Ben Caspit

Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition could upend Israeli democracy

The results of this week’s elections pose the direst threat to Israeli democracy since the state was founded 74 years ago. Israel has always been under existential threat from the enemies around it. It fought for independence, endured numerous wars and waged endless military operations over the years.

For years, it dismissed warnings that the real danger to its future lay within its fractured social, religious and political structure, rejecting them as leftist propaganda and prophecies of doom.

Тhe ultranationalist and religious partners in the emerging coalition government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can eventually turn Israel into a quasi-authoritarian state similar to Hungary under Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Turkey under Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Endemic corruption, human rights violations, curbs on minority rights, erosion of the LGBTQ community’s hard-won achievements and a takeover of the state coffers by the ultra-Orthodox minority are all tangible threats.

Netanyahu owes this week's resounding comeback after 18 months in political exile to ultranationalist and ultra-Orthodox forces. He has a relatively comfortable Knesset majority, but little room to maneuver. He will be unable to curb the ideological, political, economic, religious and social appetites of his radical partners.

Despite its sizable conservative Jewish and Muslim population groups, Israel is by and large free, open and liberal. Will the ultra-Orthodox deepen their control of the public space by banning public transportation on the Sabbath? Will Religious Zionism leader Bezalel Smotrich act on his blanket objections to abortions? Ben-Gvir is a leading advocate of Jewish prayer on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, the site of Islam’s holiest site, Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The only question is whether the Netanyahu government will collapse before Israeli democracy does.

https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2022/11/netanyahus-right-wing-coalition-could-upend-israeli-democracy