“A new collective imaginary for Israel”

The electoral success of the extreme right-wing, from Itamar Ben-Gvir to Bezalel Smotrich, has entailed worrying analysis of the direction the country might take up over the upcoming four years of rule of the new government led by Benjamin Netanyahu, especially because of the power the right-wing parties have gained. There is fear that they will dismantle some of Israel’s fundamental principles and institutions, following the same steps of countries such as Hungary, which has become an illiberal democracy. These concerns have been reinforced by stances taken by Ben-Gvir and Smotrich, respectively Minister of National Security and Minister of Finance. Yet it must be said that their electoral programme was democratically chosen by the majority of voters due to the lack of a credible alternative. Such election result has opened broader reflection, as underlined by analyst Gabriele Segre, who agreed to take part in a long conversation with Pagine Ebraiche.
Segre, the director of Vittorio Dan Segre Foundation and expert in Israeli and international politics, was not amazed by the success of the extreme right-wing bloc led by Netanyahu. “Israel has reached this point by embracing an international historical trend. Several countries have taken a radical populist turn with traits of political culture that refer to ideas of society that are not necessarily liberal”.
Ben-Gvir – loyal supporter of the Kahanist movement – who as a boy was denied enlisting due to his too extremist ideas, and Smotrich – an overtly homophobic politician who was arrested in 2005 as a suspect in an attack aimed to oppose the Israeli disengagement from Gaza – both represent the Israeli response to a global phenomenon.
According to Segre, they both embody the extreme right-wing’s coherence with a Zionist, messianic and religious vision which does not need to offset its own principles with democracy. “For the supporters of radical, faith-based Zionism the identity of the State of Israel is deeply Jewish, and this comes before everything else. Before the possibility of creating a common living space. Before peace. Before establishing liberal-democratic institutions as they were designed by a secular State. It comes before everything else”.
This thinking, which reveals a clear and strong coherence, is appreciated by an electorate that is ever more lost amid the globalization problems, the director of the Vittorio Dan Segre Foundation pointed out. “They turn their ideas into words, behaviours and agendas”. Their religious and conservative view of Zionism is therefore clear. The same cannot be said of the defeated oppositions, underlined Segre. Their adherence to a dogmatic vision of Zionism is inconsistent with other elements they claim to support. “Other values, for example those of coexistence, cohabitation, the creation of a plural culture in a more tolerant state, and so on. Their political agenda is ‘We are Zionists, but also…’ But this is confusing people” and is therefore unconvincing.
Segre, who lives in Tel Aviv, suggests that whoever wants to provide alternatives must be “courageous and strong enough to think a new collective imaginary, a new vision of the evolution of this society that must also go through a critical and historical analysis of Zionism. This in no way means denying it, rather questioning its crystallization, and putting it in relation with the present time”.
According to Segre, the reflection upon Zionism applies more generally to democracy. “If you defend a political position uncritically – Zionism or Democracy – you will only have negative effects, because we are not allowing the necessary evolution to take place” despite changing demography and social structures, and emerging reference cultures.
Back to Israel, although there is no credible alternative to the coherence of the most extreme right-wing, Segre claims that the country will always be able to rely on “a liberal-democratic and modern set of values. I expect the situation to worsen in the next future, but still gradually get better afterwards. Radicalization will urge people to develop a new collective imaginary. History is all to be written, wonderful things may happen. Israel may become the testing ground for the new coexistence”.
All in all, Segre thinks it is essential to look at Israel with a critical eye. “Uncritically defending the country will not benefit it, in fact it will even weaken it and make it unable to improve. Therefore, I am against the slogan ‘With Israel, no ifs and buts’. Actually, I believe the contrary. With Israel, with all ifs and buts”.

Translation by Martina Bandini and Alida Caccia, students at the Secondary School of Modern Languages for Interpreters and Translators of the University of Trieste, interns at the newspaper office of the Union of the Italian Jewish Communities – Pagine Ebraiche.