26.12.24
Editorial Note
The Geneva Graduate Institute has been taken over by pro-Palestinian faculty who push for an anti-Israel agenda without interference. To bolster their unbalanced anti-Israel arguments, they invite radical anti-Israel Israeli activists such as the revisionist Prof. Ilan Pappe and Prof. Hagar Kotef, among others.
Last month, the Geneva Graduate Institute hosted a conference on Zionism. “Confronting And Unpacking The Truth: Conference on Zionism,” a report detailing the event was published on December 3, 2024, by the Graduate Press. The event was organized by the Middle East and North Africa Initiative (MENA) and supported by the Graduate Institute. It “featured eight distinguished speakers across three panels, diving deeply into the historical, theological, and political dimensions of Zionism. Attendees from within and beyond the Institute came together to engage in rigorous discussions on the evolving paradigms and future implications of Zionism as its project commits an ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people.”
The first panel, “The Power Paradigm of Zionism,” included Hagar Kotef, professor of political theory at SOAS, University of London. She emphasized that “Zionism’s dual identity as a liberation movement for Jews and a settler-colonial project, the foundations of expansionism in the ideology of creating a ‘homeland’ through displacing native populations, and its long history of dependence on tropes of vacant land that can be captured through occupation, demolition and eventually ethnic cleansing – a distinction that was later challenged by other panelists. She voiced the fact that although 7 October 2023 was the worst event for Jewish people since the Holocaust, the last 14 months have been the worst event for Palestinians, probably even worse than the Nakba in 1948. Discussing the operations of the Zionist project, she highlighted that in their effort to establish themselves as indigenous to the land, settlers have systematically displaced existing populations through expulsion or, as witnessed today, acts of genocide.”
The panel was preceded by the screening of a documentary “And There Was Israel” (2018). The documentary “traces the use of force, propaganda, ideology, and financial backing behind the establishment of the Jewish state of Israel.” According to the film storyline, “The film returns to the origins of the creation of the State of Israel and looks at historical facts under the very specific angle of the responsibility of the Western World. Through the analysis of internationally renowned scholars and astonishing cinematographic archives, the film shows that in adopting the zionist project, Great Britain and other Western countries have been guided mainly by their own agenda. Thus the West does not only bears a heavy responsibility in terms of the fate of Jews in Europe at the time, but also in terms of the fate of the Palestinians today.” The top 7 cast are, Ilan Pappe, Eugene Rogan, Shlomo Sand, Henry Laurens, Sahar Huneidi, Susan Akram, and Riccardo Bocco.
The discussants for the second panel, “The History of Zionism (late 1800s – 1948),” were Prof. Cyrus Schayegh, Chair of the Department of International History and Political Science, and Prof. Riccardo Bocco, professor emeritus of Anthropology and Sociology at the Institute. The panel “looked into the intricate entanglement of Zionist history with Western imperialism, framing it as both an ethno-nationalist project and a colonial ideology. Professor Bocco emphasized that Zionism was rooted in Jewish nationalism and reliant on imperial powers of the West for its establishment and survival. He highlighted the role of Western powers in creating Israel as a solution to the ‘Jewish problem’, using Palestine as a colonial site for settlement while failing to define the exact contours of a ‘Jewish state.’ The United States emerged as Israel’s steadfast patron by the end of the 1960s, not only through military and financial support but also as a partner in shaping geopolitical narratives.” Professor Schayegh noted that “historically colonial projects have always needed to work with locals in order to be successful, which is why the simultaneous ‘Europeanness’ of the new Israelis and their critical ‘Otherness’ from their European backers created the perfect combination for Zionism to achieve success in creating Israel.”
Ilan Pappe was the keynote speaker. He re-emphasized “the origins of Zionism in European colonialism,” describing it as a “solution to a Jewish problem” that was “imposed on Palestine by external powers.” Pappe stated that the events of the 7th of October “happened in a context, even though, as he noted, the use of the word ‘context’ has become associated with terrorism and antisemitism.” He said “Israel is a failed state,” and “we can see the beginning of the collapse of the Zionist project…. This is reflected through the growing cracks in Israeli society, growing distrust in the state institutions, and the rise of fascism.” Pappe continued, “The Zionist project is failing Israelis and killing Palestinians.” This is not surprising since, according to him, “Zionism has always been a modus operandi that can only be implemented by force.” Pappe also stated that “without British support, the Zionist project would have failed.” For Pappe, the occupied Palestinian territories are “the two biggest prisons on earth.”
