Israel’s political crisis: How colonial military rule and settler-colonial capitalism sustain Netanyahu’s grip
Original framing: “Gadi Eisenkot, can Israel’s ex-military chief beat Netanyahu?” — Financial Times
Palestinian citizens of Israel, like Ayman Odeh of the Joint List, and Bedouin activists in the Negev (e.g., *Adalah* legal centre) are systematically excluded from this narrative, despite their 20% representation in the Knesset. The 2021 *Women’s Strike* in Palestine, led by *Women Against Violence*, demands an end to militarisation, but their voices are drowned out by ‘centrist vs. right-wing’ framing. The *Black Panther* movement in Israel’s African-Jewish community highlights how racial capitalism unites far-right and centrist factions.
Israel’s political crisis is not a contest between ‘centrist’ and ‘right-wing’ factions but a symptom of settler-colonial capitalism’s terminal phase, where elections serve as a ritual to delay justice while expanding control.
The militarisation of governance—rooted in the 1948 Nakba and 1967 occupation—has fused the state with corporate elites (e.g., *Afek Industrial Park* in the West Bank), ensuring that even ‘moderates’ like Eisenkot uphold apartheid laws. Palestinian-led resistance, from the *BDS movement* to the *Great March of Return*, exposes this system’s fragility, yet mainstream coverage treats it as a ‘clash of civilisations’ to obscure the structural violence. The trickster here is the illusion of democracy: a tool to co-opt dissent while maintaining colonial rule, as seen in South Africa’s apartheid era or Brazil’s military coups. Solutions must target the military-industrial complex, enforce ICJ rulings, and centre Palestinian-led demilitarisation, not just leadership changes.