State of Denial
Following is a list of uncomfortable realities most Israelis are still unwilling to confront. Until they do, change is going to be unlikely. Here we go, in order of importance:
- A One-State Reality
We are already in a one-state reality between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea with one integrated economy and one security space.
- Nobody Is Going Anywhere
Neither military pressure, terrorism, economic development, emigration, autonomy or time will make Israelis or Palestinians disappear.
- Managing The Conflict Has Its Limits
No amount of mowing the grass can substitute for a political solution, see Oct.7
- Demography Is Not a Strategy
Millions of Palestinians living under Israeli control has political consequences regardless of the exact population ratio.
- Occupation Changes the Occupier
Regardless of the occupation being justified or not, decades of control over another people affects institutions, norms, language and political culture, see Yeshayahu Leibowitz.
- Military Superiority Has Limits
Overwhelming military superiority cannot produce political legitimacy or reconciliation – while we can defeat armies we cannot bomb an identity out of existence.
- The Regional Conflict Is Not Only About Iran
Normalization with Arab governments does not automatically resolve our relationship with Arab people and societies. Diplomatic normalization does not make social acceptance.
- Democracy Requires Nurturing
Democratic institutions cannot survive without constant and continuous public commitment to pluralism, restraint and equality before the law.
- Zionism Needs An Update, Urgently
Zionism, the movement to create a Jewish State, completed its mission in 1948. To continue to be of relevance and stop causing terrible damage, it has to evolve from the ethnonationalism it has turned to.
- Security and Equality are not Opposites
The choice is not between Jewish security and equal rights, it’s much more complex than that. To provide both is the challenge.
- The International Environment is Changing Fast
Unconditional Western support cannot be assumed indefinitely as we already are beginning to realize. Not necessarily because the world is becoming anti-Israel but because global norms and demographics are changing.
- The cost of the Conflict is Not Only Military
The conflict affects, among other things: Investment, social cohesion, emigration, reserve service, mental health, international standing, relations among Jews the world over.
- There is No Return to October 6
Israel cannot restore the strategic assumptions that existed before October 7th. Israel cannot repair the fence, rebuild deterrence, and go back to October 6, when in fact October 7 exposed a deeper reality that can no longer be permanently contained or ignored.
- The Settlements Have Changed the Paradigm
The territorial and demographic landscape created in the West Bank since 1967 has fundmentally shaken the feasibility of partition.
- There is No Consensus Regarding the Successor To the Two State Solution
Many Israelis believe the two state solution is dead. They also reject every alternative. These two positions cannot coexist forever.
- Denial of Palestinian Suffering
Acknowledging Israeli suffering while treating Palestinian suffering as either irrelevant, exaggerated , deserved or politically inconvenient.
- Denial of Moral Responsibility
The belief that because the enemy behaves barbarically Israel is relieved of the obligation to examine its own conduct.
- Denial of What is Done in Our Name
Many Israelis genuinely do not know or prefer not to know what occurs daily in parts of the West Bank, in detention facilities and prisons, at checkpoints during settler violence incidents or during military operations. Not necessarily because information is unavailable but because checking it is uncomfortable.
- Denial of Settler Violence
The tendency to portrait extremist settler violence as isolated incidents rather than as a recurring phenomenon with potential political and institutional implications.
- Denial of Impunity
The belief that misconduct by Israelis is always investigated and addressed adequately despite recurring criticisms from Israeli, Palestinians and International Human Rights organizations.
- Denial of Dehumanization
The normalization of language that would once have been considered unacceptable. Collective punishment, population transfer, “human animals”, treating entire popuations as legitimate targets of suspicion. See Yeshayahu Leibowitz…
- Denial of the Damage Done to Israeli Society
Not only to the Palestinians. Prolonged exposure to violence, domination, revenge and dehumanizing language affects Israeli culture, education and moral boundaries.
- Denial of Arab Citizens’ Experience
The tendency among many Jewish Israelis to underestimate or dismiss discrimination, exclusion and unequal treatment experienced by Arab citizens of Israel.
- Denial of International Perceptions
The belief that criticism of Israel is always rooted in anti-Semitism, hostility or ignorance, rather than more often than not arising from genuine concern about Israeli policices and actions.
The deepest denial of all is not about Gaza, the occupation, the settlements, democracy, or maintaining international law. It is the belief that reality can be ignored indefinitely.
Yet reality is patient. It does not disappear because we refuse to see it. As history has shown us time and again, realities left unacknowledged do not fade away. They return, stronger, harsher, and more difficult to confront than before.
The greatest danger facing Israel today is not any single policy failure, but the illusion that we can postpone reckoning forever. We cannot. Reality always has the final word.