The Israeli Knesset’s approval of the law to execute Palestinian prisoners convicted of carrying out attacks that kill Israelis reveals the extent to which the far right has entrenched its influence—not only within the governing coalition but across Israeli society more broadly. This comes at a moment when the war on Iran and Lebanon continues, with no serious Israeli objection to either its course or cost.
For several years, the most extreme currents of the right have moved steadily into the Israeli mainstream. The conduct of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, once dismissed as inconsequential provocation during his time in the racist Kach movement, has become an everyday spectacle in which thousands of settlers and soldiers in the West Bank now participate openly before the cameras, untroubled by any fear of accountability.
The mass demonstrations that erupted in March 2023 against Netanyahu and his government’s attempt to alter the laws governing the judiciary now seem to belong to the distant past, of which there is no return.
The region has changed profoundly since the 1990s, when Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres spoke of a form of integration between Arab capital and the Israeli mind. The much-discussed roads and transit hubs meant to link Arab countries to Europe via Israel now look more like science fiction than any blueprint for future cooperation.
A hardened society
The October 7 Hamas attack on Israel has hardened Israeli society, closing them off to any form of peace with Palestinians and with Arabs more broadly. The appalling death toll in Gaza has been largely met with approval by Israelis who see it as just retribution for October 7.
