At first glance the social protests in the summer of 2011 have nothing in common with the escalation in the security situation we are seeing in the summer of 2014, and the acts of hatred and murder between Jews and Arabs. It would seem that there is a substantial difference between that summer three years ago when the stress was on social solidarity for universal justice and this summer when the extremists are setting the tone.
However, there is something in common between the current events and the 2011 protests, which now seem so far away. It is the inability of the authorities to find relevant answers. In both situations, the ordinary citizen, who wants to live in economic and personal security and wants to rely on and feel confident in state institutions, is left with many question marks. And what the government offers are formulae empty of content, suitable for Israel of a decade ago and it is highly doubtful if they are applicable today.
It is no coincidence that what was meant to be Operation Defensive Shield II following the kidnapping of the three teenagers in Gush Etzion, with pictures of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a windbreaker with the IDF, led in the end to the deepening of Israel's isolation, an internal political crisis, and raises questions about his leadership.
In recent days the Israeli government looks bedraggled, without answers, and Netanyahu in 2014 begs comparisons with Ehud Barak in 2000. Only due to the shrewd perceptions of regional police commanders have we not seen a bigger tragedy than the bloody events of October 2000.
The current government's weakness, it should be stressed, is not a result of any particular decision by the prime minister. As in economic matters, the root of the problem is in the fact that he is trying to keep an impossible status-quo sacred, and carries on as if nothing has happened, while the existing reality cannot continue for long. Here too there are parallels with Israel's economic reality: on the one hand inequality that is deepening between population sectors, and on the other hand, control of another people and the deterioration of the conflict into a religious clash. In both instances, the Prime Minister and his ministers are unable to find answers to the question "where do we want to lead Israel?"
At the practical level, a lack of answers is translated into political crises such as the one generated by Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman. At the strategic level, we are talking about something deeper - an inability of Israeli politics to recognize reality and admit that attempts to control the West Bank without taking into account the Palestinian will has failed, just as attempts to base Israeli society on economic principles of privatization, reducing social spending, low income tax, and preferring tycoons have failed.
This connection between economic and diplomatic policy stems from the general feeling that Israel is not moving forward, and is frozen and stuck without the ability to decide where it is heading. The current crisis will ultimately lead to Knesset elections because part of the political coalition will reach the conclusion that we cannot continue forward, as though nothing has happened, and that something has changed in the past few months.
It is very likely that any elections will produce the same political picture that we already have or something even more extreme, and it is doubtful if it will be sufficient to change the final results. In such a case the political system will become less relevant than it is today. Israel's current diplomatic situation cannot carry on like this for long because if it cannot find answers then usually other forces - internal and/or external will do so instead.
Worldwide there is already major agreement on the outline plan for a solution to the Israel-Palestinian dispute, and it looks like it will go into effect sooner rather than later. The events of the past few days only strengthen this likelihood.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 7, 2014
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