further notice. In other words, until his constitutional coup d’état disappears. Netanyahu’s answer, “don’t interfere in Israel’s internal affairs,” was not long in coming. In response, media commentators tried to interpret this American “no”. Haaretz’s lead editorial defended Biden, explaining that his motives are pure and he speaks “as a supporter and lover of Israel.” Some explain the “no” due to the president’s Irish temperament or his advanced age, and some even attributed it to an unfortunate slip of the tongue. On the other hand, Bibi’s son Yair had accused the CIA of being behind the protests, a statement that must have angered the president. Everyone anticipated a quick fix from the White House that would lower the flames. A statement was indeed made, but the flames did not subside.

Right wing commentators mentioned the long-standing friendship between the two old friends. It was claimed that Biden is a Zionist, that even in the days of Clinton and Obama there were crises, but that strategic relations are stronger than any dispute because Israel is a strategic asset that the US cannot give up. In short, the US needs us more than we need it. So, we can raze the Palestinian village of Hawara, establish a private militia for Minister of National Security Ben Gvir, annul the disengagement law and fire the defense minister without breaking the bank, because Bibi knows the Americans better than they know themselves. As you may recall, on March 3, 2015, Netanyahu addressed Congress in a defiant speech aimed at thwarting Obama’s attempt to reach an agreement with Iran. It was Netanyahu back then who crudely interfered in internal American politics and contributed his part to Trump’s electoral victory. Since then, Bibi and Trump became identical twins, with Trump starring in Likud’s election posters and Bibi starring in countless White House ceremonies.

Precisely here lies the explanation for Biden’s resounding “no”. The American president may love Israel, but he loves America more. Biden is leading a historic crusade to save the soul of America from the clutches of American fascism as represented by Trump. Something momentous occurred on January 6, 2021, the day Trump’s supporters broke into the Capitol, and Biden’s struggle is primarily aimed at saving American democracy which, it turned out, is not a given. The Israeli right-wing did not take the event seriously and continues to admire Trump, seeing him as Israel’s best friend ever.

Not only Israel underestimated Biden. Also, Russia did when it invaded Ukraine without any hesitation. And where did Israel stand? On the side of democracy or on the side of autocracy? A Putin victory in Ukraine, as well as a victory of Bibi’s constitutional coup, will affect American politics itself as Trumpism continues to threaten America’s democratic regime. This is why US policy has changed. In Israel, they refuse to understand that today’s America is not the America of Clinton, Bush and even Obama. While Biden is moving at a dizzying pace for radical social change based on the Build Back Better program, Israel is moving in the opposite direction, towards neo-liberal conservatism and extreme theocracy. Biden’s “no” accurately reflects the chasm that has opened between the two countries.

The American political language underwent a radical change: the language of the conservatives, who censor movies and books, prohibit abortions, hate the LGBTQ community and are hostile to blacks, compared to the liberal language, which calls for ethnic inclusion and a social safety net for all. It is not difficult to guess which language is spoken by the Israeli government of Smotrich, Ben Gvir, Levin, and Bibi himself.

In a brilliant article published by the New York Times on March 27, Aron Heller compared the American right to the Israeli right. The equivalent of Republican red is Netanyahu’s coalition, which defines itself along identity lines and includes the ultra-orthodox, religious Zionism and low-income Mizrachis . In contrast, the democratic blue is represented in Israel by the upper middle class, educated Ashkenazim living in the big cities and in the center of the country. Heller shows how the American right-wing platform took over Israeli society through extremist emissaries with American citizenship, starting with Rabbi Meir Kahane in the 1980s and ending with founder of the Kohelet Forum and its chairman Moshe Kopel in the last decade. These representatives live in the settlements and take advantage of the growing rift in Israeli society to impose their libertarian views straight from the Federalist Society, which through Trump forced the most conservative Supreme Court to overturn the right to abortion. It’s no secret that Kohelet has been managing the entire ideological array of the Knesset right for years through position papers and laws it writes for Knesset members. Now they want to jump to the next level and take over the Supreme Court as well.

