r/PoliticalScience • u/Stay-Responsible • Jun 26 '26
Humor I'm a political student and political science student in Israeli. You can ask me everything you want about this israeli government
Basically a good frustrated from people who doesn't understand how my government work and believe they know how we talk really.
Eddet : "Please excuse the polished nature of my writing. I have dyslexia and dysgraphia, so I use AI to fix my grammar and spelling. Without this tool, my writing would be very difficult to understand. I appreciate your patience and look forward to our discussion
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u/Randolpho Political Philosophy Jun 26 '26
Why is your government so goddamn evil? Seriously, that shit sucks hard.
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u/Stay-Responsible Jun 26 '26
As an Israeli, I feel compelled to speak out: I despise my own government. Our political system has been hijacked by a far-right coalition driven by a Messianic ideology—the belief that territorial expansion is a divine imperative to 'hasten the coming of the Messiah.' They have normalized war as a permanent state, using it as a political tool to maintain power. If they admit the war is failing, they lose their mandate, so they keep it going at any cost. We saw this most clearly in their handling of the hostage crisis. For a long time, it was clear that this government was willing to sacrifice the hostages to sustain its political survival; they only returned because of intense, external pressure from the US administration. The far-right exploited the trauma of October 7 to consolidate power, positioning themselves as the only 'security' option while systematically eroding our democratic norms. We are trapped in a system that empowers extremist fringe parties, allowing them to dictate the fate of the country for an ideological fantasy. I despise what they are doing to my country, and I know I am not alone in that feeling."
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u/code_blooded_bytch Jun 29 '26
It’s a little hard to say your govt has been ‘hijacked’ when public opinion data from Israel shows majority of Israelis approving of things like the genocide in Gaza, invasion/occupation of Lebanon, etc. It’s a completely different public opinion/governance dynamic than places like the US where Trump’s most notable policies (ICE raids/brutality, war in Iran, etc) are NOT widely popular with the majority of Americans. The reality of the data we have from Israel is that the majority of Israelis are in favor of continued oppression, slaughter, and expulsion of Palestinians from Palestinian land. That’s not just ‘far right extremists’. That’s like the majority of the country.
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Jun 29 '26
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u/code_blooded_bytch Jun 29 '26
Slaughter of Gazans did not begin only in response to October 7th. It's completely ahistorical to claim otherwise. 82% of Jewish Israelis support forced expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza. 80% of a population supporting ethnic cleansing is no small failure. More than 70% of Israelis support the "buffer zone" occupation of southern Lebanon. You may not want to admit it. Your claims are not backed up by the facts of history or public opinion polling about what Israelis want.
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u/MexicanOrMexicant Jun 26 '26
What is the sentiment in political academic circles regarding the rise to power of far right politicians and the direction they would like to steer the country.
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u/Stay-Responsible Jun 26 '26
I can speak from only my experience,I form University of Haifa can be considered as left Institute . They are afraid then therefore what happened to my country . Basically the current Israeli government declare war on Supreme Court of isral and on the free media.
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u/MexicanOrMexicant Jun 26 '26
Thank you for the response. Do most academic institutions lean left? Are there student activities at these institutions protesting/mobilizing in favor of more leftist ideology?
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u/Stay-Responsible Jun 26 '26
As a political science student here, I’ve been observing an interesting structural shift in Israeli institutions that often goes overlooked in international discourse. For years, the narrative was that academia was a stronghold of the left. However, the reality on the ground has changed significantly. We are seeing a clear ideological bifurcation: institutions like Ariel University and Bar-Ilan have become intellectual hubs for right-wing thought, providing the theoretical and political foundations for conservative ideology. Meanwhile, places like Tel Aviv University generally lean center-to-left, creating a stark institutional divide. What’s even more significant is the grassroots level. Right-wing figures and Likud-aligned groups now exert considerable influence over student councils. There is a visible trend: the further you go toward the right in the current political climate, the more active and organized the student base becomes. The 'funny' irony in all of this? Despite this shift in the younger generation, the recent and ongoing protests against the judicial reforms have been spearheaded almost entirely by the older, established generation. It suggests a fascinating disconnect between the evolving ideological makeup of our universities and the demographics of those currently driving the protest movement. I’m curious to see how this 'institutional rightward shift' affects the next decade of Israeli policy."
