Israel is tearing itself apart - heading for civil war?

Israeli politics  

Netanyahu at war with his own military leadership 

Wolfgang Hansson  

This is a commenting text. Analysis and positions are the writer's.  

Posted 12:24 p.m  

Columnists  

Is Israel about to be torn apart from within? 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is at war with his own military. Many reservists are refusing to report for duty in protest against Netanyahu's attempts to cede more power. 

Both sides argue that it impairs Israel's ability to defend itself in the event of an attack.  

Many leaders find it difficult to recognize when it is time to check out. This applies to both autocrats and democratically elected ones. Netanyahu is an example of the latter. 

His ambition is to stay in power at all costs despite the ongoing trials against him where he is accused of corruption and threatened with prison terms. 

Instead of thinking about whether the best thing for the country would be if he at least temporarily left politics while waiting to see if he is convicted or not. 

He has chosen to cooperate with far-right settler parties and orthodox religious parties that have normally had limited influence in Israeli politics.  

But the extreme parties are the only ones who want to be part of a government where the prime minister is criminally indicted. 

Although the differences of opinion have always been great in Israeli politics, the relationship between the rulers and the military is usually good. Therefore, it is almost shocking to see how Netanyahu has ended up at war with his own military. 

The other day he accused the commander-in-chief and the defense leadership of "trying to take power over the state". 

Netanyahu's son Yair tweeted this week that ÖB Herzi Halevi "is the worst ÖB we've had" for not punishing the rebellious reservists. A post that he later removed.  

Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin Netanyahu Photo: Ronen Zvulun / AP

Semi-dictatorship  

The military has not been slow to fight back. Amos Malka, former head of the military intelligence service claims that "Netanyahu is a threat to the country's security".  

The basis of the conflict is the law change that Netanyahu is about to push through. The Israeli parliament, the Knesset, has voted through a change which means that the power of the Supreme Court is reduced. The government must be able to override the court's decision with a simple majority. 

In September, HD will test the new law themselves. Netanyahu has refused to promise to respect the ruling even if it goes against him.  

Many Israelis see the changes as a decisive step towards transforming Israel from a democratic state into a semi-dictatorship. A Hungary, Poland or Turkey.  

In recent months, the country has been rocked by countless violent demonstrations demanding that Netanyahu withdraw the bill. For a while it looked like Netanyahu would listen. Not least because President Joe Biden made it clear that he viewed such a change very seriously. The United States is Israel's main ally and provides military support of SEK 30 billion each year. 

But once again, Netanyahu put his personal power ambitions ahead of the will of the people. Because even though his government has a narrow majority, almost all opinion polls show that only 30 percent of Israel's population supports the erosion of HD's power.  

Refuses to fly  

Netanyahu is the hostage of the settler parties. In order not to withdraw their support, they demand that Netanyahu push through the changes he promised. Otherwise, the government will fall, and with it the corruption-accused Netanyahu.  

One reason why he refuses to give up is that Netanyahu, with a weaker Supreme Court, hopes to stop the trials against him or, in the worst case, at least obtain amnesty in case he is sentenced to prison.  

Therefore, Israel has found itself in the strange situation that many within the military leadership are fighting for the preservation of democracy against a popularly elected government.  

Concretely, this means that around 10,000 reservists in the army refused to show up for exercises. This includes, among other things, several hundred fighter pilots. They must fly regularly to maintain their competency. The defense leadership has repeatedly warned that Netanyahu's new law means that Israel's defenses will seriously deteriorate in the event of war.  

Netanyahu is outraged that the military is releasing data on the deteriorating defense readiness. He demands that the military close the lid so as not to alarm the public. But the military leadership refuses because they hope the truth will put enough pressure on Netanyahu to stop the law changes. 

We are used to seeing Israel waging war against the Palestinian population in the West Bank and Gaza. Now we see instead how internal fighting within the Jewish state is about to tear apart the country that after the Second World War was supposed to become a home for the world's Jews.  

No one knows where it might end, but many warn of civil war in Israel. That Israel risks becoming a new Lebanon.  

All because Netanyahu wants to save his own skin and refuses to leave power.