Benjamin Netanyahu will be, for sure, the next Prime Minister of Israel. This assessment is not based only upon recent polls, but also relies on the fact that the Israelis realize that Netanyahu’s rule is providing them security, economic prosperity and civil stability. Today, Israel is safer than ever, its economy is prosperous, its enemies find it hard to hurt the country, the current US administration is friendlier than the previous one, countries like Saudi Arabia wish to come closer to Israel. Our situation, it seems, is better than ever, especially in comparison to years where under the guise of ‘peace process,’ innocent people were butchered and massacred upon daily basis by armed Jihadists. Under the rule of the late Yitzhak Rabin or Ariel Sharon, Israel was terribly unsafe, its economy was in stagnation and people found it hard to live in a country where the future of their children is unpredictable. Netanyahu, it must be admitted, changed this situation and even his rivals cannot really justify their desire to replace him.
This situation suffers from one great shortcoming: the euphoric confidence of many Israelis who are sure that Israel can exist the way it is for next years. Thus, many Israelis are jolly to see how the Palestinian national leadership falls apart. They are satisfied with Israel’s strategy of deterrence against Iran. They are happy with the way the IDF dealt with the March of Return. They are joyous as they see how the Hamas became so harmless. Moreover, they are confident that Israel’s occupation can last forever, and no Palestinian state will be established. In many terms, they are sure that with Donald Trump in the Oval Office, Israel becomes a world player with zero threats. Just see how Israel thwarted the missiles’ attack planned by its Iranian foe, they say. They ignore the very fact that Israel becomes de facto a deathtrap to the Zionist dream.
The early Zionists, including Herzl, Jabotinsky and Ben-Gurion, did not want Israel to become a Jewish Sparta. They did not wish to see Israel enslaving millions of Arabs. They were not enthused at the prospect of building a state of zero political and civil equality to minorities. In fact, Jabotinsky was much more determined than Ben-Gurion in his insistence to provide the Arabs with full rights. However, the most important thing is that none of them believed that a Spartan Jewish state can endure forever. The problem of Israel’s Netanyahu is that it is entity which its very existence is based on national oppression, occupation and civil discrimination. It is obvious that today the country can contain its enemies and go on with oppressing the Palestinians, discriminate them and deprive them from their rights; however, this situation cannot subsist for good. Sooner or later, Israel would have to deal with young Palestinians who want to live their lives with freedom, dignity, prosperity and, most important than everything, national sovereignty. Since Netanyahu is going to continue to serve as Prime Minister (despite corruption allegations which seem to lead to nowhere), it is his job to determine the fate of the country: a tyranny of national serfdom or a true liberal democracy. He can, of course, attempt to ignore the history, disregard the way the despotic Soviet communism or the Apartheid South Africa collapse. However, as Karl Marx said, you can ignore the history, but history won’t ignore you.