Not Because of Hezbollah or Iran… Israeli Writer Warns of Slipping Towards the Abyss

Lebanon Today

An article published in the Hebrew newspaper Maariv, under the title “Not Because of Hezbollah or Iran: Israel is Heading to the Abyss Because of Stupidity,” discusses the dangers facing Israel.

The article points out that the greatest danger threatening Israel is not external, but stems from within Israeli society itself.

The article explains that Israel is heading towards collapse because of “the stupidity and hatred that are ravaging Israeli society.” It mentions that the Likud movement, which in the past was “a Zionist, liberal, and glorious movement,” is gradually turning into “a dark movement led by hard-line and closed-minded religious people who seek to divide Israeli society.”

The article lists two contradictory scenes that occurred on the same day: the first at the Air Force base in Palmachim, where a military conference was held with the participation of Israeli army leaders, released prisoners from Gaza, and relatives of fallen soldiers; the second in front of Prison No. 10 near Beit Lid, where hundreds of religious people who refuse military service gathered in a demonstration in support of those who evade conscription.

The article considers this scene to express the depth of the division in Israel, noting that “there is a group of young people who serve in the army and sacrifice for the country, مقابلها by another group of isolated people who refuse to contribute to the defense of the state.” It adds that “Likud, which is supposed to be the party of the state, is now ready, for political reasons, to spit in the face of regular soldiers, reservists, and military professionals.”

The article affirms that the historical founders of the movement, such as Ze’ev Jabotinsky, Menachem Begin, and Yitzhak Shamir, “are turning in their graves” when they hear how ministers and Knesset members from Likud are demonstrating alongside religious people against military service.

The article points out that the issue is not a political disagreement between the right and the left, but “a purely value-based matter,” explaining that “those who truly devote their lives to studying the Torah, that is, those who learn 11 to 14 hours a day, can be exempted from service, but these do not exceed a few hundred a year, and the rest have no justification for not participating in protecting the state.”

The article concludes by emphasizing that “service in the Israeli army is a right before it is a duty, and Likud leaders must remember that the soldiers who are fighting in Lebanon, Syria, Gaza, and the eastern borders are their sons, sons-in-law, and neighbors,” calling for “a return to the values ​​of reason and national unity embodied in the song ‘The Comrades’ written by Haim Gouri in commemoration of the Palmach fighters.”