The June 7th editorial in the Israeli daily Ha’aretz raised a shocking warning. “Israel’s collapse could be only a matter of time”, the editors declared. The potential demise of Zionism and the idea of a Jewish State, an idea once held by only a few antizionist radicals, is creeping into mainstream thought. Will Israel survive another decade? Read more.
“I’ve been coming to Israel for a quarter-century, and I’ve never seen Israelis as gloomy as they are now”, wrote Washington Post correspondent Max Boot in a June 25th opinion piece. Travelling across Israel, Boot found widespread pessimism about Israel’s military/security situation, tensions between secular, religious, right-wing and ultra-nationalist jews and the country’s increasing isolation on the international stage
“I’ve never been as pessimistic as I am now about Israel’s future. … It’s depressing. It’s scary.” said an academic Boot interviewed. These do not appear to be isolated voices: In a May poll, only 37 percent of Israeli Jews said they were very optimistic about Israel’s future, down from 48 percent in March.
Concern about Israel’s future was already well under way before Hamas’ attack on October 7th.
“Israelis in my circle, mainly people between the ages of 30 and 40 are thinking more and more about emigration“, wrote Haaretz columnist Noa Landau in August 2023. “Talk about visas, foreign currency, selling homes, and cashing in pensions (“just in case”) has replaced the usual small talk about weddings, mortgages and births.
One in four Israeli Jews say they would leave Israel and emigrate to another country if they had the opportunity, according to a recent survey by the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI).
The reasons for their pessimism include:
- The intensifying internal tensions between secular Israelis and right wing religious Jews and religious Jews who do not participate in the labour force or serve in the armed forces.
- Tensions between centrist and ultraright political streams which has been growing for several years and resulted in massive demonstrations over the right wing proposal to clip the wings of Israel’s Supreme Court
- the failure of the vaunted Israeli military to protect its citizens (e.g. on October 7th)
- The inability of that military to “eliminate” Hamas even after 10 months of vicious bombing
- Signs of disruption “bordering on anarchy” as right wing Israelis fight with IDF soldiers.
- dramatic downturn in Israeli economy with as many as 60,000 businesses closing in 2024
- increasing international isolation.
- condemnation of the genocide by the International Criminal Court, the International court of Justice and the United Nations Security Council
- a growing international movement for the recognition of the State of Palestine.
Moral degradation of a whole society
Outsiders are also struck by another phenomenon – the moral degradation of Israeli society and particularly the IDF. Israeli soldiers have happily shared on instagram posts images of the torture, murder and humiliation of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. Or of destruction of Palestinian cultural and religious property including books, libraries and mosques.
And most recently, the image of Israeli Knesset members defending the torture and execution of Palestinian prisoners.
Taken together it paints a picture of a society in decay.
Is the “Zionist experiment” coming to an end?
Many Jews believe that a Jewish State is essential as a refuge from another potential Holocaust. The idea that a Jewish State in which Jews are always dominant might be replaced by something else, scares Zionists, who fear that it might have terrible consequences for Jews.
But others recognize that the racist Israeli regime cannot be sustained. They see better protection for Jews in a different society based on equality.
“Israel is falling apart”, notes Phil Weiss, editor in Chief of Mondoweiss. Weiss is an American Jew who sees hope in the end of a Jewish state based on discrimination and exclusion . “Israel’s inability to solve the Palestinian issue except by apartheid and massacres has fostered a fascistic and racist political culture in the country.”
American political scientist Richard Rubenstein, argues that the idea of a Zionist state in which everyone could be happy was an illusion from the very beginning.
“The conflicts of the past two decades, culminating in Israel’s catastrophic war on Gaza, have (…) delegitimized the Jewish state by revealing the genocidal implications of Zionism,” he argues in a thoughtful article in Counterpunch called “Zionism: the end of an illusion”.
Israeli historian Ilan Pappe also thinks the Zionist project is coming to an end. “Few Israelis understand that what they are doing today in Gaza with their overwhelming military superiority, will eventually lead to their downfall”, he argues in a recent interview with Middle East Eye. “This is the beginning of the end of the Zionist project”.
Israel has long argued that it has a “right to exist”. But according to retired US Ambassador Charles Freeman, in light of its actions over the last ten months, the question on the table should now become whether Israel “deserves to exist”.
It is not possible to know whether Israel will last another 5, 10 or 15 years. Many internal and external factors are involved. But more and more Israelis are starting to think about the “unthinkable”. And by the same token, many Palestinians are starting to think that a much better future is possible.
Canada Talks Israel Palestine (CTIP) is the weekly newsletter of Peter Larson, Chair of the Ottawa Forum on Israel/Palestine (OFIP). It aims to promote a serious discussion in Canada about Canada’s response to the complicated and emotional Israel/Palestine issue with a focus on the truth, clear analysis and human rights for all. Readers with different points of view are invited to make comment.
Want to learn more about us? Go to Ottawa Forum on Israel/Palestine.ca
Canada Talks Israel/Palestine 
Encouraging, Peter! Alex
“The only time it is right to look down at someone is when we are offering our hand to help them get up.” Pope Francis – “Let Us Dream”
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Back in 1975 in a discussion with a former university classmate on the issue of the Palestinian situation and Israel’s refusal to recognize or allow the establishment of a Palestinian state she concluded the state of Israel would no longer exist in 60 or so years . At the time , I did not believe her opinion was correct. Her explanation was based on fundamental flaws in its creation , the denial of the Palestinian’s legitimate rights , the constant uprisings , conflicts , inequality and many other factors. Today, I agree with her conclusions . What would replace the state of Israel was not discussed.
