Nehemia Shtrasler for Haaretz
This was no mere attack by lowlifes on two IDF bases. This was another battle in our 50-year war between the Kingdom of Judea and the State of Israel. The people of Judea, the settlers, Haredi ultranationalists and Kahanists, are trying to conquer Israel and change it from a liberal, moderate, advanced country into a radical, religious, messianic one that hates the entire world. And there is a good chance that they will succeed.
The war between Judea and Israel began in 1974, when Gush Emunim started establishing settlements by hook or by crook in opposition of the Labor government. Gush Emunim’s leaders, Hanan Porat and Moshe Levinger, changed the face of the country. From a few small settlements in Samaria, hundreds of settlements have grown over the years across the West Bank, which are now very hard to remove in return for any agreement with the Palestinians.
We are now in the second stage of the war, as Gush Emunim’s heirs are trying to take over the systems of government. We saw this in the judicial coup of 2023, the objective of which was to liquidate the independence of the judiciary and turn it into an arm of the government, so that the courts could not disrupt the transition from democracy to dictatorship, including annexation.
There are those who take solace that in the next elections Benjamin Netanyahu will be replaced and Israel will be saved. But who among us can guarantee that the Likud and Netanyahu will accept the election results?
In the past few years the radical right has learned that in order to do what it wants, it must take over the two security forces that hold power: the army and the police. That is why they attack the IDF chief of staff and demand his replacement with all kinds of false claims that come from men who never served in the army – MK Tzvi Sukkot and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. It is no coincidence that the men breaking into the IDF bases shouted ‘Herzi go home’ (Herzl Halevi, the IDF chief of staff) and ‘Death to the courts.’ They also yelled, ‘Arrest the pro-Nukhba chief IDF prosecutor’, as their objective is to replace her with one of their own, someone who will stop the offensive practice of indicting abusers of prisoners.
If one day they succeed in appointing one of their own as chief of staff, the IDF will turn into their contractor, just like the police have become the government’s contractor. It’s no coincidence that the police didn’t arrive on time to disperse the rioters at the two bases. Police officers understand that to get promoted, they must please the minister, the convicted felon Ben-Gvir.
It should also be pointed out that some of the rioters were masked and armed, and I would not be surprised if these were weapons they received in Ben-Gvir’s recent big giveaway of assault rifles to a great many people in the territories. Arms distributed in the opening act will shoot in the final act, and the blood will be the blood of the people of the State of Israel.
The Zealots of the Kingdom of Judea are not moved by the October 7 war. The threat of war against Hezbollah, Iran and Turkey are positive signs for them. They consider them a prequel to Armageddon, which will enable them to annex the entire West Bank, expel all the Arabs and conquer all of the ‘promised land’ from the Nile to the Euphrates.
These dangerous, delusional, messianic people leading us to the destruction of the Third Temple were brought into the government, for the first time in our history, by the most despicable man in the history of the Jewish people, Benjamin Netanyahu.