Image by Getty and Unsplash .

The phrase “civil war” is one of the most dominant terms used by Israeli politicians today. What began as a mere warning from Israeli President Isaac Herzog is now an accepted possibility for much of Israel’s mainstream political society.

“(Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu is ready to sacrifice everything for his survival, and we are closer to a civil war than people realize,” former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert stated in an interview with The New York Times on March 24.

The assumption is that the feared civil war reflects the political polarization in Israel: two groups divided by strong views on war, the role of government, the judiciary, budget allocations, and other issues.

However, this assumption is not entirely accurate. Nations can be divided along political lines, but mass protests and security crackdowns do not necessarily indicate that a civil war is imminent.

In Israel’s case, however, references to civil war stem from its historical context and social-ethnic makeup.

An important but largely concealed CIA report, titled “Israel: The Sephardi-Ashkenazi Confrontation and Its Implications” is almost prophetic in its ability to detail future scenarios for a country with deep socio-economic and, therefore, political divisions.

The report was prepared in 1982, but was only released in 2007. It followed the 1981 elections, when the Likud Party, led by Menachem Begin, won 48 seats in the Knesset, and Labor’s Shimon Peres won 47 seats.

Ashkenazi........

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