Like Trump and the conservatives in America, Netanyahu adopted piggish capitalist policies, creating one of the biggest social gaps in the Western world. “The Second Israel” was built within the 40 years of Likud rule. The false claim of Likud spokespersons is that even when in power Likud does not actually rule because the centers of control are in fact in the hands of the elites. This matches the perception of Trump who sees the army, police, prosecutor’s office and the media as part of the “deep state” and fights against all signs of the democratic regime. As in the US, the lower class in Israel also flocks to the charismatic leader, despite his belonging to the same “elites.”

Biden is confronting fascism through a social program designed to correct history and win back the workers who supported Trump through a social budget that is one of the largest in history, reminiscent of Roosevelt’s New Deal. Hundreds of billions of dollars are invested in infrastructure, factories and social programs to build “from the bottom up,” instead of the “trickle down” theory folly that allows the rich to get richer while the poor wait for some of this wealth to trickle down to them. We paradoxically witness how “Bibi-ism”, which is rooted in poverty and social gaps, continues to foster elitist capitalism while insulting the outstanding “hi-tech nation” against whose perpetrators it conducts a campaign of violent incitement from every possible megaphone.

Yet Israeli fascism is not fed by social gaps alone. It is deeply rooted in racism and hatred of Arabs, who serve as ideological fuel that drives the deep right. The Kohelet Policy Forum, which represents pure capitalism, also represents a messianic ideology that views annexation of the occupied territories as realization of their desires. They long to see Israel in the form of a Jewish kingdom whose constitution is Jewish religious law, and which represents the supremacy of the Jews over other nations. Unlike the US, in Israel the right-wing ideology has infiltrated the public discourse. Liberals stopped talking about the occupation, put up with ignoring the voice of the Arabs in the Knesset (see our former article “only the Jewish vote counts”), normalized apartheid, gave up on solving the Palestinian problem, and contented themselves with managing the conflict and “economic peace” until they reached the current abyss and said “enough is enough”.

Like American liberalism, Israeli liberalism is also facing a historical test today. Biden’s “no” is decisive, and includes all types of racism, misogyny, and violation of human rights. One might say that Biden issued a red card not only to Bibi Netanyahu and his Messianic ultra-orthodox coalition, but also lit a warning light to the protest movement.

The future of Israeli democracy will not be guaranteed until it ceases to be a privilege granted only to Jews. It must also include the Palestinians, meaning all people living between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, regardless of religion, nationality, race or gender. It is true that democracy needs to be anchored in a constitution, but it must be comprehensive and not incomplete. Democracy cannot ignore five million Palestinians living in its backyard. It will have to be inclusive, uniting the Israeli and Palestinian peoples, within the framework of one egalitarian and democratic state.

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With formation of the Netanyahu government, President Biden announced that he looks forward to working with the new prime minister to promote comprehensive regional peace between Israelis and Palestinians. An official statement from the White House noted that “the United States will continue to support the two state solution and to oppose policies that endanger its viability or contradict our mutual interests and values.” Indeed, within a very short time, the two figures in charge of American foreign and security policy, Jake Sullivan, the National Security Advisor at the White House, and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, will visit Israel to promote cooperation with the current government. Blinken also added that he will judge Netanyahu’s sixth government “according to the policies it promotes, and not according to the personalities of its members.”

However, it seems that these preliminary statements of the American administration left no impression on Netanyahu and his partners. They have already locked themselves in coalition agreements with the parties of Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir, whose values are the polar opposite to those of the Biden administration. The two leave no room for doubt that the two-state solution has been deeply buried. Moreover, there is not one single political party in Israel today, on either the right or left, that believes in this solution. In fact, Biden and his administration offer a solution which no political force in Israel believes can be implemented. The basic guidelines of the new government clearly state: “The Jewish people have an exclusive and unquestionable right to all parts of the Land of Israel. The government will promote and develop settlement in all parts of the Land of Israel, in the Galilee, the Negev, the Golan and Judea and Samaria.”

