Israelis in fear and denial as society slides towards fascism https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-war-israelis-fear-and-denial-society-slides-towards-fascism Meron Rapoport in Tel Aviv, Israel 10 November 2023
Palestinian students, academics, doctors, and dissenting Jewish Israelis are among those caught up in an escalating wave of repression There are times I seriously wonder what country I am living in. More importantly, I wonder what sort of country it could become the day after this terrible war ends.
What is even more worrying is that much of this is not coming from the top, from a government filled with the extreme right. These 'thought police' purges are being done by the university or hospital authorities themselves.
You can place this current reign of terror in a context of fear and revenge, an understandable if much-exaggerated feeling following the atrocious Hamas attacks after which no Israeli Jew feels safe in their home. ..But will this internal regime of silencing and intimidation evaporate when the war ends? Or are we standing on the doorstep of full-blown repression against Palestinians and Israeli dissidents? ..Is Israel on the cusp of fascism? Unfortunately, I cannot give a comforting answer.