While global attention is fixated on the wars Israel is fighting on multiple fronts, another conflict—an internal civil struggle between religious Jewish factions and secular Jewish communities—has received far less international attention. The egotism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his hardline coalition has only fueled these tensions, allowing Netanyahu to act with impunity, enable corruption in the upper echelons of the Israeli government, and unnecessarily prolong the war against Hamas—threatening to prompt the eruption of a wider conflict across the Middle East.
Israel has a long history of political division. Two major socio-cultural groups of Israeli Jews—Haredim, or ultra-Orthodox Jews, and Hilonim, or secular Jews—find themselves fundamentally at odds over the degree to which religion should be intertwined with politics. The two factions advocate starkly different policy agendas on issues like marriage, divorce, military conscription, and gender segregation. Moreover, while the Haredi faction has constructed multiple parties in the Knesset acting on behalf of its interests, the Hiloni sector has underestimated the importance of political representation.
Over his 20 years as prime minister, Netanyahu has successfully widened the chasm between the Haredi and Hiloni factions. His coalition is composed of religious parties but remains an unstable government, holding a majority by only three Knesset seats. Israel’s parliament has dissolved five times in the span of four years, overturned whenever a disgruntled party head finds a policy proposition unfavorable. Recently, threats to torpedo the current government have been levied over daycare budgets, despite the far more pressing issues at hand: 101 Israeli hostages are still in captivity, their names chanted outside of the Knesset walls but unspoken inside.
The instability of the Israeli parliament is exacerbated by policies that clearly prioritize the wants of the ultra-Orthodox faction. In 2022, Netanyahu supported the reallocation of $28 million in funding away from girls’ and secular schools to ultra-Orthodox schools aimed at making traditional Jews more religious. These schools do not teach standard core curriculum subjects, giving way to a future where the proportion of the Israeli population that is uneducated, unemployed, and financially dependent on the remaining citizens will increase. No economy can sustain these conditions, yet Netanyahu’s government seems to keep rewarding this downward trend.
Netanyahu’s collaboration with Yariv Levin, the Minister of Justice, has further intensified the domestic divisions between Haredim and Hilonim. Levin and the Netanyahu government spearheaded a judicial reform in 2022 which they presented as a quick fix to the justice system’s faults. But in reality, the proposal would erode the Israeli Supreme Court’s ability to block Knesset laws, euthanizing the court system and subordinating it to the parliament—effectively removing the checks and balances of Israeli democracy. The introduction of the judicial reform was an inflection point for Hilonim, who recognized that religion was beginning to govern politics in Israel. Secular Israelis directed their rage not just at the Netanyahu government but also toward Haredi communities. On a Saturday night, marching on Tel Aviv’s Kaplan Street to protest the reform, I read these words:
“The Haredim are sucking our blood;” “Haredi parasite, not at my expense.”
The fracturing of Israeli society across religious and party lines goes unacknowledged by many anti-Israel protestors in the United States. Rather than recognizing the complexities and variations in the experiences of pro-Israeli Jews, protestors frequently find themselves toeing the line between legitimate criticism and labeling all supporters of the Israeli state as “colonizers,” “imperialists,” or promoters of genocide. Simultaneously, Jews are asked to give the benefit of the doubt that certain chants—like “from the river to the sea”—do not promote violent uprisings against Israeli citizens but are instead a simple pursuit of justice without a hint of antisemitism. While Jews are asked to be acutely aware of the fact that being pro-Palestinian does not imply an endorsement of Hamas, the anti-Israel critique can easily devolve into antisemitism by suggesting that all Jews who support the existence of an Israeli state must also support Netanyahu and the war with Hamas.
In truth, many Israelis are acutely aware of the fact that Netanyahu’s political career has been devoted more to preserving his public image than to serving his citizenry. Netanyahu’s criminal trials in front of the Supreme Court, where he has pleaded not guilty to charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust, perhaps explain his desire to substantially overhaul Israel’s highest judicial body. Given that the proposed reform drastically alters the process of judicial appointments—ensuring that Netanyahu’s government retains the power to make these appointments—its benefits for the prime minister are starkly apparent: protecting his freedom. It is no coincidence that the Netanyahu government has sought to dismantle the justice system at a time when his political future is on the line.
Keeping the threat of an attack on Israel alive has likewise become key to Netanyahu’s political calculus. He allowed Hamas to grow and gain power, resulting in a war that has taken the lives of thousands of innocent civilians across Gaza and Israel. For years, Netanyahu delayed confronting Hamas because it served him politically and sustained the adoration of his supporters across multiple election seasons. Dubbing himself “Mr. Security,” he recognized that his political career would be terminated when the security threat subsided. On October 7, his decades-long overconfidence, arrogance, and dismissal of the threat Hamas posed came at the cost of the lives of 1,200 Israeli citizens. This is not to say that Netanyahu is more responsible for the attacks on October 7 than Hamas but rather that the prime minister has more responsibility to the Israeli people than a terrorist organization does.
Yet, even following October 7, Netanyahu has refused to reach a hostage deal with Hamas; the ongoing war has continuously shifted the spotlight from Netanyahu’s wrongdoings, cementing his power as an invaluable figure for the long-term security of Israel. The end of the war and the return of the hostages now seem further than ever. Israeli journalist Yaron Avraham presented a report detailing all of the hostage negotiations proposed since last November, revealing that three hostages who were recently murdered in the tunnels under Gaza had been part of a deal rejected by Netanyahu. Following these events, in early September, Israelis flooded the streets in some of the largest protests the country has ever seen, consumed by grief and shattered hopes.
Late September also brought reports of the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s secretary general—one of the most profound steps Israel has taken against the militant group in the past 20 years. While Nasrallah’s assassination was certainly not purely motivated by Netanyahu’s political interests, as the operation most likely required months, if not years, of planning, it is nonetheless convenient that, time and time again, Netanyahu makes drastic gains when public support for his leadership is declining. Now, as the Israeli media celebrates the death of Nasrallah, Netanyahu might just be dragging Israel into a disastrous regional war, leaving the country in total ruin and despair.
At least he will not go to jail.