{"id":981663,"date":"2026-08-05T05:34:20","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T05:34:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/981663\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T05:34:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T05:34:20","slug":"israelis-are-alarmed-over-the-threat-of-political-violence-can-it-be-averted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/981663\/","title":{"rendered":"Israelis are alarmed over the threat of political violence. Can it be averted?"},"content":{"rendered":"

When an assailant vandalized the office of Channel 12 news last week, smashing the door<\/a> and leaving a note reading, \u201cSomeone will die,\u201d it drew condemnations from the outlet, media advocacy organizations and politicians, including some who accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s government of inciting attacks against the press.<\/p>\n

The shock, however, shouldn\u2019t be mistaken for surprise. This was the latest in a string of physical assaults on press outlets that frequently air criticism of Netanyahu. Channel 12 had been attacked earlier in July, possibly by the same man, and so had the Haaretz newspaper<\/a>, whose door was likewise smashed. Channel 13\u2019s office was graffitied with the slogan<\/a> \u201cThe blood of the traitors will be cleared for publication,\u201d paraphrasing a term generally used by the IDF when it announces the deaths of soldiers.<\/p>\n

The attacks \u2014 and their death-threat rhetoric \u2014 also point to a problem that scholars, observers, surveys and even President Isaac Herzog have been raising with increasing alarm as Israel\u2019s October 27 election nears: The country\u2019s public discourse and political culture, across the ideological spectrum, is growing increasingly toxic \u2014 and possibly even endangering Israeli voters.<\/p>\n

Those with their eye on this crisis aren\u2019t mincing words: In a televised address to the nation, Herzog pleaded with citizens<\/a> not to turn \u201crivals into enemies,\u201d reminding them that \u201celections are not a \u201ccivil war\u201d and warning of \u201cdangerous violence rearing its head across the country.\u201d The author Yossi Klein Halevi told The Times of Israel that the next government will face a \u201cspiritual challenge\u201d in trying to heal Israel\u2019s rifts.<\/p>\n

A recent poll<\/a> found that 39 percent of Israelis ranked \u201cviolent conflict between groups\u201d in Israel as one of the country\u2019s leading threats, alongside a nuclear Iran.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s violent in that you disqualify the other side just because it\u2019s the other side,\u201d the survey\u2019s lead author, Yuval Eylon told the Times of Israel. \u201cWe have examples from both sides \u2014 some are more extreme or less extreme, let\u2019s say \u2014 where you\u2019re ready to torch the door of a newspaper [office] or \u2014 I don\u2019t know about using a firearm \u2014 but definitely to punch someone.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added, \u201cWe\u2019re already there, so it isn\u2019t far away: Today it\u2019s a fist, tomorrow it\u2019s a baton, the day after tomorrow it\u2019s a knife, and after that it\u2019ll also be a gun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eylon, a senior fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University, said Israeli societal discourse is \u201cmuch more violent\u201d today than it was before the assassination of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995. Last week, a 75-year-old activist with the upstart Yashar party was attacked and suffered a brain hemorrhage<\/a> for taking down a banner supporting Rabin\u2019s assassin.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tGraffiti sprayed overnight outside the Channel 13 offices in Tel Aviv, November 19, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni\/Flash90)<\/p>\n

Turning \u2018schism into policy\u2019<\/p>\n

The anti-Netanyahu parties, and many of their supporters, lay blame for this inflammatory discourse at the prime minister\u2019s feet, pointing to the far-right politicians in his cabinet (including a national security minister who had previously been convicted<\/a> of incitement and supporting terrorism), in addition to the provocateurs his lawmakers hang out with<\/a>, and the mass Haredi anti-draft protests that his coalition partners endorse<\/a> and that have targeted the homes of public officials, sometimes destructively<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Klein Halevi said that he faults Netanyahu for having \u201cturned schism into policy,\u201d especially given the legacy of the Rabin assassination. Netanyahu\u2019s critics accuse him of having fomented the incendiary discourse leading up to the assassination, which he denies.<\/p>\n