While the American representatives are packing their suitcases for their visits to Israel, the sixth Netanyahu government is hastening to pass the laws necessary so the coalition agreements will not remain only on paper. Even before formation of the government, the Knesset had already enacted the Smotrich Law, making him a minister in the Defense Ministry in addition to being the finance minister. The goal is to transfer to him the Civil Administration, hitherto subordinate to the military’s Central Command commander and responsible for managing the lives of the Palestinians and settlers living in this area. Smotrich’s goal is to “naturalize” the military government, an act that means the practical annexation of the territories under Israel’s exclusive control and which contain all the settlements. As a complementary step, Justice Minister Yariv Levin has announced a regime change that leaves the executive, legislative and judicial powers in the hands of one-person, Prime Minister Netanyahu.

While the Biden administration clings to the two-state solution, the reality on the ground proves that this solution has become irrelevant. Already during Netanyahu’s first visit to the White House, President Trump announced that the two-state solution was dead, and worked with all his might to ensure its death. Trump moved the American embassy to Jerusalem, announced the “deal of the century” allowing the annexation of settlements to Israel, and turned the Palestinian state into a canton under Israeli sovereignty. When the Palestinian Authority refused to cooperate with this hallucinatory plan, Jared Kushner engineered for Netanyahu the Abraham Accords that skip over the Palestinians entirely and ignore their rights. In fact, this regional peace abandoned peace with the Palestinians, under the auspices of Arab countries including Morocco, Egypt, Sudan, Jordan and the Gulf countries, and all with enthusiastic American support.

Although the Biden administration opposes any trace of Trump’s policies or decisions in the USA itself, it warmly embraces the Abraham Accords, leaves the embassy in Jerusalem while simultaneously declaring its support for the two-state solution. This is an irreconcilable contradiction: the autocratic Arab states, dictators and kings, abandoned the Palestinian issue and reached agreements with Israel. There is no party in Israel that raises the Palestinian issue at the center of its platform. Even Meretz, which advocated a two-state solution, gave up its principles to join the Government of Change (GoC) led by the head of Yemina party (To the Right), Naftali Bennett, alas, this did not help because it remained outside the current Knesset. You’ll recall that all members of the GoC decided to give up pursuing all conflicting ideological issues, with the aim of overthrowing Bibi Netanyahu. He indeed fell, until he rose again.

It seems that the Biden administration has decided to hide behind the two state solution as a cover for inaction on the Israeli-Palestinian issue. This is an impractical declaration whose sole purpose is pay lip service. The current administration is not taking any real steps to promote this solution whose only goal is to prevent the final collapse of the Palestinian Authority. The truth is that the Palestinian issue does not appear on Biden’s list of priorities. The three main issues that preoccupy him are the fight to save American democracy from fascism, the fight against Putin’s imperial ambitions in Ukraine, and limiting the spread of Chinese influence throughout the world.

Furthermore, the “values” the Biden administration talks about are diametrically opposed to the values of the Netanyahu government. Biden supports Ukraine, Netanyahu supports Putin; Biden fights China, Netanyahu cooperates with it; Biden fights Mohammed bin Salman, Netanyahu embraces him; Biden is fighting Victor Urban, Netanyahu supports him; Biden despises Trump, Netanyahu supports him and his associates. It follows, therefore, that the political reality in Israel on the one hand, and the corrupt and failed nature of the Palestinian Authority on the other, leave the Biden administration powerless in pursuit of true and fair peace between the two peoples.

It is worthwhile for a moment to rise above the Abraham Accords and the extreme nature of the present coalition in Israel, and examine the geographical, economic and political reality created in the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, which appears in the coalition agreements as the Land of Israel. We can easily demonstrate that the reality that has emerged is of one country, as Alon Pinkas describes it in his article in Haaretz from January 8, 2023: “28 years after the signing of the Paris Protocol in 1995, which regulated the economic relations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, they have practically become one economic unit. It is true that Israel has no control over the allocation of the Palestinian internal budget, but there is one currency, one tax envelope, one foreign trade. 55% of Palestinian imports originate in Israel, and 80% of Palestinian exports are destined for Israel. About 80 thousand Palestinians are employed in Israel in construction and another 15 thousand in industry and services. If someone is looking for signs and evidence of de facto annexation, even if unintentional and not planned, the Palestinian economy is the place to look.”