In the final session, Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, spoke virtually. Albanese stated that “Israel is committing not only genocide, but also ecocide, domicide, and scholasticide. She emphasized the systemic nature of colonial erasure perpetrated by the Israeli government.” She “advocated for restorative justice and holding perpetrators accountable, framing Palestinian liberation as integral to global struggles against structural injustice. She expanded on how the system sustains its ‘colonial practises’ and reproduces systemic injustices.” For her, Palestine is “a metaphor to understand the injustices of the system.” Albanese “emphasized the need to reform the international law order to pressurise states to take accountability for the genocide happening in Gaza for the past 14 months.” The panel “took a pragmatic perspective in understanding the real-world implications of Zionism and a potential post-Zionist future. The panel discussion highlighted the urgent need for decolonization and a reimagined framework of justice.”
The Graduate Press report of the conference concluded that “while the future remains uncertain, yet for the unbreakable people of Palestine, this ability to dream must endure, and the world should do better.”
The Geneva Graduate Institute provides a distorted reality of the Middle East and Israel through its anti-Israel members of staff such Bocco and Schayegh. For example, a 2016 NGO Monitor’s report titled “German Federal Frameworks Involving Civil Society in the Arab-Israeli Conflict” discussed the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) – the primary German federal donor to civil society organizations and activities. It found that “In 2011, BMZ commissioned Riccardo Bocco – a Swiss development expert who has questioned Israel’s status as a democracy, accused Israel of ‘state terrorism’ equating it with Hamas, and has ties with fringe anti-Israel BDS groups – to evaluate projects in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza.” According to NGO Monitor, Bocco “recommended the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee (PSCC), a Palestinian organization involved in violent activities, as a local partner for BMZ.” NGO Monitor revealed that in a 2011 interview for Swissinfo, “Bocco equated the Israeli government with Hamas, accusing it of ‘state terrorism targeting the Palestinian civilian population;’ questioned whether democracy ‘really exists in Israel;’ and argued against boycotting Hamas, claiming that ‘this just sends a message to al-Qaida and other extremist groups that following the path of democracy to achieve power gets you nowhere”.’ In 2014, Bocco claimed that “The killing of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip during Operation Protective Edge had a clear economic motive – the Israeli security industries are the ones who prospered from Protective Edge.”
Prof. Bocco is currently pushing for an Israel-Palestinian Federation. Anything that can dismantle Israel is an option. In a recent paper he co-authored, titled “An Israeli/Palestinian Federation An Alternative Approach to Peace,” he advised that a “suggested first step in following up on this paper would be for the Graduate Institute of Geneva and the Arditi Foundation to convene meetings of Israelis and Palestinians already interested in the model to discuss and improve upon these ideas. These meetings could then provide the basis for approaches to policy-makers in the international community and in Israel and Palestine. The essential messages behind the initiative are that the Oslo version of the two-state solution is dead, that avoiding the search for a better solution plays into the hands of extremists and zealots, and that an approach that tackles the twin hydra of settlements and refugees is central to any forward progress.”
Likewise, Schayegh published an article in March 2023, “It’s the Occupation, Stupid,” where he explored “potential root causes for the far-right leanings of Israel’s current government.” He concluded that “Jewish Israelis who are now for very good reason protesting are still not addressing the Occupation. (Few Palestinian Israelis are joining them.) But without equality for Palestinian Israeli citizens, and without a solution to the century-long drama of Palestinian statelessness, now more remote than ever, Israel will never be a liberal democracy, even though it is a trusted US partner and – let’s not forget – an Associated Member of the European Union.”
The Geneva Graduate Institute plans to host a conference on January 20, 2025, titled “The Cold War in the Middle East and North Africa.” In a panel titled “Islam – Arab-Israeli Conflict,” the speaker who will present the topic of “The Arab-Israeli Conflict” is Prof. Jeremy Pressman, a political scientist at the University of Connecticut. But Pressman is not a neutral researcher. Last month, he responded to a tweet on X by Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, an organization focusing on antisemitism. He wrote to Greenblatt, that it is “Deeply concerning to see Greenblatt pretending that opposing AIPAC is scapegoating Jews. This is part of his continued effort to block criticism of Israel’s military conduct and political policy.” This was a response to Greenblatt’s tweet after the US elections, “Unsurprising, but still deeply concerning to see AOC react to the election by blaming @AIPAC for ‘overly influencing’ Congress and falsely claiming that supporting Israel is ‘wildly unpopular.’ Scapegoating the Jews for one’s failure is unreflective and a truly pathetic and ugly.”
