We’re Israelis Who Study Fascism. This Week, Our Country Took a Terrifying Step Toward the Abyss

Document Type

Editorial

Publication Date

5-31-2024

Abstract

"With even the proposal of this law — which reportedly enjoys the support of a Knesset majority — Israel is hurtling toward fascism at breakneck speed. We should know; we are historians of authoritarian regimes, specializing, respectively, in Mussolini’s Italy and Iran after 1979. Explaining state repression is our bread and butter.

And we are Israeli. We both grew up there, attended Israeli universities, and talk daily to our families who are still living there. When we warn that Israel is on a slippery slope to authoritarianism, we are not self-hating Jews calling for the destruction of the only Jewish state, as is often claimed by right-wing pundits. We speak out because we see Israel marching toward an abyss, and we care."

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This article was originally posted on Forward in May 2024.

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