Don’t Normalize Israel's Extremist Government, or Its American Apologists

By Hadar Susskind

Jan 4, 2023

Over the coming weeks and months, the newly formed Israeli governing coalition and its U.S. allies will try to normalize the most hardline right-wing government in Israel’s history.

You will hear calls for a grace period, read articles and interviews in the international media designed to put lipstick on this disastrous government, such as Bezalel Smotrich’s laughable article in the Wall Street Journal.

American Jewish community leaders will grudgingly state that “the people of Israel have spoken” and praise Israel for being “the only democracy in the Middle East.” They will smile broadly at photo ops after meeting with Israeli government members in either Jerusalem or New York. They will strive to open reluctant doors in Washington for Netanyahu and his problematic political partners, desperately attempting to argue that they are not as bad as they may seem.

All photos by Gili Getz.

Yossi Alpher is an independent security analyst. He is the former director of the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University, a former senior official with the Mossad, and a former IDF intelligence officer. Views and positions expressed here are those of the writer, and do not necessarily represent APN's views and policy positions.

Please join APN for a protest at the Israeli embassy (3514 International Dr. NW, Washington, DC, at Van Ness Street) at 11:00 am Eastern on January 2nd, 2023 to voice our concern over the positions and stated policies of the incoming Israeli government.

Israel's Peace Now movement, in collaboration with Haaretz newspaper, hosted a panel discussion at a Tel Aviv bar yesterday to analyze the impact of the incoming Netanyahu-headed government on Israeli-Palestinian relations, on efforts to end the occupation and on efforts to advance peace. 

Haaretz newspaper today published a powerful essay by Israeli novelist David Grossman conveying his dismay at the manner in which Benjamin Netanyahu is forming his new coalition and at the damage – some likely irreversible – that Netanyahu is causing to Israel. The essay reflected the sentiments of many Israelis. It was the leading story of Haaretz’s Hebrew edition, under a one-word headline: Chaos.

Following is the English translation of Grossman’s essay.  

For Israel, There Is No Way Back from Netanyahu’s Chaos

Under the guise of democracy, Netanyahu is warping the character of Israel itself, sowing the seeds of anarchic chaos, hatred and violence which cannot be tamed

By David Grossman

Dec 28, 2022

Everything that has happened in Israel since the election is ostensibly legal and democratic. But under its cover – as has happened more than once in history – the seeds of chaos, emptiness and disorder have been sown in Israel’s most vital institutions.

I am not talking merely about the enactment of new laws, extreme and outrageous though they are, but about a deeper, more fateful change, a change in our identity, a change in the character of the state. And the election wasn’t fought over this change; this isn’t what Israelis went to the polls to vote on.

Yossi Alpher is an independent security analyst. He is the former director of the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University, a former senior official with the Mossad, and a former IDF intelligence officer. Views and positions expressed here are those of the writer, and do not necessarily represent APN's views and policy positions.

As Benjamin Netanyahu presents his new coalition today to Israel’s President Herzog, Americans for Peace Now (APN) is deeply concerned about the impact of the incoming government on Israel’s future as a democracy and on its relations with its Palestinian neighbors.

Produced by the Foundation for Middle East Peace in cooperation with Americans for Peace Now, where the Legislative Round-Up was conceived.

Yossi Alpher is an independent security analyst. He is the former director of the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University, a former senior official with the Mossad, and a former IDF intelligence officer. Views and positions expressed here are those of the writer, and do not necessarily represent APN's views and policy positions.