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From an American perspective the most interesting thing right now about the political crisis in Israel is how closely it maps to the one in the United States: a right wing political leader who simply refuses to accept losing office. Since we discussed this last Netanyahu and his supporters have continued the campaign of incitement against the right wing members of the incoming government. After the head of the country’s domestic security service issued an all but unprecedented warning about incitement and the risk of civil violence or assassinations, Netanyahu responded with even more incitement. In reply he made a perfunctory statement about incitement and then told his supporters to “let’em have it.” So, not really getting the message.
The response has mirrored the pattern from this winter. Even from many on the Israeli right and center-right, except for those 100% in Netanyahu’s camp, the response in editorials and statements has basically been, it’s too much. You need to let go. Don’t burn the country down on the way out.
At present Netanyahu’s ally, the Speaker of the Knesset, has scheduled the confirmation and swearing in of the new government for Sunday – a date which itself seems timed to engineer a Shabbat from hell for the right wing religious ministers in the new government if they attend services.
A side drama, meanwhile, is unfolding over a nationalist march in Jerusalem which had been scheduled for later this week. The idea is to have right wing Israelis march through Jerusalem’s Muslim quarter. It’s comparable to the Orangemen marches they used to have through Catholic neighborhoods in Northern Ireland before the Good Friday agreements. Israeli police have tried to reroute the path it takes and then canceled it entirely on the pretty straightforward rationale that it’s likely to restart the conflagration that blew up last month. It seems almost designed to – the same kind of provocation. Not only is that not great from the point of view of civil violence or another mini-war with Gaza. It also stands a good chance of deepening the electoral/political crisis. And what’s happening right now is that Netanyahu – who still has four or five days left in power – is pushing the police to allow the march or take the decision away from them entirely.
In other words, he’s trying trigger another crisis out of some mix of a desire to stay in power (by breaking up the right-left, Jewish-Arab coalition) or simply burning things down on the way out.
But beyond this there’s something more general: an insistence that Netanyahu’s fall from power is an apocalyptic moment for Israel and Zionism. That’s the theme of the campaign of incitement, protesting outside the home’s of right wing members of the new government and more. But it shows up on numerous other fronts. Netanyahu’s supporters have pretty much adopted the “stop the steal” terminology from Trump. The particular ‘steal’ theory is that the right-wing parties joining the new government are ‘stealing’ right wing seats that belong to Netanyahu, that are meant to keep him in power.
The oddity of this frenzy was brought into clarifying relief in comments the incoming Prime Minister, Bennett, made a couple days ago. He basically said, this isn’t a tragedy. It’s not something shocking. It’s a turnover of power after an election. No government lasts forever. It’s actually totally normal.
This is really even more the case since the new government is stocked with former Netanyahu proteges and associates. Those who say the incoming government is no different from Netanyahu’s are wrong. About 2/3rds of the MKs are from the center and the left. Even though the right wing Bennett will be Prime Minister for the first two years he’s boxed in by the center and the left. But the center and left folks are too. They can’t do anything meaningfully without the okay of the ministers who are of the right. The point is, even in the most substantive sense, it’s a pretty low risk new government from the perspective of someone with right wing politics in Israel. Which is of course why why three center-right and right wing parties have joined it!
What is really comes down to is one person: Benjamin Netanyahu. For him, very clearly it’s ‘after me the deluge’. But it’s not just him. A big part of the country feels the same way. And this is what makes this relevant to our politics here in the United States. It’s the same thing. It all comes down to Trump. Not only is Trump losing power an existential development for America in his supporters’ eyes. But his fall from power can only be illegitimate, can only be the product of fraud.
It’s no accident these two were so close in power. It’s no accident they are playing these roles in the same political era. The logic of strongman-ism is contagious. It grows from similar roots in different political cultures.
