{"id":28659,"date":"2026-01-31T05:34:02","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T05:34:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/?p=28659"},"modified":"2026-01-31T05:36:51","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T05:36:51","slug":"is-israels-current-path-setting-it-on-course-for-collapse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/?p=28659","title":{"rendered":"Is Israel\u2019s current path setting it on course for collapse?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Political polarisation, economic strain and emigration challenge Israel\u2019s future as a secure and sustainable state.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Israeli
Israeli youths cast fishing rods from a pier at the old port of Jaffa, a mixed Jewish-Palestinian area of Tel Aviv, Israel, Friday, January 2, 2026 [Oded Balilty\/AP Photo]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Israel will find itself diminished and no longer the secure regional hegemon if it maintains its current path, analysts and observers from within Israel and its diaspora have warned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All signs, they say, from the ratcheting levels of political polarisation within the country, the loss of investor confidence at both home and abroad and the fundamentals of demographic change, make the collapse of the current iteration of the Israeli state almost inevitable in the coming decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen we say that the Israeli state will stop existing, it\u2019s more of a starting point,\u201d political economist Shir Hever explained. \u201cWhat we\u2019re really talking about is whether it will continue as the same entity as it is now. For instance, the way apartheid South Africa was no longer the same entity after 1994, or that East Germany was the same entity after unification [in 1990].\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The argument is that Israel, as it stands now, is unsustainable. And it is not so much about the way Israel treats Palestinians, but about division within Israel. Many secular Israelis are leaving the country \u2013 including entrepreneurs who have made Israel\u2019s tech industry one of the best in the world. At the same time, the religious Zionist and ultra-Orthodox segment of society is growing rapidly, even as it comparatively brings in less money to the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The loss of Israelis leaving the country will therefore potentially take much of the revenue and investment needed to sustain the expansionist aims of a hard-right government, while subsidizing a benefits-reliant community of ultra-Orthodox adherents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the major push factors for secular Israelis is the country\u2019s deep political polarisation, exacerbated by war, the attempted weakening of the judiciary, and the endless machinations of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hever isn\u2019t alone in his diagnosis. Perhaps most notable was the 2024 pronouncement from Eugene Kandel, the former head of Israel\u2019s National Economic Council and an ally of Netanyahu, and Ron Tzur, the director of Israel\u2019s Strategic Futures Institute, that Israel was unlikely to reach the centenary of its 1948 establishment if it continues on the same path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two based their conclusion on the divisions within Israeli society, outlining three groupings: a liberal Jewish secular group, a group that wants a religious Jewish state, and a group that advocates for a state with equal rights for Jews and Palestinians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kandel and Tzur see the main divide as being between the first two groups. \u201cA war over the home, over everyone\u2019s identity and values against everyone else, creates an existential threat to the country, because such a war cannot be stopped without a dramatic change in the feelings of all parties,\u201d the two wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For others, such as American political scientist Ian Lustick, that end has already been reached.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Get instant alerts and updates based on your interests. Be the first to know when big stories happen.Yes, keep me updated<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[Israel] is no longer a \u2018Jewish state\u2019 in the sense that most Israeli Jews mean it, namely a state that privileges Jews over non-Jews but successfully fronts itself as a liberal democracy,\u201d he told Al Jazeera. \u201cIsrael is now an apartheidist state which includes all the people living between the [Jordan] river and the [Mediterranean] sea.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Hever, Israel cannot afford what he referred to as \u201cthe luxury of decline\u201d. That is, to remain as it is, Israel must maintain its core workforce of educated middle-class innovators, such as those currently responsible for driving its technology sector or maintaining its medical system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Likewise, to fuel its continued expansion into Palestinian territory, Israel must maintain the industrial, infrastructure and technology to maintain its military strength, and a standard of living to prevent its people from leaving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At present, none of those indicators is in good shape, analysts say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n