All this is true, but it is not the full picture. Although the economic reality shows a de facto annexation, it does not refer at all to a political reality that maintains two separate sets of laws in the territory. While Israelis enjoy democracy, the Palestinians live under a military regime that denies them the most basic civil and human rights. Such a reality cannot be maintained in the long term: hundreds of deaths, including children, house demolitions, checkpoints and the prohibition of freedom of movement, expropriation of land, poor to non-existent health services and infrastructure, which turn the lives of the Palestinians into hell. In light of the reality that has been taking shape for over fifty years, it is time to recognize the fact that the only solution that can bring peace and coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians exists solely within the framework of one, egalitarian and democratic state, which will give equal expression to the desires of both peoples.

The Biden administration must recognize this reality and remain consistent and loyal to the principles he proclaims: fighting autocracy and supporting democracy, judging governments according to their respect for human rights, recognizing the right of peoples to liberty, freedom and self-determination, fighting all types of racism, protecting minority rights, working for a green and egalitarian economy to save the earth from global warming, and humanity from tyranny of all types The government of Israel, which declared Israel a Jewish state and has an exclusive right to the entire area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, does not uphold any of the principles about which the Biden administration talks, and on the basis of which it strives for cooperation with Bibi’s sixth government.

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Israel is going to elections for the fifth time in three years, an unusual event by all accounts. These elections occur time after time because of one person, Binyamin Netanyahu, who challenges the saying that “the cemetery is full of indispensable people.” Netanyahu refuses to entertain the possibility of a loss. He is on trial for bribery, fraud and breach of trust; the prime ministry is his last refuge, provided he can get the support of 61 Knesset members. This is the number that will determine his fate, and he will do literally anything to reach it. In the previous election he was ready to join up with Mansour Abbas of the Islamic movement, and today he relies on Arab-hater Itamar Ben Gvir, a protégé of Meir Kahane.

The United States is also preparing for midterm congressional elections, which will take place a week after the Israeli. In the US there are also two major camps: Republicans who support Trump and Democrats who support Biden. A line connects Netanyahu and Trump:  both are power-hungry populists ready to trample democracy and the rule of law. The difference is that Trump is less of a politician and much more aggressive. Not only does he refuse to recognize the results of the 2020 presidential election, but he even sent fascist militias and mobs to the Capitol on January 6 to prevent Congress from declaring Biden as president.

This failed coup brought the United States to a historical turning point. From Biden’s first days in office, he declared that the US was fighting for its very soul, that is, for the democratic regime that had existed for over two centuries. Although Trump is an American phenomenon, he belongs to an international wave that advances an extreme nationalist ideology. Other members are his friends and allies: Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, Poland’s Andrzej Duda, France’s Marine Le Pen, India’s Narendra Modi, China’s Xi Jinping, and of course Netanyahu.

Biden and the Democratic Party knew that the Trump phenomenon could not be defeated without eradicating the new fascist movement around the world. Therefore, he divided the world based not on the narrow strategic interests of the US, as was earlier the case, but in terms of ideologies and values that clearly define the democratic camp versus the autocratic. In Israel, Biden’s political ability was underestimated. Trump called him “Sleepy Joe”, and no one took seriously the change he proposed. For 200 years, after all, the US had not only gotten along well with autocratic regimes, but it encouraged them and opposed democratic movements, for example in Iran in 1953 and Chile in 1973. This behaviour had been an integral part of American DNA since the 1823 Monroe Doctrine. Therefore, the change in Biden’s attitude largely went unnoticed.

America’s pre-Biden foreign policy had matched the Israeli strategic conception. For Israel, democracy can live in coexistence and symbiosis with autocracy, as evinced by the concept that a Jewish and democratic state is sustainable alongside an Israeli military regime in the West Bank and Gaza. Furthermore, Israel’s security is based on agreements with all the dictatorial regimes in the region – Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco. Still further, on the international level, Israel was able to maintain a strategic alliance with the Trump administration alongside friendly relations with the Putin regime.