This upcoming conference, like the other Geneva Graduate Institute activities, is likely to espouse anti-Israel themes.
The Geneva Graduate Institute is just the latest example of how institutions of higher education in the West have come to confuse teaching and research with full-time pro-Palestinian advocacy. Many engage in political work openly because some of their faculty are of Middle Eastern origin. Others, like the anti-Israel Israeli academics, have obtained positions in Western universities where they serve as the “fig leaf” for the antisemitic and anti-Zionist agenda in many liberal arts and Middle East departments. Many of the pro-Palestinian advocates, both professors and students, have created a successful infrastructure to bash Israel and support Hamas. Known as the “Red-Green Alliance,” a coalition of radical leftists and Islamists is underpinning this infrastructure. They use the neo-Marxist, critical theory to posit the existence of two groups, the “oppressed” and the “oppressors.” Israel is always considered the oppressor and the Palestinians are the victims, absolved of their actions. In this reality, Hamas, which perpetuated the largest attack on Jews since the Holocaust, is considered a victim, and its acts on October 7, 2023, including murder, rape, torture, and hostage-taking, as legitimate “resistance.”
REFERENCES:
Confronting And Unpacking The Truth: Conference on Zionism
by The Graduate Press Editorial Team and Staff Writers
By Sreelakshmi Sajeev, News Editor of The Graduate Press and Nora Sullivan, Advocacy Strategist of MENA
Last Thursday, Maison de la Paix’s auditorium was abuzz with intellectual energy as hundreds of students, academics, activists, and professionals gathered for the Conference on Zionism. Organized by the Middle East and North Africa Initiative (MENA) and supported by the Graduate Institute, the event featured eight distinguished speakers across three panels, diving deeply into the historical, theological, and political dimensions of Zionism. Attendees from within and beyond the Institute came together to engage in rigorous discussions on the evolving paradigms and future implications of Zionism as its project commits an ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people.The conference served as a rare space for critical inquiry, which, as Professor Ilan Pappé remarked in his keynote speech, exemplified the type of academic commitment to truth and justice that is glaringly absent in most Western universities today.
“The power paradigm of zionism and its practices”
The first panel on the Power Paradigm of Zionism featured Hagar Kotef, professor of political theory at SOAS, University of London, Joseph Daher, visiting professor at Lausanne University, and Dr. Raouf Salti, urological surgeon and founder of Children’s Right to Healthcare.
Professor Kotef started her discussion by emphasising Zionism’s dual identity as a liberation movement for Jews and a settler-colonial project, the foundations of expansionism in the ideology of creating a ‘homeland’ through displacing native populations, and its long history of dependence on tropes of vacant land that can be captured through occupation, demolition and eventually ethnic cleansing – a distinction that was later challenged by other panellists. She voiced the fact that although 7 October 2023 was the worst event for Jewish people since the Holocaust, the last 14 months have been the worst event for Palestinians, probably even worse than the Nakba in 1948. Discussing the operations of the Zionist project, she highlighted that in their effort to establish themselves as indigenous to the land, settlers have systematically displaced existing populations through expulsion or, as witnessed today, acts of genocide. Professor Daher’s opening remarks followed Kotef’s and were just as strong. He appreciated the event organisers for defending academic freedom and went on to elaborate on the imperialist colonial objectives of the ideology and extended on how the rise of right-wing populist regimes across the world contributes to or impacts what’s happening in Israel and Gaza. He explained the sort of symbiotic relationship between Israel and the West and how it is sustained through mutual economic and security benefits. According to him, Western imperialism is deeply tied to the oil and gas economy, with Israel’s presence in the region offering a degree of strategic control over it.
