This is Costa Black’s 38th week demonstrating on Kaplan Street in Tel Aviv. Like many other activists he left everything to dedicate himself to the fight against the right-wing coup d’état. But Costa’s story is a little different. He came over to Israel at age 11 from Ukraine with his mother and sister experiencing no little social and economic hurdles. Costa unfurls huge posters in English that photograph well from a bird’s eye view. They feature an American flag next to the Israeli flag, that call President Biden not to meet with Bibi, and to support the protest. When Biden was previously asked if he would invite Bibi to the White House and answered with a categorical “no,” he gave hope and encouragement to Costa and his friends. Yet two weeks ago Biden met with Bibi and presented him with a gift – the prospect of a peace agreement with Saudi Arabia’s MBS. Could it be that Biden has thrown up his hands and thus, in one fell swoop, the judicial coup is off the agenda, and peace with Saudi Arabia brings Bibi back to life?

With sadness, Costa tweets an innocent question, which he says no one has yet answered: “What does Israel gain de facto from this agreement?” The political reporter Barak Ravid replied to this: “This tweet shows how politics sometimes clouds judgment and causes people in the liberal camp to lose all ability to examine life in a complex and straightforward manner.” Costa did not have time to recover from Ravid’s patronizing scolding before another tribal elder, Ben Caspit, joined him and added: “We are sorry that we were unable to explain to you, Costa. But it is simple: peace with the most important and wealthiest Muslim country in the world, which controls the holy cities and symbolizes Islam’s Holy of Holies is a historical event on a biblical scale that completes the circle of peace around Israel (as opposed to peace with the Palestinians, which is within Israel) and brings the rest of the Arab world into it. It is unlike anything and is more important than all of us together. Yes, even if it has something to do with Bibi.”

So, this is it Costa, you have been turned into a “power broker” whose understanding is vague, so you do not see that peace with Saudi Arabia is an event on a “biblical scale”. You demonstrated for 38 weeks, Costa, getting beaten, arrested, and managed to stop the coup d’état with your friends, but it turns out you must now return to your natural dimensions. How dare you compare the coup d’état with the “biblical” peace, even if it is “somehow” related to Bibi! The problem is that those elders of the tribe such as Ravid, Caspit and even the anti-Zionist elder, Gideon Levi, have already proven in the past that their great wisdom has left your generation, to eat their rotten fruit. This does not prevent them from teaching you a lesson in political wisdom – as people who support you, of course, some of whom even go out to demonstrate with you from time to time.

It’s no coincidence, Costa, that you find it difficult to believe them and accept their learned opinion, since you could have asked them the same question about the Abraham Accords as well. After all, you know very well that what we got out of the Abraham Accords is a fascist government that threatens the very existence of the state. The elders of the tribe try to convince you that “somehow” it has to do with Bibi, but the truth is it has to do not only with Bibi, but also with those who surround him: Trump, Putin and other lower-level dictators. Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) himself is a friend of Putin, of Xi Jinping, and like Bibi, he also wishes for Trump’s return to the White House. They are made from the same dough and have no bounds. They are ready to do anything, literally anything, to hold onto power.

MBS is not looking for “biblical” peace. Like Bibi, Putin, and Trump, he is looking to transform his leper status following the murder and dismemberment of the body of critical Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi embassy in Turkey. The Americans also did not forget the Saudis’ 2001 attack on the Twin Towers in New York, which was planned by Osama bin Laden and carried out with the participation of 15 Saudi citizens and with the Saudi regime turning a blind eye. It is no secret that Mohammed bin Salman worked with Bibi against President Obama and on behalf of Trump, who cancelled the nuclear agreement with Iran in accordance with the Israeli-Saudi demand. Before being elected president, Biden promised to turn MBS into a pariah and refused to meet with him. Yet the coronavirus pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine threw everything up in the air.

This is how MBS became the kingmaker. Not only does he coordinate oil production with Putin to maintain its high price and shows utter contempt at Western sanctions that set a low ceiling price for Russian oil, but he also helps Putin finance his criminal war in Ukraine. On the other hand, bin Salman pokes Biden in the eye by creating a strategic partnership with China, and renews diplomatic relations with Iran through Chinese mediation, steps that flashed a warning signal in the White House. While MBS is another bloodthirsty dictator, like most leaders of the Arab world, China is a world power that aspires to achieve global hegemony and has the means to fulfil its ambitions. Today China leads the Autocracy camp and is trying to push America out of Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East. This situation left Biden no choice, he must tie MBS’s hands, and Bibi can provide him with the rope to do so.

Here we will return to Costa’s question – “What does Israel gain de facto?” To answer, you should ask – what do the people of Saudi Arabia gain from the agreement? In Saudi Arabia, as in Israel, there is a difference between the regime and the people, and not everything that benefits the regime also benefits the people. The Saudi people live under a dictatorial regime based on Sharia law. Oppression of women, the LGBTQ community, and freedom of expression are offenses punishable by death. In Israel, too, we are fighting against oppression of women, the LGBTQ community and attempts to impose Jewish religious law on us. The difference between us and them is that here there is a will to hold on to these vested rights, while in Saudi Arabia the people have never had even one day of freedom and democracy. And those who demanded freedom in Saudi Arabia ended their lives like Jamal Khashoggi.

The Saudi regime is not only oppressing its own people, but also spreading its Wahhabi and Messianic Islamic ideology throughout the Middle East. It was the Saudis who helped Abdel Fattah al-Sisi eliminate the Arab Spring. They also brought the jihadist militias into Syria to drown the civil resistance in blood, thereby aiding the Syrian regime’s massacre of the Syrian people with the aid of the Iranians and the Russians. Not many Israelis bothered to learn the details. The Saudi regime is no better than the Iranian regime. Like it, Saudi Arabia wants to arm itself with nuclear weapons to secure its rule, and like in Iran, its own people demanding freedom are its main enemy.

That’s why, together with you, Costa, we go out every week and shout “de-mo-cra-cy” and repeatedly state that we will not become Poland, Hungary or Iran. Does it make sense that we would be unwilling to compromise with illiberal “democratic” regimes, but are ready to make “biblical peace” with the bloodthirsty Saudi regime? Look what happened to Israel, which always prided itself on being the “only democracy in the Middle East.” Instead of us spreading democracy, dictatorship threatens to devour us.

The lesson is clear – it is impossible to maintain a long-term democracy in an environment infested with dictatorships. Our interest as democrats is to spread democracy to our neighbours so that our democracy will be sustainable. As for your question, Costa, what will come out of peace with Saudi Arabia in reality, I’ll leave it to you to answer. One thing I ask of you, don’t stop protesting for democracy, and don’t give in to all those sages and their advice.

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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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