‘The scenes are horrific: anarchy by gangs on both sides, while we look on in despair’

MIKE BENN: The violence between Jewish and Arab Israelis is no less an existential threat than terrorism; only a unity government can reconcile Israeli society

ALTHOUGH BORN AND BRED in Perth, I have spent the last 40 years, two-thirds of my life, living in Israel. Not since the tragic assassination of Yitzhak Rabin has any other event had such an impact on the future of Israeli society as what has occurred in Israel over the last week or so.

 I am not talking about the present conflict with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. It is pure semantics whether this is merely an “operation” or a “war”; the carnage on both sides is the same, no matter how one defines it. However, it should be noted that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has a known policy of giving advance warning for civilians to evacuate, before destroying a building.

Despite this, in these cases it is impossible to prevent the deaths of a number of women, children and the elderly, when Hamas bases its military infrastructure deep within densely populate civilian urban areas. This is in stark contrast to the Hamas strategy of targeting the civilian, non-military Israeli population.

At the time of writing of this article, I cannot prophesise what will be the short-term outcome of this conflict. But it is reasonable to assume that within days to weeks, there will be some sort of ceasefire, at which time both sides will claim “victory” … and then we’re back to Square One, with only a matter of time before the next round.

This is not to belittle the short-term effect of rocket barrages on Israel. It is not easy for me to sit in our homes bomb shelter with my young grandchildren, in the middle of the night, waiting for the all-clear sign to return to our “normal” lives. I should point out that I live in central Israel and not in one of the settlements surrounding the Gaza Strip.

But the events of the last few days that frighten and worry most Israelis are those occurring closer to home, in our own backyard – the relations between the Jewish Israeli and Arab Israeli populations – both of whom are (theoretically) equal citizens of the State of Israel.