These clear demographic trends leave many secular Israelis with the feeling that their place in Israeli society is no longer secure
It’s no secret that the State of Israel is in crisis.
Israel is on the verge of a societal breakdown, and we should all be losing sleep over the possibility of bloodshed — especially as there is no small number of people thirsting for violence, going so far as to write or speak publicly along those lines.
Hundreds of thousands of Israel’s citizens are worried. Justice Minister Yariv Levin’s proposed judicial reform has sparked significant panic among a large and influential stratum of Israeli society. In his proposed curb of the judicial system’s independence, they see the collapse of the bastion that ostensibly protected secular, liberal Israel from — well, from a different Israel. Among other things, from us.
On the other hand, many on the other side — the right wing, religious, and chareidi populations — have long felt that the establishment has not been there for them. It did not protect the national-religious community during the Gush Katif disengagement nearly two decades ago. It eroded the status of Shabbos, conversion standards, the Kosel, Pesach, and the rabbinical courts. It prevents chareidim from pursuing academic studies in gender-separate settings. For years, it has not allowed the Knesset to enact a law anchoring yeshivah students’ exemption from military service. It has displayed very little attentiveness to the stance of the country’s right flank and the settlers. It was time, these people felt, for real change.
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