Dr. Raouf Salti shared his insights on the medical challenges Palestinians face both in Gaza and outside. He is the founder of Children’s Right to Healthcare, an NGO that works to bring children who have been injured in Gaza for essential operations in Switzerland. Tragically, the long wait for the Swiss medical visas and the battles with Swiss bureaucracy took too long and most of the children he had hoped to bring did not survive the wait. He continued his efforts, stood firm, and eventually managed to bring eight children to Geneva for treatment. He also narrated evocative stories about Israel’s medical apartheid system that treats Palestinians as second-class citizens. The panel concluded by Dr. Salti underscoring the fundamental choice of humanity over everything, the need to find courage to persevere and not allow humanity to perish at this moment.
“Zionism is not one thing but it’s many things“
The first session drew people in, and the second session gave them necessary context and a historical grounding to fully understand the complexity of the topic. The panel was preceded by a documentary screening of “And There Was Israel” (2018), directed by Romed Wyder. The documentary traces the use of force, propaganda, ideology, and financial backing behind the establishment of the Jewish state of Israel.
The discussants for the next panel on The History of Zionism (late 1800s – 1948) were Cyrus Schayegh, Chair of the Department of International History and Political Science and Riccardo Bocco, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology and Sociology. The panel looked into the intricate entanglement of Zionist history with Western imperialism, framing it as both an ethno-nationalist project and a colonial ideology. Professor Bocco emphasized that Zionism was rooted in Jewish nationalism and reliant on imperial powers of the West for its establishment and survival. He highlighted the role of Western powers in creating Israel as a solution to the ‘Jewish problem’, using Palestine as a colonial site for settlement while failing to define the exact contours of a ‘Jewish state’. The United States emerged as Israel’s steadfast patron by the end of the 1960s, not only through military and financial support but also as a partner in shaping geopolitical narratives. Professor Schayegh noted that historically colonial projects have always needed to work with locals in order to be successful, which is why the simultaneous ‘Europeanness’ of the new Israelis and their critical ‘Otherness’ from their European backers created the perfect combination for Zionism to achieve success in creating Israel. The discussion concluded with important questions of identity dilemmas, including the erasure of Arab-Jewish identities and highlighting how Israel continues to ‘give back to the West’.
“Towards alternative solutions and the future of the Zionist Paradigm”
The first two panels had nearly full attendance, but ushers were turning people away at the door for Ilan Pappé’s keynote. Among thunderous applause, Ilan Pappé took the stage. He started his speech by re-emphasizing the origins of Zionism in European colonialism, describing it as a “solution to a Jewish problem” imposed on Palestine by external powers. Pappé did not hesitate to speak truths, including that the events of the 7th of October happened in a context, even though, as he noted, the use of the word ‘context’ has become associated with terrorism and antisemitism. In his words, “Israel is a failed state” and “we can see the beginning of the collapse of the Zionist project”. This is reflected through the growing cracks in Israeli society, growing distrust in the state institutions, and the rise of fascism. “The Zionist project is failing Israelis and killing Palestinians” Pappé commented. This is, according to him, not a surprise, since Zionism has always been a modus operandi that can only be implemented by force. His speech called back to what other panellists had mentioned, including the Evangelical Christian support of the Zionist project due to their belief that the ‘restoration’ of the Jewish people to Palestine would lead to the second coming of Christ, and the fact that “without British support, the Zionist project would have failed” anyway. Pappé used strong language to label the occupied Palestinian territories as “the two biggest prisons on earth.” 
The panel on the future of Zionism and the role of International Law. Image copyrights reserved for MENA©
In the final session, Ilan Pappé was joined by Nur Masalha, Palestinian historian and Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territories (virtually). The panel took a pragmatic perspective in understanding the real-world implications of Zionism and a potential post-Zionist future. The panel discussion highlighted the urgent need for decolonization and a reimagined framework of justice. Professor Masalha reflected on the genocidal policies of the Israeli state and its transformation into a fascist regime, cautioning against its implications for both Palestinians and global stability. He emphasized the expulsion of the Palestinians from their native land, a concept Professor Pappé famously called ethnic cleansing. Much like Dr. Salti earlier, the perspective he brought was not just academic but personal. He stated that the last 14 months have been traumatic for all Palestinians, himself included. Referencing Pappé’s idea of a one-state solution, he states, “It is very difficult for Palestinians to go through Genocide and think about living jointly with their genocider”. However, he urged us to imagine Palestine 7000 years into the future. In response to a question related to his research on Zionism making itself native in the land of Israel, Masalha pointed out that when he says Palestinians are indigenous to the land, he does not just mean Arabs, Muslims and Christians. Palestine, Professor explained, has a history going back more than 4000 years and has always been a multilayered, multicultural, and tolerant society; Gaza has been one of the greatest cities of the ancient world, a city of trade and academia.
