Bernard Spiegal

It is not possible to be certain of the duration of its decline, it is only possible to be certain of the conclusion: the end of the Israeli state. A state that has debased itself more than anyone could have imagined possible.

Israel, in common with any other state, has no inherent right to exist.

Denying the right of the Israeli state to exist, carries no implication that Jews, for instance, lose any rights they have as persons, this in common with all other people.

The concept ‘rights’ has an emotional tug. By a trick of legerdemain, Israel apologists seek to assimilate the notion of state rights with human rights. Succumbing to that emotional tug, assimilating notional state rights with actual human rights, clouds thinking, and distracts attention away from Israel’s crimes, thereby lending false credence to what amounts to a category error, that it is possible for a state to have rights.

More on this can be found here .

The Israeli state must end

The Israeli state will end, first, because it needs to, for justice’s sake. Second, from a more practical perspective, because Israel is an amalgam of contradictions that pull against each other, allowing no stable centre to develop. It is united primarily in its commitment to dispossess Palestinians of their land, of their birthright.

Before this state’s ultimate demise – which is likely to be too long in the coming – there is nothing to suggest that it will not conduct itself other than in the same terms as from its inception, but now taken to levels of abomination that lie beyond our capacity to adequately describe.

A better way

A better way would be for the Israeli state to undergo a process of its own dissolution, ridding itself of the burden of being a specifically Jewish state. At present, such an outcome is no more than a pipe dream.

However, we do not know how Israeli public opinion, in all its variety, will unfold in the aftermath of the war with Gaza, the assault on Lebanon, and the escalating dispossession of West Bank and East Jerusalem Palestinians.

We do know, however, that the numbers of young people refusing army service is increasing . We know that more Reservists are of similar mind.

We know that the number of –well-off – highly educated Israelis leaving Israel, or contemplating doing so, is rising.

We know that death and injury figures of the IDF are relatively high. We know of the stresses and fissures afflicting religious communities, divided among themselves on the one hand, and secular society on the other .

We know of the dissatisfaction and deep emotional distress of the hostages’ family and friends, along with a wide section of the Israeli public. What they see is a state that cares little for them. Within the swirl of their distress and despair, will fundamental questions as to the nature of the state arise?

The Israeli economy is in a bad state.

We know that international civil society – ‘ordinary’ people – more than previously, see Israel and Israelis through critical, disdainful eyes. Sensing this, Israelis may retreat into a bunker of self-justification; or begin to question how and why this has come to pass.

All this, and more, will raise for Israelis fundamental questions about itself. There can be no guarantee that the conclusions they come to will necessarily be benign.

The Greater Israel project is well under way

In the meantime, the project to create a Greater Israel is well under way. Gaza has been split into two, with the north being cleared of Palestinians, likely as not to make way for Jewish-only settlements.

The West Bank has seen an exponential rise in land confiscations, house demolitions, destruction of infrastructure – water systems, power systems, hospitals and medical facilities including ambulances. Israel speaks best the language of violence and destruction: killing, injuring, maiming are the components of its barren lexicon. Israel daily violates the so-called ceasefire with Lebanon, deploying its air force to bomb residential areas, community facilities and mosques .

Truth slips through

But truth will out, sometimes from the most unexpected source. Former Israeli Defence Minister, 2013 – 2016, Moshe Ya’alon, in an interview , made it clear that Israel is carrying out “ethnic cleansing” in northern Gaza. He went on to accuse PM Benjamin Netanyahu of leading the country to “ruin”.

In an interview on the Israeli channel Democratv, Ya’alon criticized the policies of Netanyahu’s government in the occupied West Bank and Gaza. He said:

“We are being dragged into occupation, annexation, ethnic cleansing—look at the north of the Strip—displacement, and Jewish settlement.”

Ya’alon stated that the IDF’s actions in Gaza amount to “ethnic cleansing.” The interviewer, clearly not expecting this assessment, asked:

“Did I hear you correctly? Ethnic cleansing in northern Gaza—do you think we are on that path?”

Ya’alon responded:

“Why ‘on the path’? What is happening there? Beit Lahia no longer exists, Beit Hanoun no longer exists, and now they are working on Jabalia. They [the Israeli army] are cleansing the area of Arabs.”

Ya’alon is to be commended for this outburst of honesty. There is a puzzle, however, in his seeming only now to alight upon Israel’s policy of ethnic cleansing which of course has been in operation, at varying levels of intensity, since the state’s inception.

UN and Amnesty International reports

Ya’alon’s assessment aligns both with two recent reports: one from the UN (see below); and the published Amnesty International report finding that Israel has committed and is continuing to commit genocide against Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip.

The Amnesty report, ‘You Feel Like You Are Subhuman’: Israel’s Genocide Against Palestinians in Gaza, documents how, during its military offensive launched in the wake of the deadly Hamas-led attack, Israel has unleashed hell and destruction on Palestinians in Gaza brazenly, continuously and with total impunity.

The UN report found that:

“Israel’s warfare in Gaza is consistent with the characteristics of genocide, with mass civilian casualties and life-threatening conditions intentionally imposed on Palestinians there…Since the beginning of the war, Israeli officials have publicly supported policies that strip Palestinians of the very necessities required to sustain life — food, water, and fuel…along with the systematic and unlawful interference of humanitarian aid make clear Israel’s intent to instrumentalise life-saving supplies for political and military gains.”

What is it all for?

Netanyahu proclaimed four war aims as justification for the assault on Gaza, and then Lebanon.

1. The elimination of Hamas and its military capabilities
2. The return of all the hostages taken during the 7 October attack
3. Ensuring that the Gaza Strip no longer poses a threat to Israel
4. Returning the residents of the north securely to their homes.

None have been achieved.