Yet Putin put Biden’s declarations to the test by invading Ukraine. Like everyone from Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman to Israel’s lowliest politician, Putin was convinced that Biden’s statements were hot air. After all, Putin had conquered parts of Georgia in 2008 and the US had been silent. He’d annexed Crimea in 2014 and America had sat by. In 2015 he had destroyed Syria to save Assad, without American reprisals. He had blatantly intervened for Trump in the 2016 US elections and America had swallowed the frog.

The Saudi regime also underestimated Biden, thinking he was in its pocket. It is a fact that the US concealed Saudi involvement in the 2001 attack on the Twin Towers, and Bush preferred to accuse Saddam Hussein of responsibility for al-Qaeda. Saudi Arabia has worked incessantly to eliminate every sign of democracy in the Arab world, and since the crowning of Mohammed bin Salman as heir to the throne, it has lost all inhibitions. The murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the dismemberment of his body at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul crossed all red lines. Yet the then President Trump chose to believe that Ben Salman was not involved, just as he chose to believe Putin, who denied interference in the US elections, despite the CIA’s position.

Israel too wasn’t moved by the murder of Khashoggi. On the contrary, it highlighted Israel’s status as the only democracy in the Middle East, and it presented the Arabs as unscrupulous barbarians. Nor was Israel moved by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Its intelligence assessments predicted a quick and easy victory for Putin. But Putin had miscalculated in more ways than one. It turned out that Biden had meant every word.

The world is changing beyond recognition. As the defeat of Nazi Germany determined the fate of everyone, so our fate will be determined in Ukraine. Trump sided with Putin, as did Mohammed bin Salman, and Netanyahu’s silence on Ukraine is worth a thousand words. On the other hand, Yair Lapid, prime minister of Israel’s transitional government, altered his position twice: at first from neutrality to timid support for Ukraine, and then to explicit condemnation of the Russian annexations.

Today, two important allies of Israel, Russia and Saudi Arabia, are in direct conflict with its most strategic ally, the United States, and therefore Israel has difficulty choosing sides. Moreover, the mass demonstrations in Iran, the fact that women are taking to the streets, calling for overthrow of the regime and freedom, have reshuffled the deck. Biden unhesitatingly supports the women’s struggle in Iran and has halted negotiations on a nuclear agreement. On the other hand, Putin has made an alliance with Iran, which came to his aid in Ukraine by selling him drones.

Saudi Arabia also panics at the protests in Iran. What will happen if the women’s struggle brings down the ayatollah regime? What will be the response of Saudi women, who suffer even worse oppression? For Israel, however, the most difficult question is: what will happen if Putin falls? What will be the consequences for the American attitude to Saudi Arabia? And what will be the fate of Israel’s other Arab allies who suppress every democratic movement with an iron fist?

The Israeli strategic concept—that what was is what will be, that Putin will thrive forever, as will bin Salman and the other Middle East kings and generals—is collapsing. This is also the perception regarding the Palestinians. Israel’s insistence on managing the conflict instead of resolving it, its furtherance of a merely economic peace, and its use of military force in the Occupied Territories have weakened the Palestinian Authority. The result has been a new wave of protest, which grows with the number of Palestinians killed. So too grows the feeling of impasse.

The battle between the stalwarts of yesterday’s world and those of tomorrow’s encompasses every field of life. When Israelis go to the polls, however, most will be voting “Yes Bibi” or “No Bibi”— a question blind to the historical moment in which they stand.

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Last Sunday, Israel entered a state of mania. Within three days, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid succeeded in organizing a regional conference in Sde Boker with the participation of foreign ministers of four Arab countries, and in the presence of US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. That same evening, this mood darkened following the murderous campaign of two Umm al-Fahm residents in the Israeli city of Hadera, and on Tuesday it darkened further due to the murder spree of a West Bank resident in Bnei Brak.

