The radicalization of Israel

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emerged satisfied from his Nov. 9 meeting with US President Barack Obama in Washington, but his coalition partners made sure to dampen his enthusiasm. At the meeting, Netanyahu had spoken about his commitment to a two-state solution. HaBayit HaYehudi Chairman Naftali Bennett, in competition with Netanyahu for right-wing voters, considers the concept illegitimate. Instead, Bennett supports the partial annexation of the occupied territories to Israel. “When the prime minister supports the creation of a Palestinian state, that is not a right-wing government,” Bennett reportedly told a gathering of party activists.

snip* In a conversation with Al-Monitor, Stern said that Israel is in the throes of a leadership crisis and a culture war among its citizens. “The manifestations of the war are religious, national and global, and it’s not only that the mainstream has shrunk. The disparate visions of the future of the state are the key to understanding the situation. There is a big quarrel going on regarding how to understand the current reality and the future. The extremist camps are gaining strength around the unresolved questions, and the inability to talk to one another is only growing.”

The results of the Annual Democracy Index published by the IDI support Stern’s assertions. In 2010, 43% of Jews surveyed in Israel responded that they attributed equal importance to the characterizations of the state as "Jewish" and "democratic." Meanwhile, 31% viewed the Jewish component as more important, and only 20% viewed the democratic component as more important. In the 2015 index, only 25% of respondents valued the two characteristics as being equally important, while 37% placed more emphasis on the Jewish component and 35% on the democratic component.

snip* The sociologist Udi Label also points to social isolation in Israeli society as a key factor in the growth of extremism and disappearance of the center. “There are already subgroups within the communities, for example, among the settlers. Even within this large community, there are isolated groups. This process is intensified by ‘deferred anger’ — in other words, a trauma or anger that was not viewed as something that could be expressed legitimately. But now, with people withdrawing into subgroups lacking an external perspective, the deferred anger is released and expressed in extremism.”

Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/12/israeli-mainstream-two-state-solution-left-right-settlers.html#ixzz3tS9eG2I3