Is Israel a Nazi state or a colonial state?

Israel’s trend, at the political and popular levels, towards the extreme right has become clear since the beginning of the last decade. Following the return of the Likud Party to power in 2009, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, it rose with a Nazi political approach.

In recent years, these forces have begun proposing laws deeply rooted in racism and hostility to democracy. These practices and statements have escalated recently in the wake of the war on Gaza, starting with the encouragement of the Minister of Internal Security Itamar Ben-Gvir for settlers to kill Palestinians, through support for Israel’s leaders to continue the “Nationality Law” and ending with the formation of a war council that includes leaders of Nazi extremism.

With this decline to racism and anti-democracy, Israel has become described as a Nazi state, often heard in many forums, in Parliament, among politicians and academics, and in the street. Talking about Israel as a Nazi state misses the point, though. Israel is a state of colonialism, its regime is a twin regime to the racist apartheid regime and we do not deny the presence of Nazi manifestations in it.

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The colonial-colonial state is more difficult than Nazism, and claiming that Israel is a Nazi state facilitates the discussion that Israel is trying to avoid, which is focusing on it being a colonial-colonial system. It prefers the debate to be about whether Israel is a Nazi and does not want the discussion to be about whether Israel is colonialist.

In Israel, the so-called settler democracy is modelled after the apartheid system in South Africa, and the situation in Israel is even more complex, as part of the Palestinian people have the right to vote but are deprived of their natural rights. As for the rest of the Palestinian people in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, the Israeli regime controls them and their destiny, which produces a complex system.

But if Israeli society is Nazi, or is gradually moving towards Nazism, then the manifestations of Nazism in Israeli society are increasing, in addition to the manifestations of racism and the psychology of hatred and superiority over others in Israeli society.

Religious racism in Israeli society, or the so-called “Keren Kemet” racism, which is represented by the theft of lands and the displacement of people, is much more dangerous than the racism of the rabbis. In addition, it is the secularists who established this religious system.

What is happening today is that the State of Israel no longer hides that it is the state of only the Jewish people. In addition, it no longer shows any interest in being or appearing like a democratic state. Israel today appears more dangerous than ever because it does not currently feel safe.

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Israel is not a democratic state; it is an ethnocratic state. The Jews monopolise all the rights that are supposed to be available to everyone, and the situation that this state is experiencing today is more difficult than a Nazi regime. To call Israel a democratic state is nothing more than a joke. Earlier, Israel tried to appear as a democracy. Today, it does not even want to appear as such, and not having rights at all is better than having them claim that you have rights that you do not obtain, as happens with the Palestinian people.

Israel is moving toward Nazism at a rapid pace since Netanyahu returned to power in 2009. Racism and anti-liberalism are represented in a set of so-called “national laws”. There is also what is happening in the Israeli media, many of whose journalists are participating in the right-wing campaign against Arabs and Jewish liberals, as happened before when pursuing those responsible for the New Israel Fund, which funds civil society associations and institutions.

The Terrorism Law is one of the most dangerous repressive laws in the history of the region, as it gives the Israeli minister of defence the authority to declare any political or non-political group or organisation a terrorist movement. It imposes severe penalties on anyone who struggles against occupation and oppression, even if it is limited to expressing an opinion, simply raising a flag or posting a comment on social media.

The law’s goal is to suppress freedom of opinion and expression and prohibit the struggle against the occupation, which is in line with Israel’s strategic plan to annex the territories occupied for fifty years.

Only the Nazi regimes dared to establish such repressive laws, and implementing them confirms the falsity of the claim that Israel is a democratic state. The law represents one of a series of laws and measures against the Palestinian people and against civil society institutions that expose and oppose human rights violations.

There are increasing statements in the occupation entity about its inhumane practices and that they are heading towards Nazism, such as the statement of former Zionist Deputy Chief of Staff Yair Golan when he compared what is happening in the entity today to the situation of Nazism.

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The nervous and angry reactions to the statements that describe the entity state as fascist and Nazi can be understood because the entire Zionist society is originally based on extremism and the denial of Palestinian existence at its foundation. It is also accustomed to unprecedented global favouritism and hypocrisy, as no one dares to criticise Zionist practices because the accusation of anti-Semitism is ready.

The warnings and statements of some of the entity’s leaders, such as Golan, Moshe Ya’alon, Ehud Barak and others, reflect the crisis reality that this country is experiencing in light of the rise of the right. The trend of Zionist society towards the extreme right, the complete absence of the left and the rise of Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich to the Zionist Knesset is nothing but evidence of the spread of extremism and racism in this entity.

The decline towards Nazism in the occupying state can be clearly observed not only in all the daily practices at the occupation checkpoints and during night raids and field executions, which have become an almost daily policy against the children and women of Palestine, but also in all the laws that are adopted to inflict more harm on the people of Palestine. It is also evident in the draft laws that are being prepared for further repression, and here, we can only recall the agreement signed by Avigdor Lieberman and Netanyahu regarding the death penalty for Palestinian resistance fighters. Note that dozens, if not hundreds, of resistance fighters were executed in cold blood during the long years of occupation.

The Nazi trend in the gang state does not depend on what the occupation forces are doing in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Instead, it extends to the territories of the Palestinian interior in 1948, Nazism is blatantly manifested against the Palestinians there, and it can also be observed in most opinion polls that indicate that the Zionist society is moving towards the right and extremism.

Perhaps some people do not know that Netanyahu is happy to have all this campaign raised against him in the Arab world and some Western international circles, specifically European ones. He considers that his political asset is his hatred of Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims.

Netanyahu was not prime minister when Israel committed all the atrocities during the era of the notorious Ariel Sharon, including the siege of Yasser Arafat’s headquarters in the Muqata building in Ramallah. He killed Arafat with poison, as has become known and confirmed. After the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin during the era of a government headed by Netanyahu, this is what changed him towards more extremism and racism.

The problem is that Israel, as a state, a government and also as a majority people, has gone too far in turning towards extremism and racism. The problem is not with Ben-Gvir, Smotrich, Netanyahu or other Zionist terrorists. The issue is with the nature of this racist Nazi entity. It is originally based on an exclusionary racist view of exiling the holder of the legitimate right to Palestine and obliterating all the material and moral signs of his existence.

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