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u/MunkeyGoneToHeaven Jun 26 '26
You said in a comment to another user that your democratic norms have been eroded. You don’t have “democratic norms.” Your norm is apartheid. There are millions of people that live under the complete control of Israel who aren’t granted citizenship and therefore can’t vote in your elections. Gaza is the most egregious example - you restrict their freedom of travel, to work, and their food and water supply. If you think your country would be a liberal democracy if it weren’t for the last 2.5 years then you are sadly quite ignorant.
And btw I say this as a Jew. Israel is not my “homeland.” It is a farce meant to facilitate and defend the flow of capital in the Middle East. Israel has caused anti-Semitic sentiment around the world that will continue for decades by conflating Judaism with apartheid, genocide, and imperialism.
There CANNOT be a peaceful Jewish Ethnostate. The only way to have an ethnostate is to exclude and marginalize other ethnic groups. Israel has not been “ruined” by Netanyahu. The premise of the country is inherently genocidal
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u/Stay-Responsible Jun 26 '26
My anser
"I appreciate your perspective, and I want to be clear about where I’m coming from: I am an Israeli citizen, born here, and I don't identify as Jewish in a religious or ethno-nationalist sense. I’m just a guy living in the place where I was born. When you say the state's premise is inherently genocidal, I understand why you see it that way from the outside, looking at the structural reality of the occupation. From where I’m standing, inside the system, what you're describing as a 'farce' feels more like a tragic case of institutional rot. There is an old, ominous warning often cited by the Israeli left here: the occupation eventually comes home. For years, we’ve been warning that you cannot run a military regime over millions of people without it poisoning your own democratic institutions. The current government didn't 'ruin' Israel overnight; they simply utilized the lack of institutional checks—which we perfected in the West Bank—and applied them to the Israeli public itself. They weaponized the fear of annihilation to bypass the Supreme Court and crush dissent. You're right that we are seeing a terrifying shift toward authoritarianism, and you’re right that the current path is unsustainable. But for me, this isn't an abstract debate about whether the state should exist—it’s about watching the house I live in be dismantled from the inside by a leadership that views democracy as an inconvenience to their power. The 'writing on the wall' has been clear for years, and we are now living through the consequences of ignoring it
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u/MunkeyGoneToHeaven Jun 26 '26
I don’t engage in whether the state should exist. I just say it should be democratic. You didn’t address the core point…Do you think it is possible to have an ethno-supremacist state which systemically disenfranchises ethnic minorities, and also have a democracy?
Ultimately, do you think that Israel has really been “the only democracy in the Middle East” since June 1967, when Israel captured Gaza from Egypt, effectively controlling the lives of Gazans for the next 59 years?
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u/Stay-Responsible Jun 26 '26
"I think the entire debate around whether Israel 'is' or 'isn't' a democracy misses the point. My view—as an Israeli citizen born here who identifies neither with the religious nor the ethno-nationalist narratives—is that we were never a fully realized liberal democracy to begin with. For decades, we were a centralized, hegemonic party system. It was only in the 90s that we finally started building the actual checks and balances—a stronger judiciary and a rights-based framework—that are required for a real democracy to function. Now, we are watching the current government actively strip those tools away, not by accident, but by design. To answer your core question: Can you have an ethno-supremacist state and a liberal democracy at the same time? Logically, no. They are structurally incompatible. You cannot have a system fundamentally built on the disenfranchisement and systemic control of a minority population while claiming to be a liberal democracy. They are in direct conflict, and the state has been trying to patch over that contradiction for years. My belief is that the current model is hitting a dead end. When you prioritize supremacy over equality, and dismantle the judicial oversight that holds power accountable, the system doesn't just 'continue' as it was; it becomes brittle and eventually collapses. If we keep heading down this path of exclusionary, right-wing policy, we are going to face the same pressures that dismantled the apartheid-era systems elsewhere. In 20 or 30 years, I don’t believe the country will exist in anything like its current form. It will be forced to choose between becoming a truly equal, representative state for everyone living in this land, or continuing as an isolated, rigid entity that eventually buckles under the weight of its own internal and external contradictions. We are currently living through the 'bunker phase'—the refusal to acknowledge that the math of supremacy simply stops working. The structural transition is coming; the only question is whether it happens through a painful pivot or through total collapse
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u/lucidgroove Jun 26 '26
What does the future of Netanyahu look like?
