Netanyahu lays the ground for an all-out assault on Israeli democracy

Nationalist, religious and conservative elements that view liberal democracy as an existential danger have coalesced around a charismatic leader. Sound familiar?

Imagine an Israel ruled by a radical, reactionary, theocratic, ultra-nationalist coalition; an Israel that celebrates Jewish superiority, doubles down on occupation, dismantles the Palestinian Authority, provokes Israeli Arabs, represses the LGBTQ+ community, boycotts non-Orthodox Jews, criminalises political dissent, purges the judiciary and civil service, becomes a South Africa-style pariah state and sparks a historic schism in world Jewry.

Contrary to what most Israelis currently assume, this is no far-fetched, futuristic nightmare scenario concocted by sinister enemies or cynical politicians. It is a clear and present danger, a possible if not probable outcome of the November general election, if Benjamin Netanyahu finally succeeds in garnering an absolute 61-seat majority in the 120-member Knesset for his religious-right wing bloc. According to the polls, the former prime minister is but a hair’s breadth away.

Theoretically, such an iron-clad majority bloc could be used as a springboard for Netanyahu to reach out to willing centrist parties, such as Defence Minister Benny Gantz’s National Unity Party, in order to set up a relatively moderate, broader-based centre-right government, just as he did after garnering 61 seats or more in the 2009, 2013 and 2015 elections.

That, however, was before Netanyahu was investigated, indicted and put on trial on charges of bribery and corruption, before he realised that his public onslaught on judges and prosecutors hadn’t achieved desired results, before he understood that only a tight-clad coalition of parties that disdain democracy and the rule of law can give him what he wants most: a “Get Out of Jail Free” card. In exchange, of course, for acceding to inflammatory, theocratic and ultra-nationalist demands.