This is the Israeli reality that has accompanied us for over twenty years. Yes, we live with “shrapnel in the butt.” The current prime minister came up with this metaphor back in 2013, when he explained that Israelis must get used to the fact that there is no solution to the Palestinian question, and it should be treated as “shrapnel in the butt” that cannot be removed and must be lived with.

The countries that decided to normalize relations with Israel seem to have warmly embraced Bennett’s position and, with the encouragement of former US President Donald Trump, jumped on the peace bandwagon. Not out of love for Mordechai, but from hatred of the Persian Haman. The Palestinians have thus been transformed from a problem that preoccupied the Arab world for decades into an internal Israeli problem, and Bennett’s new Arab partners can only look sadly from the sidelines at their new friend’s entanglement with this unresolved problem.

Each of the countries that came to Sde Boker is carrying its own shrapnel: the Emirates are carrying the war in Yemen, the Moroccans the conflict with the Polisario Front, the Egyptians the conflict with Ethiopia around the al-Nahda dam on the Nile, while Bahrain is facing a Shiite majority fighting for full civil rights. What unites them with Israel is hostility toward the Biden administration which, unlike Trump and Netanyahu, strives to renew the nuclear agreement with Iran, in their eyes abandoning them.

There is no doubt the Sde Boker conference was challenging for Anthony Blinken, who came to the Middle East straight from Poland. He had previously accompanied President Biden on a round of meetings with NATO allies in Brussels, aimed at uniting ranks against Putin. In fact, the whole of Europe is today facing the most fateful confrontation since the end of World War II. Putin, an uninhibited and bloodthirsty dictator, decided to redraw Europe’s borders by invading Ukraine, with the aim of overturning its democratic regime.

From the beginning of his tenure, Biden defined the current historical period as a struggle between autocracy and democracy. It should not be forgotten that the United States itself underwent Donald Trump’s coup attempt after he refused to recognize the election results and tried to overturn them by violence. Blinken may have been sitting around the same table in Sde Boker, scattering smiles, but he understood that he was facing a hostile front, unwilling to mobilize in favor of the American effort.

Most politicians in Israel admire Donald Trump, the engineer of the “Abraham Accords” and the one who abolished the nuclear agreement with Iran. In Israel, Biden’s division of the world into democracies and autocracies is seen as naive at best, and despicable at worst. The Chinese and Russian regimes are partners of paramount importance to Israel, and the Arab regimes constitute a guarantee of its security. Democracy is the biggest enemy of Saudi Arabia and the Emirates, which vigorously suppress any democratic movement in the Arab world, as we saw after the outbreak of the Arab Spring in Egypt, Sudan, Yemen and Syria. Bashar al-Assad’s visit to Dubai highlights the Gulf states’ commitment to the region’s tyrants. Their regimes are not just allies, but an important component of Israel’s national security.

It is no coincidence that Israel and its Arab partners refused to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Saudi Arabia, for example, is openly working to thwart sanctions against Putin by refusing to increase oil production, which would compensate for the price rises suffered by those who boycott Russia. Like Putin, both Saudi Arabia and Israel hope Trump will return to power in 2024. While the world is mobilizing to save democracy in the war against Putin, Israel is busy organizing regional conferences as a front against Iran and the Biden government.

Israel and the Gulf states are attempting to convince the world that Putin is their friend and ally, while Iran is the true existential danger. The fact that Putin invaded a neighboring country without provocation, and is preparing the ground for using weapons of mass destruction there, is not discussed in Israel. The danger of a third world war does not worry the Israeli leadership. It is currently at war with Iran, which aims to produce nukes in the future, whereas Israel, according to foreign publications, holds dozens, if not hundreds, of them. The ruthless dictator Putin is also waving nuclear bombs—5000 of them. Thus, while celebrating regional peace, Israeli leaders ignore the collapse of world peace.