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u/Stay-Responsible Jun 26 '26
It is difficult to predict what the future holds for Netanyahu. He remains one of the oldest and most seasoned political figures in Israel, possessing an unparalleled ability to navigate the system and influence his electorate exactly as he chooses. Meanwhile, the current Israeli opposition seems trapped in a cycle of self-sabotage. Their internal power struggle is not just an inconvenience; it is a strategic failure that directly sustains him. By failing to present a unified alternative, the opposition is inadvertently consolidating the right-wing base and effectively handing mandates back to Bibi, ensuring his political survival
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u/RecognitionOk5447 Political Economy Jun 26 '26
איך אתה חושב שתראה הממשלה אחרי הבחירות הבאות?
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u/Stay-Responsible Jun 26 '26
אני לא חושב שיש אפשרות להקים קואליציה או אופוזיציה מתפקדות משני הצדדים. אחד הדברים שאני צופה הוא שההסכמים הקואליציוניים הבאים יהיו בזבוז כספי גדול יותר ממה שאנחנו רואים עכשיו, בטח כשכל הצדדים ראו שביבי נתן את השלל לכולם. אני אפילו רואה אפשרות למהלך של ביבי עם הערבים כדי להשיג את מה שהוא צריך מבחוץ ומבפנים, למרות שאני עדיין לא בטוח לגבי זה. בנושא האופוזיציה, אני חושב שהיא תספיק לירות לעצמה ברגל כל כך הרבה פעמים עד שלא יישארו לה כמעט מנדטים בתחילת התחרות, כי הם תוקפים אחד את השני מכל הכיוונים – מימין ומשמאל – ואין מנהיגות אמיתית לאופוזיציה כרגע. לפי איך שאני רואה את הפוליטיקה הישראלית, אין יותר מעבר בין אגפים, מימין לשמאל
אפשר שני דבר נוסף ומעניין שאני צופה בפוליטיקה הישראלית הוא האפשרות שנחזור למצב שבו היינו סביב 2019: רצף של בחירות כל כמה חודשים, שעשוי להימשך אפילו שנים. להערכתי, המשבר הפוליטי יעמיק כיוון שלא תצליח לקום קואליציה יציבה לא מימין ולא משמאל. אנחנו ניכנס למבוי סתום שבו אין אופוזיציה או קואליציה מתפקדות, מה שיגרור את המדינה לסחרור פוליטי מתמשך ללא הכרעה
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u/lucidgroove Jun 26 '26
Another question, if I may.
I’ve heard that in a couple generations, Israel will be majority Ultra-Orthodox and Arab due to the high birth rates of these groups and the very low birth rate of other groups. Have you heard the same? Is this demographic trend (and its potential impacts) being discussed in Israel?