Excellent article,Peter, offering an indepth analysis that I have not read before (or at least not understood as clearly) focusing on the underlying role of American imperialism. Israel is indeed self-destructing, and the U.S. is a crumbling empire. Thus, the current turmoil as one empire fades and another ascends. But this time, the military toys may take all of us with them. Very scary…
Thanks for sharing, Peter.
I am in Cairo visiting family members and friends who made it to Egypt from Gaza months ago. One constant topic that comes up in our talks and discussions is the “unbelievable barbarity of Israel.” Listening to story after story of the horror and terror inflicted by Israel upon their families, homes, and neighborhoods is like hearing endless tales of the lowest depths humanity has reached. The other revulsion is the support from the U.S. People here—Palestinians and Egyptians alike—are simply disgusted with America and Western governments. They have lost trust in this “shameless, heartless so called world order” that has been watching the massacre of women and children torn to pieces around the clock for the past ten months. To them, the mention of Human Rights as a pillar of the liberal world order is nothing more than a cruel joke. It is beyond hypocrisy. And for what are they being killed? All Palestinians want is to simply live in freedom and dignity. No more military occupation. No more seige. No more control.
Hey Iyas, thanks for sharing your frustration and pain. It is shared by many CTIP subscribers. “unbelieveable barbarity of Israel” is well said.
If you had told me a year ago that the West would allow Israel to wipe out Gaza, killing tens or hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, I would have not believed you.,
There are two levels here: the studied INDIFFERENCE of those in power (and in the media) who do know, and the IGNORANCE AND LACK OF INTEREST of others. CTIP tries to provide information to the many who do want to do something in hopes that it helps them take some kind of action.
I have come to the understanding that the recognition of the State of Israel, in 1948 was one of the greatest errors that the world has made in my lifetime. Israel did not then have, and does not now have, the support of the majority of people that it attempts to govern (which includes Gaza and the OWB).
When I hear the question, “Does Israel have the right to exist”, I wonder why the question is asked. Did anyone ever ask the same question about the Roman Empire, the Byzantine empire, the “Thousand year Reich”, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, … and all the other countries that have dissolved in human history? Countries have the right to exist as long as most people in their borders want to be governed by them. Rights belong to the people within the borders, not to the government that claims to control that area.
Israel might continue to exist if it is willing to change. Like trees, countries that do not bend, will break. The Jews of my father’s generation, needed a place where they could be safe and free; they never needed a place where others were unsafe and unfree.
One of the things that struck me during my visits to the area was the strength of the disrespect that Israelis had for each other. I thought it OK that they would prefer different forms of head covering (or no head covering) but was horrified by the disrespect that they showed for others who had different preferences. That disrespect extended to much more than headgear.
Israel will have to change; whether it changes or disappears is up to the people who live there. If they are able to respect the choices of others (Jews and non Jews) who live there, they can retain their homeland. If not, it will go the way of the many countries that no longer exist.
It’s hard to imagine the Palestinians and their “allies” defeating Israel, but It’s easy to imagine Israel defeating itself, through civil war. I would not shed many tears, and it’s comforting to say they will have brought it upon themselves. It’s simple schadenfreude. The problem is, how many will die as Israel self-destructs? How many more Palestinians, how many Jews? Will its religious fanatics use nuclear weapons?
That is why a solution must be forced on Israel. And that solution must be two separate states. We’re a long way from that solution. But we’re much further from anything else.
[In its 83-page opinion] the ICJ defines the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza as a single territory—and as the realm in which Palestinians have the right to self-determination. Given the tide of recent anti-Israel activism in the West, this point is worth stressing: The ICJ opinion takes the legitimacy of Israel within its pre-1967 borders as a given. It provides no sustenance to those who regard all Israelis as settlers, or who call for a Palestinian state ‘from the river to the sea.’ Explicitly, the court affirms that recognizing a Palestinian state next to Israel is the way to end the conflict” (Gershom Gorenberg, The Atlantic, August 6, 2024).
We should always stay close to the facts, (1) Most (not all) Jews in Israel are either settlers or the descendants of relatively recent settlers. Their religion may be considered indigenous but not all of those who practise that religion are indigenous or the descendants of people indigenous to the area. Religions spread widely. (2) While we hear Palestinians using the slogan “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”, many Israelis also believe that slogan but with a different interpretation. They believe that all of mandate Palestine should be Israel and consequently, continue to seize land and expand their settlements. We often hear settlers saying that the Arabs who live among them must recognize that “this is our land”. Their actions confirm that belief.
Thank you for inviting comments.
As someone from Lebanon, with Palestinian friends and relatives, it is abundantly clear that no state, people or natural resource in the region is safe until the Zionist project ends. It is not “complicated”, as your mission statement states. It is the most obvious and simple equation in international affairs.
From an indigenous perspective, Israel is an oppressive Western colonial project, guilty of the worst possible crimes against humanity. Its existence is solely based on military supremacy and territorial expansion, funded and supplied by the biggest Western powers, without the consent of their populations.
From a Jewish perspective, it’s a failed project in that Jews are much less safe in Israel than in their countries of origin or the Western Hemisphere and Australia. Not to mention that, they have been committing the same atrocities that they were fleeing from in Europe and Eurasia onto a region that was historically sympathetic to their plight, negating any moral justification or global sympathy for the Zionist colonial project.
Not complicated.
The question is not when it will end, it’s what are we doing to make it end quickly and humanely.
Right will eventually prevail over might.