The Deconstruction of the Israeli State

Doron Navot ^* Yair Goldshmidt

• University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel

This paper argues that the core of Israeli crisis of democracy has been an attack of the Israeli government on the state. That is, the current Israeli government has been transforming the regime and undermining its liberal characters by dismantling the state – its functioning, legitimacy, orientation, and philosophy. It has done so through democratic measures and in the name of the people's will and sovereignty. That is, via populist rhetoric. Such a process is called here deconstruction of the Israeli state. In fact, the similarity is no accident; the causes of the crisis of Israel and US partly overlap, and go beyond isomorphism and political learning. The agenda of the government harms the Israeli middle class and it is too radical even for some of those who voted for the parties participating in the coalition. However, it has support among settlers in the west bank, ultra-orthodox and large portion of potential right-wing voters. Moreover, the current war is used by the government to continue with is radical agenda and to cope with the massive public protest. The causes of the Israeli crisis are local as well as global, and the consequences are far reaching. So far, as the papers shows, the government has reduced political rights, violated human rights and deteriorated the state's power.