Israel’s domestic, overseas woes could lead to downfall: historian

An Israeli historian based in Britain has said his homeland may be entering an irremediable decline as a result of its continued offensives against its neighbors following the terror attack by the Palestinian militant group Hamas a year ago.

Ilan Pappe, professor at the University of Exeter, told Kyodo News in a recent interview that he sees Israelis becoming less confident in their future, while more people in the world, including even some Jews, are having second thoughts about their involvement in the Middle Eastern country amid its military campaigns.

What Hamas did in its Oct. 7 incursion last year, which involved mass killing of civilians and hostage-taking, was “like an earthquake to a very shaky building,” Pappe said.

The incident made Israeli society “more unstable,” widening the “extensive cracks” already present, said Pappe, 69, a prolific political scientist who worked at a university in Israel in the 2000s.

As a result of the attack and ensuing counteroffensives, the societal rifts in Israel between liberals and those on the far right have intensified, while Western nations are increasingly concerned about whether continued support for the country can serve their own national interests, he said.

With Israel’s economy and military in a weakened state, the lack of confidence among Israel’s citizens has reached “an unprecedented level,” Pappe said, noting that young Jewish communities around the world are apparently distancing themselves from the country.

The professor said one of the key tenets of Zionism — the movement for a Jewish state in Palestine — is wanting as much of Palestine as possible with as few Palestinians in it as possible.

“You cannot have a Jewish homeland without getting rid of the Palestinian population, and you cannot get rid of the Palestinian population without violence,” he said.

Israel’s status quo appears so unsustainable that the so-called two-state solution, an envisioned arrangement in which it would coexist with a Palestinian state, may not be able to work, according to the scholar.

“There’s no solution right now. There is a process of Israel getting into big, big troubles, maybe to the point of disintegrating as a state,” Pappe said.

Britain and some other Western nations are reconsidering their support for and defense of Israel, given the growing humanitarian concerns in the Gaza Strip following a spate of military campaigns against Hamas and offensives into southern Lebanon, he said.

Pappe called on the United States, a longtime advocate for Israel, to stop providing money and weapons to the country and stop protecting it in the United Nations, saying it would be “better for everyone” if Washington minimized its involvement.

He added that the result of next month’s U.S. presidential election is unlikely to change the situation surrounding Israel.

While some 1,200 people died in the Hamas attack on Israel a year ago, Israeli counteroffensives have resulted in the deaths of more than 42,000 people in Gaza, according to Palestinian health authorities.

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