Israel’s First Anti-Zionist Government
By Hadley Kauvar
If we define Zionism as the Jewish national movement to establish, develop and protect a Jewish country in the Land of Israel, and anti-Zionism as opposition to such aims, then we may be witness to Israel’s first anti-Zionist government. How else could you describe a government that so clearly acts against the interests of the state?
On the security front, 16 Israelis have been killed in Israel and the West Bank since the beginning of the year. One of the recent terror attacks was met with a reprisal raid on the Palestinian town of Huwara by hundreds of extremist settlers that drew international condemnation. The terms of the talks held in Aqaba by the U.S. to help lower tensions in the region were immediately disregarded by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his extremist allies, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. Ben-Gvir — the man with no security experience and a prior conviction for terrorism — unsurprisingly is struggling as a police minister. So far in his tenure, he has reduced the shower time for and taken away pita ovens from Palestinian security prisoners, shut down a non-partisan program dedicated to reducing violence in Israeli-Arab communities because it is a “leftist organization,” and helped kill a bill that would have mandated that domestic abusers wear electronic monitoring bracelets.
Meanwhile, the judicial “reforms” have caused widespread protests among IDF reservists, particularly those serving in elite Air Force and intelligence units, who have declared their refusal to fight for a dictatorship. The protests grew so severe that Defense Minister Yoav Gallant called for the judicial overhaul process to be paused, declaring “The growing rift in our society is penetrating the IDF and security agencies; this poses a clear, immediate, and tangible threat to the security of the state.” Instead of heeding the call to step on the brakes, Netanyahu instead elected to fire Gallant as Defense Minister, prompting even further widespread protests. Thankfully, Netanyahu eventually climbed down from the ladder and declared a pause in the legislation. However, Gallant’s position remains in limbo as Netanyahu has yet to send his official dismissal letter, and the lack of clarity is worrying security officials, who believe it will hamper the security establishment’s ability to respond to threats. This unstable arrangement was tested this weekend, when Israel faced simultaneous rocket barrages from Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, two Israelis were killed in the Jordan Valley, and an Italian tourist was killed in Tel Aviv. The question now is whether the more level-headed among the government will try to restore calm, or will the pyromaniacs throw gas on the fire.
Another of Netanyahu’s favorite talking points is also in danger: the Israeli economy. Hundreds of Israeli economists have warned that if the judicial shakeup is enacted, it will lead to a “financial meltdown.” The shekel has dropped to its lowest value in three years while capital flight is already underway as several tech firms have pulled their funds from Israel. Bank of Israel Governor Amir Yaron, as well as his predecessors Karnit Flug and Jacob Frenkel, all Netanyahu appointees, have issued similar warnings.
When it comes to diplomacy, Israel is lurching from one crisis to another. First, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich liked a tweet calling for the Palestinian town of Huwara, the location of a deadly terror attack that settlers subsequently raided, to be “wiped out.” He then stated this exact sentiment out loud at a financial conference. After facing condemnations, he offered a halfhearted apology and said that his words had been misconstrued. The blowback from this was swift and strong. On his trips to the United States and France, he was faced with a complete boycott by government officials. This didn’t stop him from angering Jordan by speaking at a private event at a podium draped in a flag of “Greater Israel” that featured the Hashemite Kingdom incorporated into the Jewish state and giving a racist speech where he deemed the Palestinian people “an invention.” This government has also sparked the ire of its own diplomats, and the ambassadors to France, Canada, and the Consul General in New York have all resigned in protest of the government’s actions.
Not even the Abraham Accords are safe from this government, which is led by the very man who forged them. The UAE recently sent Khaldoon Al Mubarak, a senior advisor to the Emirati President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, to warn Netanyahu that the provocative actions of his government are harming the ties between their two countries. This was followed by Transportation Minister Miri Regev declaring at a conference “I was in Dubai, I won’t go back there, I don’t like that place.” Regev attempted to walk back her comments as a joke, and Foreign Minister Eli Cohen tried to do damage control by tweeting about his love for the UAE. However, the damage has been done, and the UAE President has recently declared “as long as we can’t be certain that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has a government that he controls, we can’t cooperate.”
Even the United States, which has been Israel’s most faithful ally through countless wars and conflicts, is growing impatient. The Biden administration is furious with Netanyahu, and has pointedly declined to invite him to the White House since he returned to power, a rite of passage for every Israeli prime minister since Golda Meir. President Biden has even felt the need to remind Netanyahu of the shared “democratic principles” that are the bedrock of the U.S.-Israel relationship over a phone call. The Biden administration has derided the recent law repealing the 2005 disengagement from four settlements in the northern West Bank as “provocative” and “counterproductive to restoring some measure of calm” as we now enter Ramadan. In a highly unusual move, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Mike Herzog was summoned for a reprimand by a high-ranking State Department official. Even Evangelical Christians, some of Netanyahu’s most erstwhile allies in the U.S., have expressed anger at his coalition, after the Haredi parties tried to advance a bill that would ban Christian missionaries in Israel.
The widening rift with the United States is continuing to grow. Bibi’s son, Yair, has been accusing the United States of funding the anti-government protests because of a small State Department grant to the Movement for Quality of Government, a non-partisan Israeli NGO. Said funding was actually initiated by the Trump administration. However, after the firing of Gallant and the mass protests that followed, Biden’s criticism reached new levels, telling reporters that he is “very concerned” about the situation in Israel, and publicly stating that Netanyahu would not be receiving a White House invitation anytime soon. The Israeli right flooded the airwaves with scorn for Biden, with one Likud MK, Nissim Vaturi, accusing him of getting Israeli soldiers killed in 2014 due to the actions of the Obama administration. Not to be outdone, more right-wing figures have rushed into the fray. Culture Minister Miki Zohar voiced his sadness that Biden had fallen victim to “fake news” (he later deleted that tweet) and National Security Minister and formerly convicted terrorist Itamar Ben-Gvir puffed his chest and said it is important the U.S. understand that Israel is an independent country and “not just another star on the American flag.” As much as they would like to paint Biden as some Israel-hating, BDS-loving, anti-Zionist, this is the man who just last July stood at Ben Gurion Airport and proudly stated “you need not be a Jew to be a Zionist.”
This government has accomplished more in two months than the BDS movement has in a decade. They are simply unwilling to listen to the voices of reasons who warn of the impending security, diplomatic and economic crises. The simple act of calling out for a legislative pause got Gallant fired, a move that echoes the worst dictatorships and banana republics. There have been left-wing governments in Israel, and there have been right-wing governments in Israel, all have been Zionist in one form or another, dedicated to the preservation, protection and advancement of the state. This government is none of those things, and is defined by brazen self interest and naked power grabs.