Francesca Albanese started off her opening remarks by powerfully stating that Israel is committing not only genocide, but also ecocide, domicide, and scholasticide. She emphasized the systemic nature of colonial erasure perpetrated by the Israeli government. Replying to a question on the role of international law in determining the conditions for genocide to have been met, she advocated for restorative justice and holding perpetrators accountable, framing Palestinian liberation as integral to global struggles against structural injustice. She expanded on how the system sustains its ‘colonial practises’ and reproduces systemic injustices and that Palestine is, for her, “a metaphor to understand the injustices of the system”. Albanese’s remarks emphasised the need to reform the international law order to pressurise states to take accountability for the genocide happening in Gaza for the past 14 months.
On Thursday night, Ivan Pictet A1 transformed into a powerful space of solidarity as the panel concluded with a call to abandon ‘the two-state solution’ and urging a global shift towards accountability and restorative justice for the Palestinians. Because Prof Masalha invoked poet Mahmoud Darwish in his discussion, we are concluding with his words: “No night is long enough for us to dream twice”, a poignant reminder that while the future remains uncertain, yet for the unbreakable people of Palestine, this ability to dream must endure, and the world should do better.
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Conference on Zionism: History, Ideology, and its Manifestations
28 November 2024, 12:00 – 21:00
Auditorium Ivan Pictet A1 | Maison de la paix, Geneva
This event, organised by students at the Geneva Graduate Institute, brings together prominent scholars and advocates and creates a space to critically examine the history, power structures, and future of Zionism, focusing on its profound and often devastating impact on the Palestinian people.
The discussion will comprise Israeli, Palestinian, and other scholars with diverse backgrounds bringing a multifaceted approach to the discussion.
Check out this website for more information and click here to register for the event.
12:15 – Panel I, The Power Paradigm of Zionism
- Hagar Kotef, Professor of Political Theory at SOAS, University of London
- Dr. Raouf Salti, Urological surgeon in Geneva, and founder of the Children’s Right to Healthcare
- Joseph Daher, Visiting Professor at the University of Lausanne
This panel will provide insights into the manifestations of Zionism in historic Palestine, highlighting the interplay of soft and hard power within Israeli institutions and their impacts on medical, academic, and social realms. It will explore themes of identity, displacement, and control, linking violence and the human experience.
Moderator: Reine Radwan, MINT Master’s student at the Geneva Graduate Institute
15:00 – Panel II: The History of Zionism (Late 1800s -1948)
- Riccardo Bocco, Former Research Director at the Geneva Graduate Institute and Director of the French Center for Research on the Contemporary Middle East
- Cyrus Schayegh, Professor of International History and Politics at the Geneva Graduate Institute
The focus of this panel will be on the history of Zionism from its inception in the late 1800s, its spread and adoption as an ideology, and its culmination in 1948 with the creation of the state of Israel. It will begin with a short documentary screening titled: “And There was Israel” (2018). Following this, the panelists will enter into an enlightening discussion where they add vital perspectives to the historical materials revealed in the documentary.
Moderator: Julie Billaud, Associate Professor in the department of Anthropology and Sociology at the Geneva Graduate Institute
17:45 – Panel III: The Future of Zionism and the role of International law
- Ilan Pappé, Professor at the College of Social Sciences and International Studies and Director of the Centre for Palestine Studies at Exeter University (UK)
- Nur Masalha, Member of the Centre of Palestine Studies, SOAS, University of London and former Director of the Centre for Religion and History at St. Mary’s University
- Francesca Albanese, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967
This final part of the conversation will bring together the insights of the previous two talks linking the history of the Zionist movement to today’s reality. This third panel aims to focus on enriching the audience’s understanding of Zionism, potential pathways towards justice, and the future of the Zionist project. Professor Ilan Pappé and Professor Nur Masalha, both incredibly successful historians, will be complemented by UN Special Rapporteur, Francesca Albanese’s profound understanding of international law.
