A state that has shown the middle finger to all global institutions, all resolutions, international law and the public opinion of allied countries, is walking on a path that leads to isolation similar to that of apartheid South Africa. And it is a very difficult trajectory to change.
By Gideon LEVY
On April 22, Israel celebrated its 78th anniversary of independence. It certainly wasn’t the best in the history of a country that is no longer young.
When I was a child, Independence Day was a moment of pride and joy for all young Israelis like me. It had only been a few years since the Holocaust and the founding of the Jewish state, and we were the children of the first generation of its inhabitants. I remember my father taking the folded flag out of the drawer and raising it on the balcony of our apartment. All the balconies around us had their own flags, except for the Lebel family’s, because they were ultra-Orthodox and did not honor the Zionist state. I felt the same pride for my father that I felt for the flag. In those years, we knew nothing about the Nakba, the “catastrophe,” when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forced to leave their homes after the birth of Israel in 1948. No one had talked to us about it. Just as no one had told us about the military regime under which the Arab citizens of Israel lived. We never asked who had lived in the destroyed houses by the roadside, or what had happened to those people. We looked at the remains of Palestinian villages and neighborhoods, as if they were just part of the landscape. In the evenings we would go out into the streets to celebrate.
Independence Day was the only day our parents allowed us to stay out late, without any restrictions. It was a national holiday.
Decades have passed since then, and everything seems different. The word Nakba has gradually entered the public consciousness, albeit only among a small minority of Israelis. An even smaller minority has begun to feel a sense of historical guilt. Meanwhile, the events of recent years have made some of us ashamed of our state. It took me years to understand that recent events and those of the distant past cannot be separated. At the foundation of our country lies the Nakba. The day on which we celebrated independence was the day when another people remembered a catastrophe, the same people who inhabited these lands before us. Since then, everything has remained closely linked to the past. What began in 1948 has not yet ended, not even in 2026. From the Nakba to the present, the fundamental principles followed by Zionism have remained unchanged, as have the policies of Israeli governments. The Nakba has never ended. It has only changed form.
As frightening as it is to think about, the values that 78 years ago brought about the Nakba continue to form the foundation of the Jewish state. The same principles. The same objectives. The same methods.
Israel is now a regional power and the closest ally of the world’s greatest superpower, but it has not changed since it was a fledgling state: It still believes that it can survive by the sword, and only by the sword. Our country continues to see military power as the only guarantee of its existence and security, pursuing a policy based on Jewish supremacy in the entire space between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. It presents itself as a victim, a regional power that talks endlessly about existential threats. The Israelis are still convinced that absolute justice is on their side. That all Arabs are born to kill. And that the only thing the peoples of the Arab world think about is throwing the Jews into the sea. The same beliefs. The same principles of 1948. Beneath the surface, meanwhile, religious convictions ferment that in 78 years have become even stronger: That God gave this land to the Jews, and to them alone. A biblical promise that is valid as a deed of ownership and a divine certificate of sovereignty, even in the eyes of Jews who call themselves secular.
The principles have remained the same. But some things have changed since independence. And they have rarely changed for the better. The lament of many Israelis today who feel nostalgia for the Israel of old, the one before Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud took power, is largely an illusion, an act of self-deception. It was not Netanyahu who invented the occupation. It was not his party that brought about Jewish supremacy. Both already existed in the Israel of old, in the socialism of the Labor Party and in the “enlightened occupation.”
After 1948 and after 1967, October 7, 2023 marked another dramatic turning point. In the two and a half years since then, Israel has eliminated a large part of the regional leadership, invaded and bombed almost all of its neighboring countries, and unleashed its military might without any sense of proportion, tainting itself with large-scale war crimes. Yet, on the 78th anniversary of independence, few Israelis have accepted this undeniable reality. Apparently, there will never be a truth and reconciliation commission like the one in South Africa in my country, because there is no sincere desire for reflection. Nor for the transformation of Israel into a pariah state for a large part of the international community. In public discourse, the question: “Why does the world hate us?” is treated as illegitimate. The answer is: “Because the whole world is anti-Semitic.” End of discussion.
This was the prevailing mood on the 78th anniversary of independence. Israel has never been a true democracy. And the anniversary of independence was the right moment to make it clear. The only period when the Palestinians were not under military rule lasted only a few months, between 1966 and 1967. Until then, military control was exercised over Israel’s Arab citizens.
Then, it was implemented in the occupied territories of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. A state with permanent military rule is not a democracy. Period. The same goes for apartheid. It was not born in recent years. It was born in the early days of the Jewish state, and was greatly strengthened after the 1967 occupation. Throughout its entire history, before 1967 and certainly after it, Israel has never accepted the idea that Palestinians have the same rights as Israeli Jews in the land between the Jordan and the sea. And, most importantly, Israel has never considered Palestinians as human beings equal to Jews. This remains the root of the problem. And no one talks about it. The only fundamental change that has emerged in recent years is that a new Israeli megalomania has replaced the old spirit of David (Israel) against Goliath (the Arabs). This megalomania reached its peak after October 7, 2023. Today, Israelis clearly seem convinced that everything is permitted to them.
They no longer recognize any limits in the use of military force or in disregarding the sovereignty of most states in the region. On this Independence Day, a black cloud hangs over Israel’s increasingly dark sky. Society is divided over only one issue: Netanyahu, yes or no Netanyahu. Almost everything else has been excluded from the debate, because on other topics, apparently, there is complete consensus.
There is no Jewish opposition to war, occupation, or apartheid. The Gaza Strip worries few people. So too does the West Bank, brutally transformed under the cover of other recent wars in the region. In the West Bank, relying on settler violence and an army to back them up, the Jewish state has destroyed any remaining hope for a Palestinian state. But even this, in Israel, interests few people. Without debate and without an examination of conscience, the feeling is that the sky over Israel is growing darker and darker. Even the most vocal propagandists of the fascist right are beginning to understand the scale of the threat that now hangs over the state, as the government has opened multiple fronts without achieving its objectives on any of them. The Gaza Strip and Lebanon are not success stories. These are unnecessary and criminal wars that have brought no benefit to Tel Aviv, but only a high cost that, over the years, may prove unaffordable.
The United States is slowly freeing itself from Israel’s grip, to the point where even Donald Trump may turn his back on it. In any case, the president who replaces him in less than three years, whether Democrat or Republican, will likely pursue a different policy toward this ally. The days when Israel had the United States in its pocket are over. Perhaps forever.
Europe is also waiting for a signal from Washington to change its policy. The old continent is losing patience with an occupying, aggressive and megalomaniac state. The last few years have not been positive for Israel. It has continued to start wars, occupy territories and force people to leave their homes. (Today, refugees in the Middle East as a result of Israeli wars number about 6 million, and many of them no longer have a place to return.) But in doing so, Israel has compromised its international position. A state that has shown the middle finger to all global institutions, all resolutions, international law and the public opinion of allied countries, is walking on a path that leads to an isolation similar to that of apartheid South Africa. And it is a very difficult trajectory to change. (Middle East Eye)
(Gideon Levy is a journalist for Haaretz newspaper)