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By Yuval Noah Harari for The Washington Post: On the one hand, the Israelis are paying the price for years of arrogance during which their governments and many ordinary Israelis felt that they were so much more powerful than the Palestinians that they could simply ignore them. There is much to criticize in the way Israel has given up trying to make peace with the Palestinians and kept millions of Palestinians under occupation for decades.
But that does not excuse the atrocities committed by Hamas, which in any case never allowed for the possibility of a peace treaty with Israel.
Moreover, no matter how much blame is attributed to Israel, it does not explain the dysfunction of the state. History is not a morality tale.
The real explanation for Israel’s ineffectiveness is populism, not some supposed immorality. For years Israel was ruled by a strong populist, Benjamin Netanyahu, a public relations genius but an incompetent prime minister. Netanyahu is criticized for prioritizing personal interests over national security, appointing loyalists over qualified professionals, and ignoring warnings about the deteriorating security situation. His coalition, established in December 2022, is dubbed as an alliance of “messianic zealots and shameless opportunists,” focused more on seizing power than addressing Israel’s multiple problems.
No matter what one thinks of Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the way populism corroded the Israeli state should serve as a warning to other democracies all over the world.
The entire article can be read at the link https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/10/11/netanyahu-populism-weakened-israeli-security/