Israel’s complete disregard for the Palestinians living under occupation, as well as for the murderous nature of its allied Arab regimes, explain its neutral stance in the current war on European soil between democracy and tyranny. Israel is becoming disconnected from the democratic world as a result of the apartheid regime it imposes in the West Bank and Gaza. Its moral compass has gone ever more awry, while it explains away its rights violations with security needs and the need to preserve the Jewish character of the state. Thus, every leader, even if he is a dictator and a murderer, becomes a desirable ally, from Donald Trump to Putin, from Mohammed bin Salman to Abd al-Fattah el-Sisi, provided he is willing to ignore crimes against the Palestinians. In contrast, any democratic leader who condemns abuses in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, or Israel becomes an enemy and an anti-Semite.

Donald Trump has committed criminal acts. He connected with the white supremacy movement, forged close ties with Putin, tried to dismantle NATO and the European Union, and most importantly, tried to dismantle democracy in America itself. All of this left the American people, the sane and liberal majority, in a state of deep trauma. Biden’s fight against Putin is a war for the soul of American democracy and world peace, so for the first time since World War II he has managed to create a very broad front to stop Putin.

It is not Iran that has worked to bring Trump to power and to collapse American democracy, but Putin, Netanyahu and Mohammed bin Salman. It is no wonder that the Biden administration is working resolutely to settle the Iranian nuclear issue through an agreement, directing all resources against those who truly endanger world peace. Israel, with its decades-long occupation and its discriminatory laws against Arab citizens, cannot partner in a camp that fights for the soul of democracy.

The world today is changing diskette. It understands that economic interests cannot come at the expense of fundamental principles like freedom and human rights, because in the end such a process brings an end to democracy. Israel is in the process of disengaging from this new world while still reciting clichés about its “special” situation. It is not a state like all other states, but a Jewish state. This bizarre self-definition entails imposing an apartheid regime and enacting racist laws to preserve its Jewish character. In other words, its Jewish character outweighs its democratic character. This is why, when the future of humanity is being determined – either autocracy or democracy – Israel remains “neutral.”

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Since 1948, Israel has nurtured an ethos according to which its very existence is imperiled. Even before it was born, the country was in danger of extinction because Syria, Iraq, Egypt and Jordan rose up to annihilate it.  Since then, a new oppressor has risen periodically, threatening to “throw us into the sea.” Once upon a time it was ‘Abd al-Nasser, and when he disappeared, it was Saddam Hussein. After Saddam was defeated with American help, it has become the turn of the Iranian tyrant, who is developing nuclear weapons to eliminate us and proclaim a Shiite victory throughout the Middle East.

In the past, however, it turned out that things were not quite as they were mooted. The monarchical and backward Arab regimes which invaded in 1948 did not truly intend to conquer Palestine, and their armies mirrored the weakness and decay of their regimes. In 1967, ‘Abd al-Nasser entered the war in an ill-conceived way and was utterly defeated. The “existential threat” turned out to have been imaginary, while Israel expanded its territory threefold. The bluff of Saddam Hussein was revealed when the Americans invaded Iraq in 2003, claiming he had “weapons of mass destruction.” What he had, it turned out, was a factory for cap pistols. This adventure cost the Americans many billions, with thousands of soldiers killed and wounded, and it took away their desire to continue fighting in the name of an “existential danger” to Israel.

Yes, the world is fed up with Israel’s “existential danger,” so Barack Obama decided to reach an agreement with Iran and limit its ability to develop nuclear weapons. Israel stomped its feet in anger. Netanyahu went all the way to the US Congress to incite against Obama, but in vain. Nothing helped until Donald Trump came on the scene, and Israel breathed a sigh of relief. The agreement with Iran was rescinded, Trump imposed severe sanctions on the Iranians, and the Mossad did in Iran as it pleased, from the assassination of scientists, through cyberattacks, to the theft of the nuclear archive.

The end is known – Trump was defeated by Biden, in Iran an even more radical president was elected, the centrifuges work overtime, and all parties to the original nuclear deal have returned to the table in Vienna. Once again, Israel is alone, and once again it is trying to convince the world that an “existential danger” is at its door.

But the world has moved on, and Iran’s existential threat to Israel has given way to more tangible existential threats. The Biden administration has set new priorities for the world, with three existential threats that demand vigorous, global action. The first is the climate crisis, which threatens the existence of life on earth. The second is the pandemic. And the third is the threat to democracy from totalitarian regimes like China and Russia, not to mention the neo-fascist currents headed by Donald Trump.