\u201cA growing feeling that people like me who have been in the opposition have had is that our physical well-being was being threatened by our government,\u201d said Klein Halevi, a senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. \u201cThat\u2019s new. And this government \u2014 and I\u2019m speaking specifically about Netanyahu \u2014 saw its political success as dependent on turning one part of the country against the other. That\u2019s how it activated its base.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tNational Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir speaks to police forces at the entrance to Tarabin al-Sana, a Bedouin town in the Negev, during a days-long raid in the village on December 30, 2025. (Office of Itamar Ben Gvir)<\/p>\n

To be sure, fears of growing political violence are coming against the backdrop of the unprecedented levels of bloodshed that have already scarred the country, both within and beyond its borders, over the past few years. In addition to the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre and the subsequent multifront war, the Arab community has seen record levels of violent crime. Settler riots in the West Bank, sometimes deadly, have become a regular occurrence.<\/p>\n

A large part of the opposition\u2019s pitch is that it will not just shift policy but inaugurate a new era in Israeli discourse \u2014 and, indeed, Israeli society \u2014 focused on unity and reconciliation. In the first official speech of his campaign, former IDF chief Gadi Eisenkot promised to open \u201ca new and much better chapter in Israel\u2019s history. We will write it together,\u201d and said he would \u201cdo everything to unify the nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cThere is awareness [of violence], but it\u2019s like, \u2018What is the other side doing to my side?\u2019 No one\u2019s looking in the mirror.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Opposition leaders have paired those promises with pledges of concrete policies meant to strengthen what they see as the guardrails of democracy and create space for a healthier civic debate. Eisenkot\u2019s party has said it will enact term limits<\/a>, end patronage in government offices and take other steps to strengthen what it calls \u201cthe rules of the game.\u201d The center-right B\u2019Yachad party, led by former prime ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid, says it will enact a constitution<\/a> as well as term limits.\n<\/p>\n

But the opposition isn\u2019t the only group complaining of an atmosphere of extremism and incitement. To the pro-Netanyahu camp, the opposition isn\u2019t attempting to protect democracy and civic debate but to squelch it, entrenching processes that allow an unelected elite in the court, the media and beyond to overrule those representing the will of the majority.<\/p>\n

Disunity, they charge, was fueled by the loud and rowdy demonstrators who took to the streets with megaphones to rage against planned changes to the judiciary, lighting fires, fighting with cops and politicizing the military by encouraging reservists to shirk their duty in protest. They point to assassination plots against Netanyahu, including one<\/a> by an activist in those very protests.<\/p>\n

And they accuse activists and politicians of blocking any attempt to enact legislation that would ensure the will of the right-wing electorate can be enacted.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu has lately taken to promising a \u201cbroad national government\u201d if he\u2019s reelected.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tThe Democrats party leader Yair Golan speaks at a memorial rally marking the 30th anniversary of the assassination of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin in Tel Aviv on November 1, 2025. (Erik Marmor\/Flash90)<\/p>\n

The absence of a shared worldview between the sides, Eylon said, manifests in how voters view the issue of political violence. His survey showed that both sides believe it\u2019s a problem \u2014 but that both sides also say blame lies with their opponents.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything is black and white. We don\u2019t have a discourse that even allows us to exchange opinions,\u201d he said. \u201cThere is awareness [of violence], but it\u2019s like, \u2018What is the other side doing to my side?\u2019 No one\u2019s looking in the mirror.\u201d<\/p>\n

Struggling to find consensus across camps<\/p>\n

For months, pre-election polls haven\u2019t afforded either side a majority of the Knesset, though the opposition comes closer. But some parts of Israel\u2019s political culture will likely stay the same regardless of who wins at the ballot box. And experts caution that changing laws will not be enough to reverse what they call the deteriorating civic discourse that has taken hold across the spectrum in Israel \u2014 with more than a few voters saying they\u2019d consider leaving the country if the other side wins.<\/p>\n

