On the march to destroy Israel as we know it

Dire polarization

The new government is polarizing the Israelis in every political, social, and religious setting, discriminating against minorities, attacking secularism, rejecting feminists and LGBTQ persons, and harassing human rights organizations. To be sure, Netanyahu has singlehandedly undermined every pillar of Israel's democracy. His new government will be democratic in name only, fundamentally authoritarian, not unlike Poland, Hungary, and Turkey, with no scruples, fascist at the core, racist, and the most extremist right-wing government in Israel's history that will earn the country nothing but mockery, scorn, and contempt.

Forfeiting Israeli-Arab normalization

The prospect of normalizing relations with other Arab countries will diminish completely as long as the occupation remains in force and as long as Ben-Gvir (currently National Security Minister, whose focus will be on security in the West Bank and who will be eager to rain havoc on the Palestinians) and Smotrich (Finance Minister) are in the government. Recently, the Saudi foreign ministry affirmed what it has been stating all along, Saudi Arabia's "solid stance of standing by the brotherly Palestinian people." But now, leave it to the xenophobic Ben-Gvir to exacerbate the conflict with the Palestinians, making it impossible to reach an agreement, thus forfeiting the prospect of normalizing relations with Saudi Arabia and other Arab states that could have followed. The cancelation of Netanyahu's visit to the United Arab Emirates was meant to send a clear message to Netanyahu that his new government's policy toward the Palestinians is totally unacceptable, and that every Arab state will land on the side of the Palestinians under any circumstances.

Damaging US-Israeli relations

US-Israel relations will too be adversely affected. President Biden made clear his opposition to expanding the settlements and warned Israel not to even contemplate further annexation of any Palestinian territories. The tension between Washington and Jerusalem will continue to rise as Biden and Netanyahu simply do not see eye-to-eye on a host of other issues, especially how to deal with Iran's nuclear program. Although US-Israel relations are solid and have hardly been affected by the political orientation of successive US administrations and Israeli governments, this is the first time that the US has expressed profound concern about the makeup and the extremism of the new Israeli government and how its policies might affect their bilateral relations.

Intensifying antisemitism

Although antisemitism has existed from time immemorial and Israel continues to sound the alarm about the upsurge of antisemitism, not once has any Israeli government attributed, at least in part, the rise of antisemitism to the continuing occupation. There should be no doubt that given what it stands for and the intent of the new government to expand the settlements and annex more territories in the West Bank, antisemitism will only continue to grow. The continuing occupation reminds the whole world of Israel's ruthlessness in the territories. Indeed, the new Israeli government will make matters worse and unless the occupation comes to an end, antisemitism will continue to rise, and anti-Jewish incidents will become increasingly common around the world.

Nurturing a fifth column

Instead of fostering social cohesiveness and encouraging Israeli Arabs to become an integral part of Israel's social and economic mainstream, the new government is poised to intensify discrimination against this constituency which represents more than 20 percent of the population. Further alienation and discrimination against Israeli Arabs by the new government will nurture enmity from within, unquestionably precipitate social unrest, and increasingly push Israeli Arabs towards militancy, becoming a fifth column once a new major violent flare up between Israel and the Palestinians occurs, which will be only a matter of time under this chauvinistic government.

What Netanyahu has done, to be sure, is nothing short of a political coup d'état. He is a master schemer, with no scruples, no morals, and no allegiance to the country for which millions of Jews have been yearning and dying for. Instead of forging peace he is preparing the next generation of Israeli youth to fight the next war and sacrifice their lives on the altar of his ego and the egos of his fanatical gang. Netanyahu is dangerous, a menace to the future of the Jews in and outside Israel, and his government must speedily be toppled before it's too late.

Yes, under the new Israeli government led by autocrats, messianic zealots, and corrupt and power-hungry bigots, Israel will be marching on a dark and sorry trail that will grow ever darker, obliterating its character as a democratic country and rendering it nothing but a pariah and an apartheid state. It will be reviled by the international community, constantly on the defensive and living by the gun to survive.