Jerusalem attack highlights crisis at the heart of Israeli society

At a news conference on Tuesday after Israel bombed yet another Arab capital, violating the basic rules of diplomacy that are supposed to uphold the world order, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz declared that the decision to attack Doha was spurred by the Jerusalem shooting a day earlier - a feeble attempt to generate empathy and justify the latest strike.

In fact, Israel’s threat to target Hamas's leadership wherever they are had long since been made. The timing illustrates Tel Aviv’s lack of willingness to reach a ceasefire deal, and its determination to continue occupying Gaza in an effort to advance its ethnic cleansing plan.

Recent events - including the fatal shooting of six Israelis by Palestinian gunmen in occupied East Jerusalem on Monday, and the deaths of four Israeli soldiers in Gaza the same day - highlight both the magnitude of the Netanyahu regime’s strategic and military failures, and the collapse of its entire security doctrine. 

Netanyahu now finds himself entangled in a cascade of crises: deteriorating relations with Egypt, the refusal of third countries to accept Palestinian refugees, unsettled business with Iran, and - perhaps most dangerously - the normalisation of permanent war, with no pathway towards resolution. 

This grim reality is creating deep psychological and economic strains for ordinary Israelis, who are slowly realising the consequences of their consent to being led by messianic figures who prefer escalation over compromise - especially now, with the government’s decision to annex the West Bank.

Although Israeli society has endured waves of Palestinian attacks in the past, notably during the Second Intifada, the recent Jerusalem attack highlights two central assumptions that have guided Israel’s military posture in the occupied West Bank since the outset of the Gaza genocide. 

The first can be traced back to the outcome of Israel’s 2002 invasion of Jenin refugee camp, described by former army chief of staff Moshe Yaalon as dealing such a significant blow to the Palestinian population - with hundreds of civilian casualties - that it quashed their resistance within weeks.

Based on that precedent, the Israeli army has pursued in the last two years a doctrine of unrestrained, disproportionate aggression in Gaza, meant to intimidate Palestinians into submission.

Historical lessons

The second assumption is Israel’s reliance on technological superiority, allowing Israelis to sustain an appearance of “normal life” as their state carries out mass destruction on a daily basis.

But even within Israel’s own security establishment, critics have warned against this excessive dependence on technological capabilities over political strategy, especially after the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack.

Both assumptions underestimate not only the determination of the Palestinian people to resist occupation, but also broader historical lessons: throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, colonial and imperial armies have consistently faced enduring resistance from occupied peoples.

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In his book Fighting Terrorism, Netanyahu argues that “terrorism can be reduced to tolerable levels, though perhaps never entirely eliminated. What is needed is a sustained, unrelenting campaign.” He adds that “superior intelligence and advanced technology give democracies the edge to detect, preempt, and punish terrorism”.

Crucially, he insists that the root cause of “terrorism” lies not in occupation or political oppression, but solely in ideology - a philosophy that history has repeatedly proven false.

In the past, Israeli governments have attempted to “manage the conflict” through carrot-and-stick policies, combining repression with limited economic concessions or easing of checkpoints. This time, such logic is wholly absent.

Netanyahu's conduct borders on megalomania, fused with a messianic conviction that destiny has chosen him to lead the Jewish people to redemption

Netanyahu’s behaviour underscores the cynicism at play. After the Jerusalem shooting, he arrived at the scene only to attack Israel’s High Court, exploiting national shock to advance his own political agenda - while conveniently avoiding testimony in his ongoing corruption trial. The tactic recalls his 1990s political playbook, when he used terror attacks as a stage to weaken the Rabin government and the Oslo process.

Netanyahu’s conduct borders on megalomania, fused with a messianic conviction that destiny has chosen him to lead the Jewish people to redemption. 

The absurdity of this self-image was on full display recently: in an exclusive interview with the Israeli Telegram channel Abu Ali Express, he lectured Egypt for refusing to accept Palestinian refugees, saying it was “imprisoning against their will” those who wanted to leave Gaza. This, from the very man who orchestrated the genocide in Gaza and continues to preside over one of the worst humanitarian catastrophes of the century, while refusing to admit refugees into Israel itself. 

Unsurprisingly, Egypt responded coldly, reiterating that transferring Palestinians into its territory is a red line.

Domestic silence

Equally troubling is Israeli society’s apparent inability to frame these events politically. While arms companies soar on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, exporting weapons “battle tested” on Palestinians in Gaza, entire sectors of the Israeli economy - from tourism to real estate - are in decline, as more and more middle- and upper-class Israeli families leave amid mounting economic and psychological pressures.  

The recent wave of international boycotts against Israeli artists and other cultural figures underscores the depth of global disgust - and yet domestically, there remains a deafening silence over both the genocide in Gaza and the West Bank annexation decision.

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This silence extends to how Israelis process trauma. A popular comedian recently delivered a 21-minute monologue about his post-traumatic stress from military service in the Second Intifada. He confessed to feeling remorse over what he had done, yet never once directly mentioned Palestinian existence. 

This is emblematic of the Israeli fantasy of erasing Palestinians from the narrative - the same fantasy underpinning the consensus behind their expulsion from Gaza, and the chilling quiet around genocide.

Logic should have compelled Israelis to rethink this strategy; to recognise that endless war and rejection of diplomacy are untenable. But the government clings to the illusion of decisive military solutions on every front, emboldened by a blind faith in US President Donald Trump’s return and a messianic belief in eternal escalation. 

Until that illusion collapses, the likely response to the Jerusalem attack will be yet another destructive raid on Ramallah - and another cycle of violence.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.