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<\/span>A long line of right-wing Israeli politicians have been basking in the generous sunshine of global and local conservatism for the last decade. An entire intellectual ecosystem \u2013 conferences, research institutes, journals, websites, and visits by sharp-tongued American and European celebrity conservatives \u2013 has laid the ground for these politicians\u2019 actions in recent years.<\/p>\n
However, when the first opportunity for a \u201cfull-on right-wing government\u201d presented itself to those politicians, some of them poster boys of Israeli conservatism, they readily renounced their faith. It is difficult to depict a more absurd spectacle than the one we are living in: conservatives, who are revolutionaries and anti-establishment, uprooters of reality, eager to jump \u2013 in the most irresponsible way \u2013 into the unknown.<\/p>\n
And what a jump: Just two months ago Israel was a growing and flourishing country with the strongest currency in the world, whose defense forces \u2013 its formidable and cohesive people\u2019s army \u2013 were unmatched in the region; whose leaders were honored guests in government corridors worldwide; whose democratic character was beyond doubt; and whose rule of law was a self-evident fact for the vast majority of its citizens. All of this is about to collapse before our very eyes.<\/p>\n
In the space of two months, the politicians who had been fed for years by the conservative umbilical cord have succeeded in dividing Israel in a way we have never experienced \u2013 not by the Oslo Accords and not by the disengagement from Gaza.<\/p>\n
So divided is the country, that there are calls not to allow elected public officials to represent the state at ceremonies on Remembrance Day for the Fallen of Israel\u2019s Wars and Victims of Terrorism. If those calls were heeded, that would mark an unparalleled societal break from the past.<\/p>\n
The magnificent economy we built here, which has weathered numerous global crises in an amazing way, may be facing a crisis in the near future, as predicted by some 300 of the world\u2019s top economists, including the Kohelet Forum\u2019s chief economist. Hi-tech barons around the world are holding their breath at the prospect of the Start-Up Nation performing hara-kiri.<\/p>\n
The dispute has seeped into Israel\u2019s holy of holies \u2013 the people\u2019s army \u2013 where cracks are appearing that no one could have foreseen until the conservative revolution. Refusal to serve \u2013 even \u201cgray\u201d refusal, when soldiers don\u2019t show up for reserve duty without explicitly saying they refuse to serve \u2013 is deplorable in my view, but it has undeniably become a presence in our lives, with all its immediate problematic implications and catastrophic long-term effects.<\/p>\n Will it be possible to put the IDF refusenik genie back in the bottle? And our prime minister \u2013 the super-statesman with impressive achievements to his credit \u2013 finds the doors of Washington and the UAE closed to him \u2013 persona non grata.<\/p>\n The realization that Israel is drifting away from the democratic world undermines the stability of our greatest strategic asset \u2013 the partnership of values with the US. Recently, and concomitantly with the government-led revolution, the support for Israel among Democrats has dropped by 11%, so that for the first time a majority of the American ruling party favors the Palestinians over us.<\/p>\n Diaspora Jewry, for the most part, is tearing its hair out over the unfathomable gap they see between what is happening here and their hopes for us. Zionist brethren, once a real pillar of support for the state, are becoming more and more discouraged by us.<\/p>\n And most importantly \u2013 millions of citizens fear that Israel is becoming a dictatorship.<\/p>\n We have experienced a miracle for the past 125 years \u2013 starting with the First Zionist Congress, the Jews nurtured a Zionism rooted in democracy. Thanks to this, Zionism is the only national movement to have succeeded in establishing a state (almost) without bloodshed between brothers.<\/p>\n Democracy was the only option for us until two months ago. And now \u2013 incredibly \u2013 under the auspices of a conservative agenda, Israel could become, at least in the minds of millions of citizens, an actual dictatorship.<\/p>\n The governmental institutions, the checks and balances between them, and rule of law itself could be put to the ultimate test not long from now, if and when the constitutional crisis unfolds. \u201cAnd his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbor\u201d is no longer a distant Biblical story, but a real possibility, just around the corner.<\/p>\n Israelis tend to be conservative. Unlike large swathes of the Western world, Israel celebrates family, community, and tradition. Israeli society ranks high up on the World Happiness Index (fourth place in 2023), among other things, because of these qualities. The Israeli is not an isolated atom rattling around a neutral public space, but rather \u201cpart\u201d of a greater whole in which he feels \u201cat home\u201d \u2013 part of the ongoing \u201cstory\u201d of an ancient people that transmits its legacy to the entire world.<\/p>\n According to its website, the Israeli conservative movement professes that its aim is to \u201ctranslate the conservative, wise, and sober insights of Israelis into a clear language, and an intellectually coherent teaching translatable into a calculated public policy.\u201d<\/p>\n These are things that speak to the heart, but do they speak to the revolutionary reality that is robbing us all of sleep? Is this jaw-dropping revolution a \u201ccalculated public policy?\u201d<\/p>\n My fellow conservatives, if you are sincere in your beliefs, you must immediately denounce the governmental plan. Even if you think that the millions of citizens in opposition (including a quarter of Likud voters) misunderstand the initiative known as the \u201cLevin Reform,\u201d you must respect the fact that this is how your brothers feel.<\/p>\n Even if you believe that the tsunami approaching our shores is to be blamed on the opposition, which has shaken the earth beneath our feet to satisfy political ambitions, it does not matter. Your very conservatism should dampen the self-confidence that justifies this radical change to the Israeli status quo \u2013 this headlong \u201crush to the spoils.\u201d<\/p>\n Israeli conservatives: Oppose the reform \u2013 immediately. Come back to your senses.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/jppi.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/651.png\")
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