Jarring voices of internal division rise again - analysis

With hundreds of thousands of soldiers currently fighting a war against Hamas and Hezbollah, the last thing this country needs right now is a renewed “War of the Jews.”

With tens of thousands of soldiers risking their lives for each other and for everyone in the land, the last thing this country can afford at this time is to reignite the battles between the Left and the Right, between Tel Aviv and the settlements, between the religious and the secular and the Haredim.

One can make a strong argument that it was the “War of the Jews” that raged here over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu since the police began investigating him on corruption charges in December 2016 – and which reached a fever pitch over the judicial overhaul plan from January to October 7 – that convinced Israel’s external enemies that now was precisely the time to strike.

Why strike now?

Because of all the divisions. Because of all the hateful rhetoric. Because one side regularly called the other side “traitors,” and the other side regularly called the first side “fascists.” Because of violence against anti-judicial reform protesters and because of physical violence at an outdoor Kol Nidre service. Because of threats to no longer serve in the army; because of reports of massive “relocation;” because of talk of actually dividing the country into two: Israel and Judea.

All of that, and more, was Israel’s lot before the October 7 massacre made all the internal divisions seem ridiculously trivial by comparison. Hamas’ barbaric orgy of murder, mutilation, rape, and kidnapping – as well as the frightening realization among Israelis that the country was not as secure as they once thought it was – made all the other disagreements seem inconsequential.

“First secure life,” the saying goes, “and then deal with the quality of that life.”

Israelis thought they had secured life, or at least their security.

Israel thought that after 75 years of independence, its physical security was pretty well ensured, and that now it could tackle all those long-simmering divisive internal questions about religion and state, about the separation of powers, and which branch of government has the upper hand, about who is a patriot and who is a traitor and who is a parasite, about who and which part of the population is leading the country to ruin, and who and which part of the population is leading it to prosperity.

Amid all that ear-piercing noise, amid all the screaming and yelling about all those issues, Hamas snuck in undetected and delivered a stinging blow.

Hamas blow also served as a wake-up call

All of a sudden, all of the above – all that internal division – melted away, and the nation, in fact, the Jewish people, came together in a way not seen for decades. This was the one ray of light in the very black night that descended on the land.

True, we have differences, but they amount to little in the face of those who want to butcher, rape, and plunder – caring not a whit whether their victims are settlers or Peace Now activists, religious or secular, followers of Netanyahu or Yair Lapid.

For the better part of two months, the nation realized this. The shrill voices that divided the country were silent for the better part of two months. For two months, the nation heard little, for instance, from David Amsalem and Dan Harel, from Tally Gotliv and Ehud Barak.

Now, however, some of those voices are being heard again, and their sound is anything but refreshing.

The Likud held its first Knesset faction meeting in months on Sunday, and Minister in the Justice Ministry Amsalem – in his political attack on rivals – sounded so yesterday, so pre-October 7.

“If the government falls, most of us will not be here, and the Likud will rise again maybe in another 20 years. The Left will rise, and there will be a Palestinian state. These are Bolsheviks who can’t see what’s in front of them and control all the affairs of the state.”

Here we go again, with the demonization of the Left.

“What are these demonstrations against Netanyahu with pictures of blood on his hands at a time when he has led the war since the first day? Someone is leading this campaign against the prime minister, and outside there are protests. It is unbelievable,” he said.

The night before, Harel – a former deputy chief of staff who was vocal in the anti-judicial reform movement and is a caustic critic of Netanyahu – said in a Channel 12 interview that one of the reasons for the disaster of October 7 was that IDF troops were moved from the Gaza border area to the West Bank.

“The catastrophe was a fatal combination of the lack of preparedness of the army, no warning, and unbearable pressure from the government to move a good part of the troop force to Judea and Samaria,” he said.

“At the end of the day, when in Judea and Samaria you allow people to go to Joseph’s tomb but need a brigade to protect the buses, or you send a battalion and a half to protect the sukkah of [Religious Zionist Party MK] Mr. [Zvi] Sukkot in Huwara – then you get to a situation where there were not enough forces. That was a horrible mistake.”

Here we go again, demonizing the settlers, and blaming them for the country’s security problems.

On Sunday, Sukkot filed a NIS 100,000 libel suit against Harel for his comments. It should also be noted that at the time, and for months previous, Huwara and the West Bank experienced a dramatic uptick in terror – apparently part of Hamas’s plan to divert attention from what they were planning along the Gaza border. Sukkot set up an “office” in Huwara in a sukkah on October 5 for two hours following yet another shooting attack there.

What both Amsalem and Harel did with their comments was, once again, pit various segments of the population against each other. They are doing this at a time when those various segments of the population are fighting alongside each other, shoulder to shoulder, in Gaza, along the Lebanese border, and inside Judea and Samaria.

One hopes that those fighting alongside each other will reject and push back against words meant to sow discord.

Coincidentally, Amsalem and Harel’s comments were made just a couple of days before the renewal of Netanyahu’s corruption trials in Jerusalem District Court on Monday. The last hearing in this trial was on September 20, after which the court recessed for the Tishrei holidays – a recess extended because of the war.

It can be argued that opening the investigations into Netanyahu marked the beginning of this country’s descent into unparalleled internal division, a descent fueled by both the pro-Netanyahu and anti-Netanyahu camps. It can also be argued that on October 7, the country woke up to the damage those divisions caused.

It will be telling to see how post-October 7 Israel handles the renewal of the Netanyahu trial, the instrument and symbol of all that pre-October 7 disunity. Will the trial further divide, as some politicians and political activists hope that it will further their interests, or will the masses – absorbed now with much more significant issues of life and death – push back against efforts to pit different segments of the nation against one another?