by Dr Adnan Abu Amer
At the height of Israel’s preoccupation with the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic and the increased internal criticism of the government’s failure to deal with it and stop its spread, internal protests against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have intensified, and calls for his resignation have increased.
These calls are being made either due to suspicion of corruption on his part, or his failure to adopt a successful policy against the epidemic.
In recent days, the levels of the Israeli attack on Netanyahu have increased dramatically, on the basis of him not deserving to be in this position. His policy has become a sign of chaos, evidenced by the fact that there is still no Israeli budget, not for economic reasons, but because he wants to dismantle the ruling coalition and prefers personal partisan considerations over national patriotic considerations.
Instead of Netanyahu and his aides addressing the demands and grievances of the Israeli demonstrators, he is content with describing them as anarchists, extremist leftists, and spreaders of diseases. He continues to show his pleasure and boasts trying to control the media, and all the recordings and leaks we hear confirms that we are facing a government that is corrupt.
Netanyahu’s incitement against his opponents and demonstrators, the worsening economic crisis, and the increase in cases of coronavirus are all bringing Israel several steps closer to a civil war.
Today’s conflict between the two halves of Israeli society is purely personal, it pits Netanyahu’s supporters and opponents against each other. The person who the former sees as a Messiah who is preventing the extinction of Israel, the latter considers a threat to its future.
Given the desperation of the warring Israeli parties and the police using increasingly violent tactics to control the protests, it will only take one spark to detonate the barrel of dynamite threatening Israeli streets. So much so that the Israeli President Reuven Rivlin’s prophecy several years ago that Netanyahu will take the state down with him if he falls, is becoming a reality before their eyes.
Today, all of Israel is being held hostage by a man accused of serious charges, and yet he continues his position as prime minister.
As a result of Netanyahu’s corruption, Israel is in a terrible crisis. The Israelis are losing their businesses and their livelihoods, and unemployment is increasing.
Netanyahu is no longer very different from other dictators around the world, and he is afraid that the demonstrations will eliminate him politically, as they are the only means left for the Israelis to have their say. Meanwhile, he will not stop at anything to see his trial for corruption halted, so Israelis do not trust him.
Netanyahu realises that he does not have a chance to be elected again, as he failed in three elections to obtain a majority. Now, as a result of the coronavirus and the economic crisis that has ensued, he has no chance of gaining a majority.
Netanyahu is required to stand down from his job because he has failed miserably. He is not preoccupied with coronavirus, but with himself and he will trample on anything that may get in his way or send him to the dock. As a result, Israel is changing from one of the only democracies in the Middle East, according to the Israeli definition at least, to another of its dictatorships.
This content was published in Middle East Monitor on October 14, 2020.
*Opinions expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the views of UMMnews.
