• ‘Under the current government, it seems that the chances of the destruction of Israeli society entirely are unfortunately too realistic,’ Cassif tells Anadolu

• ‘Extreme right-wing fascists’ now feel powerful enough to take ‘complete control of state institutions, important ministries, and decision-making processes,’ says Sami Abu Shehadeh, a former Knesset member and leader of the left-wing Balad party

ISTANBUL 

The Netanyahu government is becoming “a full-fledged fascist dictatorship” and pushing Israel perilously close to civil war, a prominent left-wing lawmaker has warned.

“I think we are on the verge of a civil war,” Ofer Cassif, a member of the Israeli Knesset representing the left-wing Hadash-Ta’al coalition, told Anadolu.

Cassif, currently suspended from parliament for his outspoken stance against the Gaza genocide, painted a grim picture of Israel’s immediate future.

“I won’t be surprised if very soon – in a matter of days, weeks, or maximum months – we are going to see people shooting each other in the streets,” he said.

Thousands of people have taken to the streets across Israel in recent days to protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration. The protests have been centered on Netanyahu’s actions derailing the Gaza ceasefire and exchange of captives, as well as a continuing series of steps that critics view as an authoritarian power grab.

In recent weeks, Netanyahu has been trying to fire the attorney general and head of the Shin Bet security agency, while also pushing ahead with larger reforms that critics say effectively undermine the independence of Israel’s judiciary.

On Thursday, his coalition passed a highly controversial law giving the government greater influence over judicial appointments, with the opposition boycotting the final vote.

As political and societal tensions threaten to boil over, Cassif cited a recent statement from a “fascist” Israeli professor as an ominous sign of where things could be headed.

“She said we’ve already conquered the police. We’ve already conquered the military. Now, we are going to conquer the Shin Bet,” said the lawmaker.

“She actually said that they are preparing for a civil war in which the police, the military, the Shin Bet will support the fascist mobs and militias.”

‘Total control of state institutions’

Cassif believes that Israel is not merely experiencing temporary political upheaval but actively transitioning into a dictatorship.

The judicial reforms are “in practice a coup d’etat to change the regime into a full-fledged fascist dictatorship, in which the government, and especially the prime minister, are going to concentrate all power in their hands,” he asserted.

After the initial shock following the events of Oct. 7, 2023, Cassif said Netanyahu’s government opportunistically accelerated its authoritarian agenda under “the guise of fighting terrorism.”

“They began to use the situation to pursue an even faster and even worse coup, especially in the last few weeks or months,” he said.

He underscored that more than 100 new laws and regulations limiting civil liberties, media freedom, and judicial independence have already been implemented, effectively “terrorizing everybody, including the media, the judicial system, the public at large, (and) the families of the hostages.”

Sami Abu Shehadeh, a former Knesset member and leader of the left-wing Balad party, echoed similar concerns, warning that “extreme right-wing fascists” have cemented their control over the Israeli political system.

“Now they are powerful enough and feel they can finish all their political projects, including total control of state institutions, important ministries, and all the important decision-making processes,” he told Anadolu.

Abu Shehadeh characterized Netanyahu’s government as intolerant of checks and balances. “This is why they are going against the Israeli high courts, against the Shin Bet, against the state attorney – anyone who can tell them no is being targeted.”

He described these policies as “very dangerous for any state,” arguing that they are effectively dismantling Israeli institutions from within.

“We are going to see more tensions, more politics in the streets, and more demonstrations because a lot of the state institutions see this as the end of the Israeli state and institutions,” he predicted.

No ‘real leftist alternative’ in Israel

Both Cassif and Abu Shehadeh also highlighted how Israel’s far-right ideologies increasingly dominate national discourse, further marginalizing leftist voices.

“In all, a real leftist alternative doesn’t really exist in the parliament,” Cassif said, pointing out that left-wing lawmakers constitute a tiny minority of five out of 120 in the Knesset.

Moreover, traditional leftist political groups like Meretz have essentially vanished, subsumed into broader centrist parties such as the Labor Party, now rebranded as the Democrats, he said.

Even this faction, Cassif pointed out, largely supports and has remained silent on the “genocide and ethnic cleansing that the government of Israel is guilty of.”

Abu Shehadeh, meanwhile, emphasized how the far-right has systematically expanded its control over Israeli bureaucracies over the past two decades.

“In the last two decades, they are overrepresented in all state ministries, Israeli courts, media, major economic companies, and any important project in Israel. They are also very overrepresented in the army and security systems,” he said.

Both politicians also agreed there has historically been a misrepresentation of leftist politics in Israel.

“People should know that there has never been leftist politics in Israel the way people think about them,” said Abu Shehadeh.

“The Israeli Zionist left from the beginning led the Zionist project that resulted in the Palestinian Nakba in 1948 and subsequent wars against the Arab world.”

The left is a “very misleading word in Israeli politics,” he said, adding: “If we don’t have many choices, perhaps we should use ‘Zionist left’ and ‘Zionist right,’ so people understand that all these parties operate within the Zionist project.”

Cassif shared this sentiment, explaining that even the “so-called Zionist left” historically held onto notions of Jewish supremacy.

“In my view, there is a deficiency of leftist ideas, beliefs, and practices in Israel from the beginning. That is something we’ve been trying to change and will continue,” he affirmed.

Describing Israeli society as dangerously polarized, Cassif concluded with a sobering reflection: “Under the current government, it seems that the chances of the destruction of Israeli society entirely are unfortunately too realistic.”