n end to the war in Gaza, which has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and left a profoundly altered Israel facing allegations of genocide, is nowhere on the horizon. Seven months in, Israel is a battered society, more torn and divided than at any other time in its history.
This was certainly clear during the country’s springtime ritual, which began with Memorial Day, a tribute to fallen soldiers, and segued into the day Israel marked its 76th anniversary, on 13 May, in what has traditionally been a symbolically powerful expression of united Jewish-Israeli fidelity to the Zionist national narrative.
This year, no traces of that unity remained.
The rift emerged with painful clarity on the eve of Independence Day, with Channel 12 broadcasting a split screen. On one side was the official torch-lighting ceremony – this time filmed in advance, without an audience, as in the best enlightened dictatorships.
On the other side, we saw a ceremonial “dousing of the beacons” organised by the families of the 7 October hostages, in a desperate act of defiance against the state and its continuing abandonment of their loved ones. ….more