Iran’s place in the range of threats is marginal, and the new Israeli government’s cries of “existential danger” fall on deaf ears. For Israel, climate change is an anecdote, the pandemic is something we can live with, and there is no concern about totalitarianism. Israel’s conciliatory attitude toward the Chinese, its warm relationship with Putin, its longing for Trump, and its alliances with Bin Salman, al-Sisi, Abdullah, and the Emirates show where its heart is.

In fact, the “Abraham Accords” with the Gulf States tell the whole story. While Iran is verbally threatening Israel, in practice its eyes are fixed on the Arab regimes, led by Saudi Arabia, for which Iran really does pose an “existential danger.” It was this threat that threw them into the arms of Israel, with the generous assistance of Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Iran has managed to undermine Syria, Yemen, Iraq and Lebanon, all on the pretext of liberating Jerusalem. To judge from its actions on the ground, it poses an existential danger not to Israel, but to millions of Arab citizens who are forced to leave their countries and become refugees. Israel is not a target and never was. It is and was a pretext. Syria, Yemen, Iraq, and Lebanon are the real targets, and they are paying the price for Iran’s expansionist aspirations.

At the same time, while the Iranian regime is playing the Israeli card to make gains abroad and suppress domestic opposition, in Israel the word “Iran” has become a code to continue inflating the defense budget at the expense of the resource-hungry sectors that are needed to reduce social gaps. However, the world is no longer buying the security bluff, and many Israelis are fed up with it too.

In an opinion piece against raising the budgetary pension for members of the standing army (Haaretz, November 28), Iris Leal writes: “In a land beset by enemies, everyone gripes about the cost of living, the labor market, wage gaps and the housing market, yet time and time again we vote on one issue along: security. Existential dread drives most of Israel’s citizenry, and the people’s army is the apple of their eye.”

To this Leal adds, “The overwhelming rage at Defense Minister Benny Gantz’s decision to raise the budgetary pension of already retired standing-army personnel surprised even him. Gantz is still living in times when every word uttered by the Israel Defense Forces is accepted as true by definition, every demand met, and every hint of resistance quelled through emotional blackmail and unsubtle warnings of the military catastrophe on the horizon.”

And what would the Israeli army have done if the sanctions imposed by Trump on the Iranian regime had indeed achieved their goal? What would have happened if a new Iranian “green revolution,” like the one suppressed by the regime in 2009, had established democracy there? There is one answer: the Arab Spring would have returned in full force. And what would have happened if the second revolutionary wave had overthrown al-Sisi’s regime while eliminating Iranian militias in Iraq and Hezbollah’s control of Lebanon? The answer is clear:  all of Israel’s autocratic allies in the region would have fallen, one after the other, starting with the Saudis. Democracy is the real existential threat to the Saudis and the Emirates, who supported all the coups to quell the Arab Spring. In the end, it is not the Iranian regime that poses an existential danger, but the possibility of a democratic revolution, which will raise the Arab world from its ruins, the same ruins that Israel and its accomplices thrive on.

The overthrow of the Iranian regime is an existential interest first and foremost for the Iranian people themselves, who suffer from political and cultural oppression, as well as deep poverty. It is also in the interest of the Arab peoples whose countries were destroyed by Iranian intervention. It is in the interest of the Palestinian people, who are groaning and fighting against Israel’s denial of their basic rights. In contrast, the Israeli interest is to keep the Middle East devastated, backward, poor and oppressed, in order to continue maintaining its schizophrenic regime, which ranges from democracy for Jews to apartheid for Palestinians. The world has already moved on to another era while Israel continues to educate itself from faded pages written during the Cold War, which depict it as the bulwark of the democratic West in a totalitarian sea. The world is changing, but Israel and its partners in the region, and with them the Iranian regime, remain mired in the past.

The post “Wolf! Wolf! Iran! Iran!“ first appeared on Da'am Party: One state - Green Economy.