Moderator: Alexa Burk, PhD researcher in International History and Politics at the Geneva Graduate Institute
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The History of Zionism (late 1800S -1948)
416 views Dec 9, 2024
- Riccardo Bocco, Former Research Director at the Geneva Graduate Institute and Director of the French Center for Research on the Contemporary Middle East
- Cyrus Schayegh, Professor of International History and Politics at the Geneva Graduate Institute
On Thursday, 28 November, students at the Geneva Graduate Institute hosted a MENA Initiative Conference on Zionism: History, Ideology, and Its Manifestations. The focus of this panel is on the history of Zionism from its inception in the late 1800s, its spread and adoption as an ideology, and its culmination in 1948 with the creation of the state of Israel. It will begin with a short documentary screening titled: “And There was Israel” (2018). Following this, the panelists will enter into an enlightening discussion where they add vital perspectives to the historical materials revealed in the documentary. Moderator: Julie Billaud, Associate Professor in the department of Anthropology and Sociology at the Geneva Graduate Institute.
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Deeply concerning to see Greenblatt pretending that opposing AIPAC is scapegoating Jews. This is part of his continued effort to block criticism of Israel’s military conduct and political policy.
Jonathan Greenblatt
@JGreenblattADL· Nov 18
Unsurprising, but still deeply concerning to see AOC react to the election by blaming @AIPAC for “overly influencing” Congress and falsely claiming that supporting Israel is “wildly unpopular.” Scapegoating the Jews for one’s failure is unreflective and a truly pathetic and ugly x.com/AOC/status/185…
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Pierre du Bois Annual Conference 2025
The Cold War in the Middle East and North Africa
20 – 21 January 2025
Geneva Graduate Institute, Maison de la paix,
Chemin Eugène-Rigot 2, 1202 Genève, Auditorium Part B
PANEL V: ISLAM – ARAB-ISRAELI CONFLICT
TIM NUNAN, Universität Regensburg Islam
JEREMY PRESSMAN, University of Connecticut
The Arab-Israeli Conflict
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https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8053650/
And There Was Israel
Original title: Et Israël fut
TV Movie 2018 52m
Documentary
The film returns to the origins of the creation of the State of Israel (from 1896 to 1948) and highlights the responsibility of the Western World.
Director: Romed Wyder
Writer: Romed Wyder
Top cast 7: Ilan Pappe, Eugene Rogan, Shlomo Sand, Henry Laurens, Sahar Huneidi, Susan Akram, Riccardo Bocco
Storyline: The film returns to the origins of the creation of the State of Israel and looks at historical facts under the very specific angle of the responsibility of the Western World. Through the analysis of internationally renowned scholars and astonishing cinematographic archives, the film shows that in adopting the zionist project, Great Britain and other Western countries have been guided mainly by their own agenda. Thus the West does not only bears a heavy responsibility in terms of the fate of Jews in Europe at the time, but also in terms of the fate of the Palestinians today.
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https://www.graduateinstitute.ch/communications/news/fog-war-israel-early-2024FACULTY & EXPERTS
19 February 2024
In the Fog of War: Israel, Early 2024
Cyrus Schaeygh, Professor of International History and Politics, assesses the situation in Israel as the 7 October attacks and the war on Gaza cause uncertainty and division amongst the Israeli population on matters of military funding, politics and perception.
PROFESSOR, INTERNATIONAL HISTORY AND POLITICS
Chair of the Department of International History and Politics
Hamas’ massacre and Israel’s war on Gaza are jolting Israel. Uncertainty reigns; Jews see reality unlike much of the rest of the world; and the country may face considerable long-term problems.
Take military expenses. The war has already increased the budget by US$23 billion. Politically vulnerable at home, the government has borrowed much of this sum abroad. This carries economic risks, doubly as growth and tax prognoses are not good. Moreover, the military wants a permanent budgetary increase and longer mandatory service and reserve duty, partly to better protect towns close to Israel’s borders. This will have economic consequences, too, and socio-political ones to boot, for the ultra-Orthodox are to remain exempt from service. Thus, although Israelis feel acutely insecure, 53% said no to the military’s plans in a February poll.
Politics are complex, too. In late October, a Tel Aviv University (TAU) poll showed a clear Jewish-Israeli majority opposes all key Israeli-Palestinian scenarios, i.e. two states, a binational state, annexation, and status quo: a helpless “no future” view. Moreover, in polls, Benny Gantz’s centre-right National Unity party has tripled its seats to 36 although it is in principle open to two “entities” and although the massacre and war are strengthening a long-term shift further to the right. In fact, the fascist Otzmah Yehudit party is up in polls, too, from 6 to circa 9 seats; the most audible discourse on Gaza has at its worst been genocidal (mot clé:“nukes”); and support for peace negotiations and a two-state solution decreased to c. 25% and 28%, respectively, in the TAU poll. (Palestinian support is minimal as well.)