Gideon Rahat, chair of the political science department at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, noted that during the 18 months when Netanyahu was out of power in 2021-22, \u201cthere was still tension and incitement.\u201d<\/p>\n

To depart from that poisonous debate, Klein Halevi said, an opposition-led government will need to try to speak not just for its own voters but for what he characterizes as the solid majority of Israelis who believe in a Jewish and democratic state, a group that cuts across religious and political demographics. That also means working with members of the opposing camp, he said, such as a post-Netanyahu Likud Party.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe challenge for the government is going to be how to include elements of the previous government into an expanded coalition that could really help in the healing of the country,\u201d he said. He added later, \u201cWhat the next government needs to do is recreate the Jewish democratic majority, and that is certainly a political challenge, but more deeply a cultural and I would even say a spiritual challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\"\"
\n\t\tYossi Klein Halevi (Ilir Bajaktari \/ The Tower)<\/p>\n

If the opposition wins, Rahat said, it should refrain from partisan, antagonizing steps like firing appointees of the previous government en masse. Left-wing politician Yair Golan vowed last year<\/a> to fire the current Shin Bet chief if elected, and Bennett pledged to purge<\/a> officials he deems \u201cpolitical.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey need to try to see if they can work with at least some of the appointees who stay,\u201d Rahat said. \u201cDecapitation is not a good recipe for unity.\u201d<\/p>\n

What if Netanyahu wins reelection? Klein Halevi told The Times of Israel, \u201cI can\u2019t even allow myself to think about the possibility,\u201d and cited record emigration figures<\/a> that he feared could continue under another Netanyahu government.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe man who declared war on Israeli solidarity can\u2019t be the one to heal us,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"
\n\t\tYuval Eylon of the Institute for National Security Studies. (Coutesy)<\/p>\n

In a sign of how polarized the discourse has become, a significant number of Israelis are floating emigration if the other side wins. Tamar Hermann of the Israel Democracy Institute think tank described a sense of fatalism among the opposition when faced with the prospect of another Netanyahu victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems to people on the center-left and left that if they are going to lose these elections, this is it, that this is irreversible,\u201d Hermann, director of IDI\u2019s Viterbi Family Center for Public Opinion and Policy Research, said in a June webinar.<\/p>\n

She pointed to an IDI poll showing 17% of Israelis would consider leaving Israel if their side loses the election \u2014 including 26% of centrists and 41% of left-wingers.<\/p>\n

The rise of personality politics<\/p>\n

One style that nearly all parties on both sides of the aisle have adopted, Rahat said, is what he called \u201cpersonality politics,\u201d or political campaigns based around one leader, as opposed to a broader party and its institutions.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cThey need to try to see if they can work with at least some of the appointees who stay. Decapitation is not a good recipe for unity.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Affording power to a leader, he said, raises the risk of demagoguery and could erode democracy, while political parties buttress the democratic system. He added that the way this plays out in Israel is especially conducive to polarization and a heated public discourse, because it divides society based on voters\u2019 feelings about one person: Netanyahu.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem with our personal politics is that they\u2019re very focused,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s all about Bibi or not Bibi. And that focus is dangerous to democracy. Democracy is based on checks and balances, not on something like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a vote at the plenum hall of the Knesset in Jerusalem, on July 16, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel\/Flash90)<\/p>\n

The two leading opposition parties, led by Bennett and Eisenkot, are both centered on their leaders and haven\u2019t held primaries. But term limits, Rahat said, could encourage leaders to look beyond their own tenure and build institutions that will carry forward their legacy after they\u2019re gone, rather than focusing on how to stay in power.<\/p>\n

For now, he worries that no matter which side wins, personality politics will endure, along with the polarization it brings.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe test of these guys, if they manage to win, is if they\u2019ll be tempted to continue this politics, especially the personal kind,\u201d he said. \u201cBecause most of the parties right now are personal platforms and not really parties.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added, \u201cIn the end, democracy doesn\u2019t exist because of one leader or another, but because of institutions and rules.\u201d<\/p>\n

