[Revised by the author from the Hebrew original]
By Tamir Pardo
Every passing day brings Israel closer to the end of the Zionist dream. Messianics and fascists have hitched a haredi (ultra-Orthodox), ultra-nationalist, anti-Zionist bloc to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who underwent a transformation – and transformed his party – from right-wing democratic into a racist, ultra-Orthodox authoritarian.
Arab countries and Muslim leaders without exception – whether Egypt, Jordan and Abraham Accords countries which have signed agreements with Israel, Saudi Arabia which reportedly considers doing so, or others – are baffled as they watch the Jewish State, that stable regional power, economic, social, military and technological miracle, willingly self-destruct.
So, too, are our long-term allies, first among them the United States.
The Jewish march of folly has been forging ahead now for more than five decades, oblivious to the facts or surrounding reality. Some 15 million people live between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. Half are Jewish and half are not. Yet some Israelis are possessed by an irrational idea that someone – let alone an entire nation – is willing to forgo freedom and live forever deprived of national or civil rights. The racist-fascists presently in power, eagerly aspire to an apocalyptic conflict following which the Jews will defeat all others, drive them away, kill them should they resist, or force them to make permanent their inferior status. And since Israel’s independent justice system stands in the way of this deranged vision, they have joined forces with the Prime Minister who seeks to neutralize the courts via his coalition’s judicial overhaul proposals, for his own personal reasons, as he stands on trial facing bribery and corruption charges.
Israel’s friends in the region and beyond have been trying for years to get our decision-makers to take a good look in the mirror. Few of our past leaders either headed the advice or needed none in order to try to resolve the conflict. Others, including Netanyahu during his various terms, chose to ignore it.
Successive governments of Israel, long recognized as an important Western ally, primarily of the United States, ignored the warnings of these very allies that the course chosen will ultimately spell the end of the road for Israel as a strong Jewish democracy.
The most significant indication of Israel’s importance to the collective defense of the West came two years ago, with America’s decision to place the Jewish State within the zone of responsibility of CENTCOM – the United States’ Central Command. If continued, the antics of Netanyahu and his current government will inevitably relegate this to an historical anachronism. One day the commander of CENTCOM will pick up a phone to the White House and say that this regional ally has lost its strategic importance; that Israeli democracy, once the bond that held our two countries together, is no more.
Whoever occupies the White House, Democrat or Republican, will reach the same conclusion. The country that the United States has supported the most has, of its own volition, ceased to be a democracy and turned into an apartheid state. Israel’s rapid process of dissolution will remove the justification for its allies to continue investing in that alliance – and this will happen in Europe even before the US.
Israel’s protest movement has been waging an inspiring struggle for 31 weeks to prevent the destruction of the Zionist dream. As I march with them and address these diverse crowds of liberal-democrats, I am reinforced in my belief in the strength and determination of those fighting for our democracy. Israel’s friends would do well to stand with them and not waste another moment in impressing upon the demolition coalition presently governing in Jerusalem the price Israel will pay for overturning democracy.
Tamir Pardo is a former Head of Mossad and a member of Commanders for Israel’s Security (CIS).