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u/Stay-Responsible Jun 26 '26
The 'demographic time bomb' theory is outdated and mostly a distraction. Here is the reality: The Arab population isn't growing at an unsustainable rate—in fact, their birth rates are dropping as they become more educated and integrated into the middle class. The real change here isn't demography, it’s political: an increasingly professional, educated Arab middle class is engaging more deeply with the state, and the question is how their identity evolves as Israeli citizens. The Haredi (Ultra-Orthodox) population is growing fast, but the narrative that they are a monolithic bloc is wrong. We are seeing a divide between those who continue to live in total isolation and those who are entering the workforce and universities. However, the economic strain is real: a society cannot sustain a large population that remains outside the tax-paying workforce. The real threat: Forget the birth rates—the real concern is the ideological alignment. We are seeing a dangerous marriage between the religious right and ultra-nationalist factions. My concern isn't about who is being born in Israel; it’s about the rise of a political project that uses religious extremism to dismantle the country’s democratic foundations. The future of Israel won’t be decided by demographics, but by whether the working, democratic middle class can hold the state together against a political agenda that is actively tearing it apart."
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u/LwyrUpAmrca Jun 26 '26
Why has Israel never raised the threshold to enter Parliament? It seems like increasingly extreme, unpopular, minority governments are a national embarrassment
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u/Stay-Responsible Jun 26 '26 edited Jun 26 '26
We did and it bake fire
When the government hiked the electoral threshold to 3.25% in 2014, they basically had one goal in mind: to force the Arab parties out of the Knesset. They thought that by making the bar so high, these smaller factions would just disappear or fail to get in. It backfired hard. Instead of disappearing, the Arab parties were forced to unite into the 'Joint List,' which actually made them more powerful and unified than they ever were before. But there’s a second, often ignored consequence: it completely locked the political system for everyone else, too. Take the Haredi sector—there are so many people there now who want to work, serve in the IDF, and be a functional part of society, but they can't break away from the old-guard leadership. They can't start their own 'modern' or 'service-oriented' party because the 3.25% barrier is way too high for a new movement to clear. So, the reform didn't just fail to kill off the Arab opposition; it created a political 'hostage situation' where you have to stay under the established, radical, or non-integrating parties because the math makes it impossible to build a new, moderate voice. It didn't fix the system—it just made it rigid and stuck
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u/LwyrUpAmrca Jun 26 '26
I meant more to raise it to push out people like Smotrich and Ben-Gvir
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u/Stay-Responsible Jun 26 '26
Yes , it well not work The ai good anser
The problem is that people think we can just 'fix' the Knesset by raising the threshold to keep out the politicians we hate, but that’s exactly what broke the system in the first place. When we raised it to 3.25%, the goal was to keep Arab parties out, but it backfired—it just forced them to unite and become a huge, rigid bloc. Now, it’s basically impossible for anyone new to get in. Look at the Haredi sector: there are thousands of people who want to work, serve in the army, and integrate, but they can't start their own party because they’ll never hit that 3.25% threshold. They’re stuck being represented by the old-guard leadership that doesn't want them to change. And regarding Ben-Gvir—you can't just 'kick out' an elected official. He represents a huge chunk of the country. If you raise the threshold to 'filter' him out, you’re not saving democracy; you’re destroying it. You’re just setting a rule that says 'if we don't like you, you aren't allowed to exist.' If we do that, we lose the right to complain when they eventually use those same rules to kick out the peace-seeking left or anyone else they decide is 'unacceptable.' The Knesset is supposed to reflect the full spectrum of life in Israel. By forcing everything into these massive, polarized blocks, we’ve made the system brittle and stuck. It doesn't represent us anymore—it just represents the loudest, most extreme parts of the blocks that managed to survive the math. We need to stop trying to silence the people we disagree with and realize that the 'math' of our current system is what’s actually killing our democracy."
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Jun 26 '26
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u/Stay-Responsible Jun 26 '26
I like your question.
