Tribune. In 2019, the Israeli-American series Our Boys, created by Hagai Levi, Joseph Cedar and Tawfik Abu Wael, aroused the ire of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It recounted the murder of a young Palestinian by young ultra-Orthodox Jews avenging the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli Jewish teenagers by Palestinians. In this two-act drama, the victims and executioners were mostly between 16 and 19 years old. This was the starting point for the July 2014 war between Hamas and Israel.
The authors of the series had chosen to focus on the revenge mechanism, the exemplary investigation of the Israeli internal services and the ensuing trial. But this plot did not suit Benyamin Netanyahu: why evoke a few lost young people in this way when it is “them” who are without faith or law, and “us” so moral? In a country that collectively mourns the death of every child, the idea that some of its children may be murderers is overwhelming.
A few days ago, while a new clash broke out between Israel and Hamas, scenes of civil war never before seen in Israel rang out among the population: hundreds of young Israeli Jews and Arabs, very often minors, gathered. carried out lynchings and destruction of property, causing a deep wound to the population of the country, each community no longer being able to point out only “the others” as actors of violence. Education officials from both communities were heard on Israeli radio begging teachers to take to the streets to bring their students back to their senses and home. One of these teachers was severely beaten up in Saint-Jean-d’Acre.
Barely two weeks ago, other images were coming from Israel: the country was finally breathing after a year of fighting the Covid-19 pandemic. Bars, nightclubs, theaters and sports halls were open, and the people – of Tel Aviv in particular – were exulting, regaining their festive identity. But masks other than hygienic masks fell off.
Cynicism of Hamas and Netanyahu
For those who follow political life in the region, it is easy to recognize a certain cynicism on the part of Hamas and Benjamin Netanyahu in this escalation which led to heavy rocket and missile fire on Israel, and the bombardments in retaliation, of a rare amplitude, on Gaza: the two powers face an opposing democratic fragility. On the one hand, repeated elections do not allow Benyamin Netanyahu to consolidate his power and escape the trials that hang in his face, for lack of a clear majority. On the other hand, Hamas protests against the cancellation of the elections announced by Mahmoud Abbas, after fifteen years of freezing the ballot boxes, and poses as a powerful and active leader of the Palestinians.
You have 61.04% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.
