Alexis Papachelas
Israel today stands at a pivotal, absolutely existential crossroads. At its helm is a politician who has nowhere to “land” if he loses the elections and who depends crucially on small extremist parties. Netanyahu will push things to the extreme without hiding his real goal, which is the final expulsion of the Palestinians from Gaza and, if possible, the West Bank. In pursuing these aims, he simultaneously destabilizes two pillar countries of regional security, Jordan and Egypt. Tomorrow, any solution to the Palestinian issue and geopolitical stability is nowhere in sight.
Only developments within Israel itself can change the circumstances. But even that is difficult after the massacre of October 7th or the recent inhuman footage with the hostages, which have alienated even the most moderate Israelis. Israel is a living political cautionary tale. Its electoral law of simple proportionality has led to a scenario where the extreme, indeed, the fanatical, hold the keys. Netanyahu’s oligarch friends have taken full control of the media landscape. The opposition has failed to produce a strong leader for decades.
I remember a conversation I had with Shimon Peres, the last politician of the historic generation that built Israel. In an interview, I asked him whether allowing extremists to begin aggressive settlements in the 1970s was a mistake. He gave a noncommittal answer at the time, but later in a private discussion he admitted, “That was the biggest mistake of my generation.” Compromise with the extremes has a unique, poisonous way of swallowing you whole.
Personally, I always believed that Israel fell into a black hole the day Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated. He was murdered by the uncontrollable toxicity that Netanyahu cultivated and that armed the hand of the assassin. Today, however, there is an asymmetry: on one side, a powerful state; on the other, a sick democracy that cannot produce solutions. Before October 7th, countless secular, progressive Israelis were searching for a second home in Greece or elsewhere. They stayed to fight, but now they feel Netanyahu and the state have crossed lines that cannot be crossed.
There is no Rabin on the horizon. International condemnation is not enough. In a paradoxical, almost perverse way, the only person who could stop Netanyahu is Trump. The deadlock deepens, though, within Israel itself, and the dilemmas will become increasingly sharp for countries that believe their purely national interest now clashes with a reality that, on values and human grounds, cannot be accepted.