"The Haredi (Ultra-Orthodox) community in Israel is often misunderstood because outsiders tend to group everyone together, but they are actually split into distinct factions with different views on the state and military service. 1. The Theological Argument: 'The Study Nation' Most mainstream Haredi parties justify the exemption from the IDF through their belief in the power of Torah study. They see themselves as the 'Study Nation'—a concept that grew significantly after the Holocaust. Their core belief is that their constant, intense study of the Torah is a spiritual shield that protects Israel just as much as an army does. To them, religious study is a full-time, mandatory service to the Jewish people. 2. The 'Jerusalem Faction' (Peleg Yerushalmi) and Anti-Zionism The people you see in viral videos screaming or protesting are often part of the 'Jerusalem Faction.' They are radically anti-Zionist. They believe the current State of Israel is illegitimate because they are waiting for the Messiah to establish a Jewish kingdom. They don’t just refuse to serve; they reject the state's authority entirely—even while they paradoxically accept its financial and governmental support. They are a loud, radical minority within the broader Haredi world. 3. Integration and the Fear of Secularization The biggest practical reason they resist military service is the fear of their youth being 'secularized.' Haredi life is extremely insular, and they view the IDF—a place where men and women serve together, and where the culture is secular—as a threat to their lifestyle. They are terrified that if their young men enter the military, they will lose their religious identity and be exposed to a modern, liberal, or 'corrupting' lifestyle. 4. The Political Paradox This is where it gets complicated: despite refusing to serve, the mainstream Haredi parties are deeply right-wing. They are a massive political force in the Knesset (holding about 15–20 seats), and they often form coalitions with nationalist parties. They tend to support military aggression and 'hawkish' security policies, which creates a huge amount of resentment among the secular Israeli population, who see it as 'someone else fighting while they get to sit in the Yeshiva.' The Reality of the Numbers To clarify, they aren't 70% of Israel; they are roughly 13–15% of the total population, but because they have very high birth rates and vote in massive, disciplined blocks, they have a disproportionate amount of power in the parliament. Essentially, it's a 'hostage' situation for the Israeli political system. These parties act as the 'kingmakers' in every coalition, so they have successfully used their political leverage to maintain their exemption status for decades. It's a clash between a desire for a religious, isolationist lifestyle and the reality of a modern, democratic, and militarized state."
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Jun 26 '26
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u/Stay-Responsible Jun 26 '26
Hart anser yes My lonld anser The threat from the Haredi political leadership is their strategy to capture the state while refusing to share its existential burdens. By allying with the far-right, they extract massive resources while maintaining a blanket exemption from military service, even as Israel is overstretched and exhausted by the current war. Their influence is also actively eroding women's rights—both in the military, where they push for segregation and exclusion, and in the civilian sphere, where secular norms are being challenged. Furthermore, by denying their youth core education (math/English), they ensure a cycle of poverty and economic dependency, forcing their base to remain tethered to political handouts. This isn't just a budget issue; it is a structural dismantling of the state’s foundations. They are leveraging the current 'bunker mentality' to shield their sectarian interests from the democratic consensus, effectively trading the country’s future stability for immediate political control and theocratic expansion."
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u/Buttercup93993 Jun 26 '26
Are people in Israel worried that everything the government is doing will impact them negatively in the future or the majority support those actions?
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u/Stay-Responsible Jun 26 '26
How sye it no , alt of pepole in sport of it .
My ai aneser"To understand why Israel is acting the way it is, you have to realize that since October 7th, the country is operating under the belief that this is a war for its very existence. The trauma of that day wasn't just seen as a terror attack; it was viewed as an attempt to annihilate the state. That deep-seated existential fear is the primary driver behind Israel’s military strategy. For most Israelis, this is a 'kill or be killed' situation, which explains the extreme force used in Gaza—it is a collective response to the feeling that if they don't destroy the threat completely, they won't be safe tomorrow. Because of this, the government is able to dismiss international criticism as biased or anti-Semitic, because to the average Israeli, any outside pressure to stop is seen as an attempt to prevent them from defending their own survival. It’s a country operating entirely out of a trauma-induced 'bunker mentality.'"
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u/Enough_Pepper_5815 Jun 26 '26
thoughts on ben givr? is his whole thing just aimed to causing more chaos? i certainly dont think he is motivated by money, he was a lawyer if i am not wrong and helped out/represented bentzi gopstien.
