Israel has become like the Soviet Union in its final days.

Israel has become like the Soviet Union in its final days.

Twenty years ago, Russian-American anthropologist Alexei Yurchak coined the term "hypernormalization" to describe the absurd and extraordinary reality of the last two decades of the Soviet Union's existence.

At that time, both citizens and officials knew deep down that the Soviet system was not working and was no longer reflecting the truth — but everyone continued to live as if nothing had happened.

Few could have predicted the fall of the Berlin Wall or the disintegration of the mighty Soviet Union into 15 independent states, and Russia's dependence on US wheat imports in the 1990s.

Looking back, it becomes easy to identify the unhealthy parts of this system, to understand how unusual and unstable the state that Yurchak describes as hypernormalized actually was.

Note: 15 medical workers and rescue workers were recently executed by the Israeli army in Gaza. The world began to ask questions when one of them filmed the incident and proved that the official statement of the Israeli army was baseless.

In Israel, the incident has received little public attention. There has been no public debate or moral reflection, except for the families of the hostages, who continue to defend their loved ones, but this defense is done without acknowledging the suffering of the 2 million Gazans.

It is astonishing that the rescuers were executed without any reason, like in a dystopian movie, while Israeli society continues to live as if all this happened on another planet.

Not a single Israeli politician has questioned or criticized this incident. These idiots seem to be in a state of cognitive dissonance, disconnected from reality, in Israeli society.

Weakening of state institutions

Late last year, Amnesty International's Israeli branch refused to accept the organization's report on the genocide in Gaza. Amnesty Israel, which was later suspended by the international organization, produced a report that emphasized public debate that served to justify the atrocities in Gaza, despite witnessing them firsthand.

Israel's war in Gaza has killed more than 51,000 people and caused widespread famine. Israeli society's overly normalized acceptance of this violence comes at a time when the nation is sinking deeper into absurdity and its prime minister is undermining the institutions of the state.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Public Service in Budapest during a visit to Hungary. It seems that genocide and being wanted by the International Criminal Court have become criteria for academic titles.

Even more astonishing, Netanyahu attacked the civil service system itself, relying on his father's warning about the power of the "deep state" while standing at an institution specializing in training civil servants.

The term "deep state" is believed to have originated in Turkey in the 1990s to describe a secretive network of generals and high-ranking officials operating outside democratic control. Netanyahu knows very well that Israel does not have a deep state — because it does not need one.

There is no normality in what is happening in Israel today. The idea that the current madness can continue indefinitely is not only unfounded, but also dangerous.

For example, take Israel's three main institutions: the army, the police, and the Supreme Court.

The army is experiencing coups, with many commanders resigning or being removed from their posts after the failures of October 7, 2023. The police services are being disrupted under the influence of the far-right Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir, and the Shin Bet is busy investigating the issue of "Kahanist infiltration."

The Supreme Court, often accused of favoring a leftist or liberal stance, is actually more concerned with defending Israel internationally. Even when faced with key identity issues, such as the controversial law that establishes the supremacy of Jews over Palestinian citizens, the court has sided squarely with the Netanyahu government. It could therefore be called the court that legitimized the seizure of settler land in the occupied West Bank.

Unlike in normal democracies, security figures in Israel are not only respected, but they are also professionally trained in politics. For everyone from Moshe Dayan to Yitzhak Rabin, Ariel Sharon, Shaul Mofaz, Benny Gans, and others, security experience is a direct path to power.

Meanwhile, while Netanyahu has railed against bureaucratic control, his wife and son have been accused of meddling in high-ranking government positions without any legal authority. Both have become polarizing figures — deified by some in the population, and deeply hated by others.

Rejecting soft power

Despite Israel's internal crisis, Netanyahu is determined to pursue his dangerous regional ambitions. He recently returned from a visit to the White House and suggested that Washington consider striking Iran if certain conditions are not met in the US-Iran talks. At the same time, he supports the dismemberment of Syria in a way that suits Israel's strategic interests - as if the Syrians are not masters of their own future.

Netanyahu also continues to talk about a plan to relocate the population of Gaza, even though the Arab world and the international community reject the idea as a dangerous threat to global stability.

Nevertheless, on the streets of Israel, you can find huge billboards of US President Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, which say "Israel is ready to normalize relations with Saudi Arabia."

As much as Netanyahu and many Israelis would like to believe, Israel cannot become a regional hegemon. This is not because its military power is limited; on the contrary, it has considerable power because of the support it enjoys from the United States and the wider West. This is why Israel rejects soft power altogether.

The world's nuclear powers balance hard power with soft power, knowing full well that tanks and sanctions alone cannot control everything. Culture, social change, climate, people - these are also factors that fundamentally shape world politics.

Furthermore, demographics and geography do not give Israel an advantage in the territories it seeks to occupy and the millions of Syrians, Lebanese, and Palestinians it seeks to govern.

Israel's reliance on evil forces is already showing signs of crisis and weakness. The political conflicts between various Israeli factions - especially over the hostage situation - are beginning to affect the army itself, and reservists are now experiencing widespread fatigue. The long-term psychological effects of war on soldiers are a real reality, and the social consequences are already becoming apparent.

Netanyahu's regional "adventures" are not only destabilizing the Middle East, but are also fundamentally fragmenting Israeli society itself.

Abed Abu Shahadeh