FLASH
Shkruar nga Yuval Noah Harari
Regardless of what one thinks about Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the way populism is eroding the Israeli state should serve as a warning to other democracies around the world. Israel can still save itself from disaster.
Israelis are trying to understand what happened. First, we compared the current disaster to the Yom Kippur War of 1973. 50 years ago, the armies of Egypt and Syria launched a surprise attack and inflicted a series of military defeats on Israel, before the Israel Defense Forces regroup, and turn the situation in favor.
But as more and more horrific stories and images emerge about the slaughter of entire communities, we realize that what has happened is nothing like the Yom Kippur War. In newspapers, on social media and at family gatherings, people are drawing comparisons to the Jewish people's darkest hours, such as when mobile killing units of the Nazi Einsatzgruppen surrounded and killed Jewish villagers during the Holocaust, and when pogroms were used against Jews in the Russian Empire.
I have family and friends in Kibbutz Be'eri and Kfar Aza, and I have heard many horrible stories. Hamas had full control of these two communities for hours. The terrorists went from house to house, systematically killing families, killing parents in front of their children and taking hostages, even babies and grandmothers. Terrified survivors locked themselves in closets and basements, calling the army and police for help that arrived too late.
My 99-year-old uncle and his 89-year-old wife are Be'er members. All contact with them was cut off immediately after Hamas took control of the kibbutz. They hid in their house for hours while dozens of terrorists carried out massacres. I got the news that they survived. I know many people who have just received the worst news of their lives.
My uncle and his wife are two strong Jews, born in Eastern Europe in the years between the two wars. They have already lost a world in the Holocaust. We grew up with stories of defenseless Jews hiding from the Nazis in closets and basements, with no one to go to help them. The State of Israel was founded so that this would not happen again.
How did it happen then? How did the state of Israel disappear in action?
Israelis are paying the price for years of arrogance, during which our governments and many ordinary Israelis thought we were stronger than the Palestinians and could simply ignore them. There is much to criticize about the way Israel has abandoned efforts to make peace with the Palestinians and kept millions of Palestinians under occupation for decades.
But this does not justify the atrocities committed by Hamas, which in no case has considered any possibility of a peace treaty with Israel and has done everything in its power to sabotage the peace process in Oslo. Anyone who wants peace must condemn and impose sanctions on Hamas and demand the immediate release of all hostages and the complete disarmament of Hamas.
But no matter how much Israel is to blame, this does not explain the state's dysfunction. The story is not a morality tale.
The real explanation for Israel's dysfunction is populism, not immorality. For many years, Israel has been governed by a populist strongman, Benjamin Netanyahu, who is a public relations genius but an incompetent prime minister. He has consistently preferred his personal interests over national interests and has built his career on dividing the nation. He appointed people to key positions based on their loyalty to him rather than their qualifications, took credit for every success, never took responsibility for failures, and cared little for telling or hearing the truth.
Koalicioni Netanyahu i krijuar në dhjetor të vitit 2022 ka qenë deri tani më i keqi. Është një aleancë me fanatikë e zelltarëve mesianikë dhe oportunistësh të paturpshëm, të cilët injoruan problemet e shumta të Izraelit, duke përfshirë situatën e përkeqësuar të sigurisë, dhe u përqendruan në marrjen e pushtetit të pakufizuar për veten e tyre. Për t'ia arritur këtij qëllimi, ata miratuan politika tejet përçarëse, përhapën teori skandaloze konspirative për institucionet shtetërore që kundërshtonin politikat e tyre dhe etiketuan elitat në shërbim të vendit si tradhtarë të "shteteve të thella".
Qeveria u paralajmërua vazhdimisht nga forcat e saj të sigurisë dhe nga ekspertë të shumtë se politikat e saj po rrezikonin Izraelin. Megjithatë, kur shefi i shtabit të Forcave të Mbrojtjes të Izraelit kërkoi një takim me Netanyahun për ta paralajmëruar për implikimet e sigurisë të politikave të qeverisë, Netanyahu refuzoi ta takonte. Kur ministri i Mbrojtjes Yoav Gallant ngriti alarmin, Netanyahu e shkarkoi. Më pas ai u detyrua të rikthente Gallantin vetëm për shkak të një shpërthimi të zemërimit popullor. Një sjellje e tillë ndër vite bëri që Izraelit ta godiste një fatkeqësi.
Pavarësisht se çfarë mendon dikush për Izraelin dhe konfliktin izraelito-palestinez, mënyra se si populizmi gërryen shtetin izraelit duhet të shërbejë si një paralajmërim për demokracitë e tjera në mbarë botën.
Izraeli ende mund ta shpëtojë veten nga katastrofa. Ende gëzon një avantazh vendimtar ushtarak ndaj Hamasit, si dhe ndaj shumë armiqve të tjerë të tij. Kujtimi i gjatë i vuajtjeve hebreje tani po e nxit kombin. Forcat e Mbrojtjes dhe organet e tjera shtetërore po rikuperohen nga tronditja e tyre fillestare. Shoqëria civile po mobilizohet si kurrë më parë, duke plotësuar shumë boshllëqe të lëna nga mosfunksionimi i qeverisë. Qytetarët qëndrojnë në radhë të gjata për të dhuruar gjak, për të mirëpritur refugjatët nga zona e luftës në shtëpitë e tyre dhe për të dhuruar ushqime, rroba dhe gjëra të tjera të nevojshme.
In this time of need, we also call on our friends around the world to stand by us. There are many criticisms to be made of Israel's past behavior. The past cannot be changed, but hopefully once victory over Hamas is secured, Israelis will not only hold our current government to account, but also abandon populist conspiracies and messianic fantasies and make a sincere effort to realized Israel's founding ideals of democracy at home and peace abroad./ Washington Post
*Yuval Noah Harari, author of Sapiens, Homo Deus and Unstoppable Us, and professor of history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
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