Ex-deputy army chief of staff not sure ‘Israel is a democratic state any more’

Former Deputy Chief of Staff of the Israeli army and leader of Israel’s left-wing Democrats party, Yair Golan, expressed doubts to the Guardian about Israel’s status as a democratic state.

During an interview, he emphasised his strong disagreement with the militant presence in Israel after 7 October, noting that many right-wing voters support annexing millions of Palestinians and pursuing a policy of revenge rather than seeking reconciliation.

“I’m not sure whether Israel right now is truly a democratic state any more. It is not a question of left or right any more: these titles are meaningless,” he said.

“The right today in Israel is people who think we can annex millions of Palestinians, and Israel should adopt some sort of policy of revenge, that we can live by our swords and not attempt to reconcile with the Palestinians or any other hostile entity in the region.”

“I think 180 degrees the opposite,” he added.

He told the Guardian that while his party advocates for ending Israel’s military and civilian presence in the occupied West Bank and pursuing a two-state solution, they recognise that security needs to be reestablished.

“Our vision is a two-state solution, but right now we are a nation in trauma,” he said. “People lost their sense of security; people do not trust the IDF to protect them. We need to be proactive militarily, but at the same time we need to combine it with political vision.”

“The liberal camp in Israel is still alive,” he added. “We do not fight for revenge. We fight for the security of Israel.”

Israel has killed at least 620 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since 7 October and injured nearly 5,400 others, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

In a landmark advisory opinion on 19 July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian land to be illegal. The court demanded the evacuation of all existing Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and for reparations to be paid to Palestinians.

READ: Medical students group suspends Israel for 2 years