Israel's Rightward Turn

The ousting of Benjamin Netanyahu last year, and the rise of a short-lived governing coalition that included, for the first time in Israel’s history, an Arab party, presented the vanishing liberal left in this country with a much needed—if fleeting—moment of elation. Fleeting, because despite the urgent need to end Netanyahu’s toxic reign, his removal—which may well prove only temporary—did not nudge Israel one inch from the disastrous rightward course it has been on for the past two decades. It’s not just that the two-state option appears more unachievable than ever. In political and juridical terms, Israel within the Green Line is today more illiberal than it has been since 1966, when it ended military rule over its Palestinian citizens.