Last, there is the issue of perceptions. Jewish Israeli trust in the military’s wartime conduct is high, as is support for eradicating Hamas; only a minority believes securing the hostages’ release should be Israel’s primary objective. Hamas’ unjustifiable, horrific war crime of a massacre is accentuating a sense of victimhood vis-à-visboth Arabs and the world. Even fewer people than before 7 October “see” Palestinian suffering, whether figuratively or literally on TV and in social media. Few believe the half-century-long occupation of the West Bank and Gaza and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his governing Likud Party’s no-negotiation attitude to Palestinians are a relevant background to the massacre. Instead, many draw a direct line to pogroms if not to the Holocaust. But it is the war on Gaza that is genocidal—and Israel is finding itself in court for how officials’ rhetoric matches domicide, mind-boggling casualty figures, and the long-term health catastrophe caused by a deliberately induced severe water, food, electricity, and medication shortage. Consequently, views of Israel abroad are becoming ever more scathing, now also amongst some potentially important segments of US voters. Additionally, disconnect from Israel is growing in some quarters of the Jewish diaspora, as well.
In the fog of war, uncertainty reigns in Israel, and belligerent certainties come at an unbearable price.
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https://www.graduateinstitute.ch/communications/news/its-occupation-stupidGlobe, the Geneva Graduate Institute Review
28 March 2023
“It’s the Occupation, Stupid”
Professor Cyrus Schayegh explores potential root causes for the far-right leanings of Israel’s current government.
PROFESSOR, INTERNATIONAL HISTORY AND POLITICS
Chair of the Department of International History and Politics
Israel’s current, 37th government is the most far-right of its history. Even conservatives like ex-Defence Minister Moshe Ya‘alon think especially one coalition party, Itamar Ben-Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Strength), is “fascist.” Its platform calls for “total war on Israel’s enemies.”
The government has been materialising a rightwing drift since the 2000s. This drift has a basic cause. It’s not the Orthodox community’s growth, though its youth like voting for non-Orthodox ultra-nationalist religious parties. Nor is it Prime Minister (PM) Benjamin Netanyahu’s legal troubles, since 2019, though these have made him legitimise ultra-nationalism and fascism to remain PM and evade judgment by hook or crook. And while the Israeli centre-left’s disunity matters, and though the illiberal drift of democracies like Hungary, Poland, Turkey, and India play a contextual international role, they are not key either.
What’s key is the 1967 occupation and following settlement of Gaza and the West Bank. Sure, Israel was not a perfect democracy before: in 1948-66 Palestinian Israeli citizens lived under military rule. But since 1967, state-supported settlement has both slowly radicalised and mainstreamed some religious forms of Zionism, a process accentuated by the traumas of the 1990s Oslo Peace Process, the 2000-2005 Second Intifada, and the Gaza settlements’ evacuation in 2005. Hardline settlers have been formidable political organisers too.
By the later 2010s, their worldview had reshaped the Likud Party, marginalising old-style liberal nationalists like Benny Begin, producing laws like “Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People” (2018), and preparing the ground for Naftali Bennett to become Prime Minister in 2021-22.
Now, occupation-cum-settlement has fully boomeranged, taking over Israel. The religious-nationalistic and by now fascist impulses resulting from hundreds of thousands of settlers’ and soldiers’ decades-long daily confrontation with occupied Palestinians are shaping Israel’s government to an unprecedented degree.
And now, the illiberalism innate to these impulses is threatening the foremost check in Israel, which lacks a constitution and has only one parliamentary chamber, on a majoritarian democracy: the judicial system, in particular the Supreme Court.
Yes, Jewish Israelis who are now for very good reason protesting are still not addressing the Occupation. (Few Palestinian Israelis are joining them.) But without equality for Palestinian Israeli citizens, and without a solution to the century-long drama of Palestinian statelessness, now more remote than ever, Israel will never be a liberal democracy, even though it is a trusted US partner and – let’s not forget – an Associated Member of the European Union.
This article was published in Globe #31, the Institute Review.
israel-academia-monitor.com 