Neo-Nazis in ‘Israel’: Is Netanyahu’s Government Following in Hitler’s Footsteps?

On February 19, Haaretz published an interview with Daniel Blatman, a professor at the Institute for Modern Jews at the Hebrew University, in which he referred to the clash of forces within “Israel” and the possibility that “Israel” would continue to undermine democracy.

Blatman said he predicted in 2017, when Benjamin Netanyahu was still under investigation for only cases 1000 and 2000, that the judiciary would eventually be destroyed in order to help him stay in power.

Blatman said that “Israel” today is precisely at that breaking point, where corrupt politicians and convicted criminals understand that if they do not undermine the independence of the judiciary, they will not be able to remain in office, and the court will expel them as happened with Aryeh Deri, leader of the right-wing Shas movement, or end up in prison, which is Netanyahu’s great nightmare. Their goal is to get rid of the judicial system, thereby ensuring their rule and political power.

 

Old Prediction

Blatman wrote for Haaretz about six years ago an article that looks like it could have been written these days.

Blatman said that he is not really optimistic about the possibility that the Israeli Occupation will continue to function properly in its conclusion.

“I wrote the article in 2017, when Benjamin Netanyahu was still under investigation for only cases 1000 and 2000, as it was unclear whether indictments would be filed, I argued that the judiciary would eventually be destroyed in order to help Netanyahu stay in power,” Blatman said to Haaretz.

In his 2017 article, Blatman said that “Israel” is deteriorating into a situation where the entire judicial system is being distorted to serve one person in power at the expense of democratic stability and the democratic system in “Israel.”

He imagined that Netanyahu would be a leader building an image of himself as a person above the law and above the traditional standards of judicial equality for all citizens.

According to Blatman, populism divides society into two opposing groups:  The people and the elites.

Populism is a political system that can lead to fascism or to other types of authoritarian regimes that we know from history—not necessarily Nazism that people always focus on—but military dictatorships like the one in South America, besides those which divide society into two categories: “with me” or “against me.”

“With me” means being with the leader in his struggle against the elites, as this leader embodies discrimination, exclusion, and distance from centers of power that are controlled by elites.

“Dictatorships like Viktor Orban of Hungary maintain a democratic façade, their repression is not violent, so these regimes are very similar to voluntary dictatorships that come with the cooperation of the people,” Blatman said.

“By the way, the most terrible dictatorships of the 20th century are the ones that did not send people to prisons and concentration camps; they were characterized by admiration for the leader, like Stalin and Hitler, who were popular leaders until a certain point, and something about populism is similar to the Israeli model,” he added.

“Surely people in Likud think—after all—that his IQ is the sixth highest in the world or something,” Blatman said sarcastically.

 

Israeli Decline

If the Knesset passes a law stating that gifts from friends worth less than $100,000 are not corruption but legitimate gifts, Netanyahu will be free of charge from cases he has been on charge with.

Blatman says that Progressive liberal democracies define normative rules according to law. Currently, there is a clash in “Israel” between value systems that the liberal democratic structure cannot contain.

Israeli politicians prefer weak judges who will not interfere in their re-election even if they fail to carry out their office or are accused of corruption. This makes democracy so fragile and vulnerable to pressure, according to Blatman.

“Israel today is exactly at that breaking point, where corrupt politicians and convicted criminals understand that if they do not undermine the independence of the judiciary, they will not be able to remain in office, and the court will expel them,” Blatman said.

This happened with Aryeh Deri, leader of the right-wing Shas movement, or end up in prison, which is Netanyahu’s nightmare. Their goal is to get rid of the judicial system, thereby ensuring their rule and political power.

“One thing we see here is that the regime is beginning to implement a rapid judicial, political and moral revolution—like in Germany. Starting in January 1933, it was all over, and within half a year the country was unknown,” Blatman said.

If these judicial “reforms” are implemented in a complex reality such as in “Israel,” they will lead to disaster, especially since “we are not Poland,” he added.

In Poland, there will be elections in half a year. Whether the government is replaced or not, the people there will live with it.

“But where Israel is located, with its local social composition, the presence of occupation, the presence of a minority of the Arab population of 20 percent of the total population, and in such a complex situation in terms of security, society and economy, populism leads to destruction; not only the destruction of moral values, but the destruction of the entire country,” Blatman noted.

“If you said that four years ago, people would have accused you of being crazy, but you’re right. Today anything is possible, the moment these ‘reforms’ go as they are, anything is possible,” he added.

 

Possible Scenarios

Blatman said that there are several possible future scenarios that have examples in history.

“I can think of the South American dictatorships: Brazil, Argentina, and Chile, which underwent processes that led to a populist dictatorship of one kind or another in 1970 and 1980,” he said.

It took Chile 40 years to recover from Pinochet, Argentina has not recovered to this day from the government of the generals, the best minds emigrated from the country, no investments have entered, corruption has become rampant and has not stopped, according to Blatman.

He said that even after the fall of the populist regime, it was already deeply ingrained in the system, and the courts found it difficult to act even when the government lifted restrictions.

“What amazes me most about this process that is unfolding now is the speed, there is really nothing that can be done, and when I compare and go back all the time to historical events of the past, I am amazed at the speed with which things are being implemented, no one remembers that just three months ago there were elections, and only last October—before those elections—Bibi did not want to take his picture with Ben Gvir.”

“We have never seen such a situation before, either in Hungary or in Poland; it took some time [there], maybe years, where they prepared society, they did it gradually, they created propaganda campaigns, they were elected two and three times in order to get there, but here; his whole revolution happens in three months,” he concluded.