Salim Brik, an expert on Israeli affairs, saw that the internal crisis in Israel reflects the deep rift between extreme right-wing and liberal forces, as well as the fascism that is developing within Israeli society and the dictatorship practiced by the government of Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israeli demonstrators closed the roads leading to Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv as part of protest movements under the title "Resisting Dictatorship" rejecting the government's project to amend the judicial system, in the context of an internal crisis coinciding with a bloody Israeli escalation against the Palestinians, ignoring American and Western calls for calm, the most recent of which was issued by a minister. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin during his current visit to Israel.
In his speech to the episode (3/9/2023) of the “Beyond the News” program, Brik talked about a fascism that is developing within Israeli society and is affected by the occupation, and about right-wing populism, between religious Jews, “Haredi” who do not want democracy and religious Zionism that wants control. Israel over everything.
He pointed to the concern of the Israelis about the attack on the judicial institution, saying that the dictatorship begins to attack the judiciary, and this happened in Eastern Europe and Tunisia.
Netanyahu had accused the Israeli opposition of seeking to overthrow his government by adopting the method of chaos.
It is an accusation that opposition leader Yair Lapid responded by describing Netanyahu as a liar, who heads a government team working to transform Israel into an extremist and undemocratic state.
For more than two months, Israel has been witnessing weekly escalating demonstrations to pressure the government to back down from plans to reduce the powers of the Israeli judiciary in favor of the legislative and executive branches.
The protesters are an elite that lost the elections
On the other hand, Mordechai Kedar - a professor of political science at Bar-Ilan University and a researcher on Middle East affairs - linked the internal crisis in Israel to what he considered the movements of the left, which lost the elections to control the reins of the state through the judiciary system.
He added that the demonstrators in the streets are the elite who have lost elections time after time, and they are protesting because power is slipping from their hands.
Stressing that there is a problem of balance between the Knesset, the government and the judicial system in Israel.
On the other hand, Kedar criticized what he described as "blatant" US interference in Israel's internal affairs, speaking of pressure exerted by Washington on the Netanyahu government.
However, Brik - who is also a political science lecturer from Nazareth - ruled out the existence of American pressure on the Netanyahu government, and saw that Washington gives billions of dollars to Israel and protects it security and strategically, and protects it from itself.
According to the Pentagon, US Secretary of Defense Austin assured Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu of "the strength of the strategic partnership between the two sides," and expressed Washington's desire to deepen it.
In his meeting with Netanyahu, Austin also affirmed his country's strict commitment to Israel's security and its qualitative military superiority.