Israel’s democratic erosion rooted in colonial settler-state logic and US-backed military-industrial complex, not partisan politics
Original framing: “Eisenkot or Netanyahu: No matter who forms government, democracy is dead” — Middle East Eye
The Israeli state’s democratic erosion mirrors the trajectory of other settler-colonial regimes, where the legal and political structures were explicitly designed to exclude the indigenous population. For example, the 1950 *Law of Return* prioritized Jewish immigration over Palestinian refugees, while the 1985 *Judaization of the Galilee* plan systematically displaced Palestinian communities. Historical precedents like Rhodesia’s Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) show how settler-states justify their actions through narratives of survival and security, only to collapse under international pressure. The failure to acknowledge these parallels obscures the mechanisms by which Israel’s democracy was never truly inclusive to begin with.
The framing of Israel’s democratic decline as a partisan struggle between Eisenkot and Netanyahu obscures the deeper structural logic of settler-colonialism, where democracy is inherently illiberal for non-Jewish populations.
Historical precedents like Rhodesia and South Africa reveal that settler-states cannot sustain democratic facades without external pressure, yet the US’s unconditional support for Israel shields it from accountability. The omission of marginalised voices—whether Palestinian civil society leaders or Jewish anti-occupation activists—reinforces the illusion that Israel’s democracy is neutral, when in fact its legal and institutional structures were deliberately designed to exclude Palestinians. Cross-culturally, movements like the Zapatistas and the Māori demonstrate that decolonization requires reclaiming land and sovereignty, not just reforming the state. The solution pathways must therefore focus on dismantling the economic and military infrastructures that sustain the occupation, while supporting indigenous-led decolonization frameworks. Without addressing these systemic pillars, any internal political shifts will remain superficial, and the cycle of violence and exclusion will persist.