Girding for a bitter struggle<\/p>\n

If the opposition wins, it will face a contradiction: On one hand, it has pledged to unite the country and appeal to its better angels. On the other hand, it has promised to conscript Haredi men, which will unquestionably touch off \u2014 or escalate \u2014 a fierce domestic conflict in Israel and exacerbate surging unrest.<\/p>\n

Some opposition proposals also call for requiring national service for Arab Israelis \u2014 a community that has long felt disenfranchised, is demonized by many politicians and is struggling with a crime epidemic in its streets.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tUltra-Orthodox protesters demonstrate against the arrest of ultra-Orthodox men who took part in a riot outside the home of Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg and were later handed over to the military police, outside the police station in Jerusalem, June 10, 2026. (Noam Revkin Fenton\/Flash90)<\/p>\n

Drafting Haredim will be at or near the top of the agenda if the opposition wins, which almost certainly means Israelis can expect more conflict in the streets. The government\u2019s relatively modest efforts to arrest draft evaders have already led to giant Haredi protests by men who have vowed to \u201cdie rather than enlist,\u201d and who have blocked highways<\/a> and rioted at the homes of public officials.<\/p>\n

A more energetic effort to draft Haredim, including legislation doing away with the draft exemptions they\u2019ve long enjoyed, will trigger massive resistance, what Klein Halevi calls a \u201cvery bitter struggle\u201d that could last years.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tProf. Gideon Rahat, senior fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute\u2019s Political Reform Program (Courtesy IDI)<\/p>\n

The tension could be mitigated, he suggested, by politicians speaking in \u201ca language of respect and love\u201d that voices appreciation for the Haredi dedication to Torah study, instead of antagonizing their Haredi opponents.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo speak with pain and regret rather than anger or, God forbid, hatred, that\u2019s a different tone,\u201d Klein Halevi said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s not going to change the immediate nature of the confrontation, which is going to be very bitter. But it could create the basis for a long-term transformation in our relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n

Everyone who has discussed the rifts cleaving Israeli society acknowledges that the point of politics is not for everyone to get along. But they also share Herzog\u2019s fear that Israelis, separated into groups that feel disenfranchised, discriminated against and aggrieved, are now seeing their political rivals not as ideological competitors but as enemies.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tPresident Isaac Herzog, his wife Michal, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attend the funeral for returned hostage Ran Gvili in Meitar. (Paulina Patimer\/Pro-Democracy Protest Movement)<\/p>\n

Everyone also acknowledges that such divides are not new. When Haredi protesters rioted at Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg\u2019s home, his wife Meira asked through tears, \u201cWhat is this, Kristallnacht?\u201d<\/p>\n

Herzog, as well as Eylon, both referenced the destruction of the Second Temple, a time two millennia ago when internecine fighting led to the fall of a Jewish commonwealth in the land of Israel.<\/p>\n

For generations, leaders have asked whether the Jewish people have learned the lessons of that historical period. Now, Eylon isn\u2019t sure Israel has even learned the lesson of one of its own greatest tragedies from a far more recent era: the assassination of Rabin 31 years ago.<\/p>\n

Instead, he worries the country has regressed. Once nearly all Israelis rejected political assassination. Now, he fears, that consensus may be gone.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to be a prophet, and I don\u2019t want, God forbid, for that to happen,\u201d he said. \u201cBut if it happened now, I don\u2019t know how many people would disavow it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When an assailant vandalized the office of Channel 12 news last week, smashing the door and leaving a…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":595495,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[372,394063,26903,394064,49970,99,394062,26902,192939,50,3674,27270],"class_list":["post-981663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-benjamin-netanyahu","tag-democratic-backsliding","tag-gadi-eisenkot","tag-inss-institute-for-national-security-studies","tag-isaac-herzog","tag-israel","tag-israeli-democracy","tag-israeli-politics","tag-naftali-bennett","tag-news","tag-political-violence","tag-yair-lapid"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117041281105107371","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/981663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=981663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/981663\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/595495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=981663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=981663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=981663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}