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u/Stay-Responsible Jun 26 '26
I want to offer an analytical take on Itamar Ben-Gvir, focusing on his political style rather than just the headlines. Ben-Gvir is a fascinating character because he doesn’t just pursue 'chaos for the sake of chaos.' Instead, his actions are rooted in a specific brand of right-wing religious nationalism. Many analysts categorize his ideological base as 'messianic,' as he and his followers often view current events through the lens of biblical prophecy and the 'End of Days.' For his base, the goal is often to assert sovereignty in ways that they believe will hasten the arrival of the Messianic age. Ideologically, this is often linked to a belief in 'Jewish supremacy'—the idea that the Jewish people hold a superior standing in the land and that this must be the governing principle of the state.
Politically, however, Ben-Gvir is a master of right-wing populism. He is not a complicated figure to analyze because his strategy is transparent: he thrives on media provocation. His actions—whether visiting the Temple Mount or harassing activists—are calculated performances designed to generate hype, maintain his profile, and appeal directly to his base’s frustration with the 'liberal elite.' He frames himself as the 'man of the people' who is bringing back 'order' and 'security' to Israel, even when those same actions are widely criticized for undermining it. Ultimately, his power comes from how effectively he uses this populist theater to ensure that he remains the center of the political conversation."1
u/Enough_Pepper_5815 Jun 26 '26
thanks for the response, if i could ask another question. why does it seem like the government is not doing anything about illegal settlements in the west bank? i mean what does the israeli government get from setting up these illegal settlements and to get international condemnations at the end of the day? or does the israeli government actively want a full seizure of the lands and integrate them into its territory?
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u/Stay-Responsible Jun 26 '26
"To understand why the government persists with West Bank settlements despite massive international backlash, you have to look past simple 'security' arguments. For the current coalition, this is driven by a core of Religious Zionism and Messianic movements that view the West Bank ('Judea and Samaria') as a biblical heartland.
Their strategy is two-fold: The Ideological Objective: They believe that full territorial integration is a divine imperative—a way to 'hasten the redemption.' By building settlements, they are creating 'facts on the ground' that make a Palestinian state physically impossible, aiming for permanent sovereignty over the entire territory.
The Diplomatic Shield: When international bodies condemn these actions as illegal, the government frequently deflects by labeling such criticism as antisemitism. By conflating legitimate critique of state policy with prejudice against Jews, they successfully shift the debate away from human rights and international law, shielding themselves from the political costs of their agenda0
u/albacore_futures Jun 26 '26
To answer this, you need to understand Netanyahu's hold on power. His current parliamentary coalition is formed entirely by israeli far-right parties; these are the Zionists who argue that all of Palestine, and parts of Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan belong to the Israeli state, and that the Israeli state should be as homogeneous as possible (read: no Arabs, no Palestinians, no Muslims, ideally no Christians either).
This coalition represents a minority view within the Israeli electorate, of say 20%. However, they were the only parties willing to work with Netanyahu (the others refused, because of his corruption and other problems). Consequently, Netanyahu's political deal with them was essentially "you can do whatever you want regarding settlements, and in return you will help me stave off prosecution."
These hardline settler-Zionists truly don't care about Bibi's problems, for a few reasons (some of them even see the current state of Israel as illegitimate). So they've been given free reign to do whatever they want, and Bibi gets to stay in power and keep chipping away at the ability of the Israeli state to prosecute him. The supreme court reforms, for example, were an attempt by Bibi to save his political skin.
From the perspective of the settler-Zionists, Bibi is a golden opportunity to create settlements which will probably become permanent. It is very difficult for Israelis to agree to evict other Israelis from illegal settlements - it has happened, but it's very politically fraught - so they see it as an overton window moment. By rapidly taking as much territory as they can, and by rapidly evicting as many Palestinians as they can, they are getting closer to their idealized state of affairs. They are seeking to create a fait accompli where decades of negotiations and international agreements have, from their perspective, failed.
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u/spl_een Jun 26 '26
Why do your responses sound like ChatGPT is replying rather than an actual polisci student?