All We Israelis Are Ben-Gvir -
At last, we are all Itamar Ben-Gvir. A common line runs between Naftali Bennett, Yair Lapid and Avigdor Lieberman, the hope of the opposition, and Ben-Gvir, the great terror: nationalism, fascism and militarism differing only in the most minor of nuances. Between the most far-right government in the history of Israel and those aspiring to power, there is nothing but 50 shades of right.
Therefore, all the talk about "a rift in the nation" and "the most important elections in the history of the country," the latter a cliché currently making the rounds, is a lie. Israel has no Zohran Mamdani and will not have one anytime soon. Ben-Gvirs we have in spades.
The election season is upon us, and there is no one like Lapid to quickly identify the zeitgeist, namely fascism, and ride its wave. It is the hottest product on the market since October 7, and Lapid is already happily dispensing it.
This week, the "leader of the opposition" promised that he would support legislation barring those who do not enlist in the army from voting. Neither in Sparta nor in super-Sparta would they ever dare to consider such a militaristic measure. There, they might have been ashamed. The Arabs, the ultra-Orthodox, the disabled, the sick, the criminals and the handicapped would be thrown into the Nile. They are not part of our democracy, so why not deport all those who do not serve? Revoke their citizenship? And perhaps put them in camps?
According to Lapid, serving in the army is what entitles you to basic rights. If you do not kill children in Gaza, dear Israelis, Lapid will take away your voter ID card. The people, battered and scarred from years of Benjamin Netanyahu, are now supposed to look toward a figure like this as hope for something else.
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) at the Knesset, on Monday.Credit: Olivier Fitoussi
The greatest hope for the opposition is even more discouraging. "In the Negev, a Palestinian state is arising," Bennett warned the residents of the town of Omer this week. "If we don't act, we will wake up to an October 7 in the Negev." Israel's Bedouin citizens, society's most disadvantaged and dispossessed group, are Hamas. The danger they pose is another October 7.
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Since Ben-Gvir talks that way, what do we need Bennett for? For his good English? His polished manners? His army service in a commando unit? A wife who doesn't walk around with a gun in her belt? Living in Ra'anana (and not in Tel Rumeida)?
For Bennett, no less than for Ben-Gvir, this land is for Jews only. The Bedouin, some of whom were expelled to the Negev from other parts of Israel, are not its children. They are a threat that must be contained. But the fact is, the Negev is theirs no less than it belongs to Bennett or to the good citizens of Omer.
The Negev is the remnants of what we left them after we dispossessed them of their lands, destroyed the fabric of their lives and imprisoned them in poverty-stricken pens. Some of them are not nice, though – they drive wildly on the roads, have more than one wife and are violent. This needs to be corrected, but without impinging on their civil rights, which cannot be denied.
Bennett, like Lapid, is a dark individual. The two of them believe that rights are given out of the goodness of the state's heart, as a gift or a reward for what is (in their eyes) good behavior. This is fascism at its worst, and Lieberman, the most veteran fascist of the three, will enthusiastically join him. He, too, is in favor of denying the right to vote to those who did not help fight the war and commit its crimes. He, too, sees the Bedouin as uninvited guests in this country.
The fascist resemblance between coalition and opposition is no accident. It is called Zionism. In 2025, you can no longer champion this national ideology without being a fascist or a militarist. It is now the essence of Zionism. Maybe it was that way from its start, and honesty requires that we admit that.
Netanyahu and Bennett, Ben-Gvir and Lapid are Zionists like almost all Israelis. When it comes to the land, they believe in Jewish supremacy and the lie of a Jewish and democratic state. Fascism is the inevitable consequence of this. It is no longer possible to be a Zionist and not a fascist.