I feel that violence is invading more and more of our lives, not just in our struggle against external enemies, but here inside where we live. I am more worried about Israel than I have ever been in the 50 years since my aliya, not least because I don’t know what to do about it. I used to believe I had all the answers and now I’m just trying to ask the right questions.

Some people urge me not to take everything so much to heart, not to see connections which may exist only in my imagination, not to be so fixated on the news and upset by its content, not to romanticize past periods and not to fantasize about their superiority to the present. Is this just about getting older, grouchier, more pessimistic and cynical?

I wish it were, but don’t think so. I can’t prove my dot-connecting in what follows, but am convinced that the coincidences and parallels are compelling, and that you have to be willfully blind to deny them.

Is this an expression of the pressure of living under constant threat, surrounded by antagonists who really mean us harm, who object not only to our policies but to our very existence? That is an undeniable influence, but I don’t believe it is the pivotal one. Consider this, for example: despite the exceptionally large number of weapons in the hands of so many citizens, the number of shootings within Israeli society is relatively small, especially in comparison to the US or even Canada. Domestic violence is hardly unknown, to be sure, and we see more violence against women and children than we used to – or am I imagining that? Much more, I’m pretty sure, with vastly inadequate social services and safety nets to address it.

Our Zionist forbears wanted to “normalize” the condition of the Jewish people, which included among other things Jewish criminals and a Jewish underworld which becomes increasingly obtrusive and less restrained in its crimes. And they are outdone by the criminals in Arab Israeli society, who have generated a reign of terror with more than one murder a day so far in 2026! Tough luck for bystanders caught in the crossfire, literally.

The Israel police are not so much ineffective in countering this as they are intentionally negligent, led as they are by far-right politicians who scarcely bother to conceal their unconcern about Arabs killing other Arabs. And this in its turn provides a classic example of the erosion of social norms like the primacy of the law and equality before the law by a government whose priority is self-perpetuation at any cost. All societies have corruption, it seems, but Israel has more than its share, sapping the motivation of ordinary people to value civic morality. The political sources are flagrant enough, but old-fashioned theft and extortion are rampant, especially at the municipal level.

What goes on in the West Bank is, in my view, a significant input into daily Israeli life. For years, armed, brutal settlers have been harassing Palestinian civilians in an ongoing crusade to force them off the land, out of their villages, and altogether out of Palestine. They benefit from the cover provided by shameless politicians and even – I am devastated to admit – all too often by the IDF. The attempt to pass this off as the insignificant actions of a tiny minority of over-active, dysfunctional youths – is a transparent lie. Anyone who imagines that this wanton, lethal violence is hermetically sealed inside the West Bank and does not seep back into behavioural norms in the rest of Israel – is deceiving either themselves and/or others. It is full-throated ethnic cleansing and national persecution, which sabotages Israel’s legitimate self-defense narrative and moral pretensions.

The rule of law is the most basic principle that protects citizens from government abuse in a democracy. That principle is being systematically eroded, in the West Bank, in the Government’s continuing attacks on the judicial system and its ability to serve as a check and balance on its power, which is so much the heart of the matter. The consequences are all around us, and pushing Israeli society closer to chaos. May I offer a few examples?

Try driving a car in Israel. The sheer aggressiveness and barely-repressed violence of Israeli driving norms give us a horrifying rate of traffic casualties. Relax at a soccer game, if you dare. The “soccer hooligan” phenomenon thrives in Israel, on steroids. Check out the Israeli educational system. Beyond the acute shortage of teachers and steady deterioration of educational standards (except for the small high-achiever elite), the indiscipline of Israeli schools is legendary and often results in violent incidents between students and includes attacks on teachers. Need some medical attention? Israeli hospitals have to employ security personnel to protect medical staff from attacks by outraged, frustrated patients.

And then there are our haredi fellow-Jews, the ones who proudly trample the basic social contract between a state and its citizens, and disdain equality before the law in refusing to participate in defending the country, while at the same time demanding and receiving ever-greater portions of the public purse. Their entire rabbinical and political leaderships oppose the draft. Sure, it is only a small, extremist minority who attack police and riot, but they are unrestrained by their silent majority. How can this NOT be massively demoralizing to the rest of society?

It is not just the rabbinical leaders who are bankrupt, it is also most of the rest of our political leaders, who represent faithfully the gradual breakdown of law and order and even the ability to disagree civilly. The anger and sheer hatred in our public discourse infects the Knesset, our mass media, our social media, everything. When citizens exercise their democratic right to protest, more often than not they wind up preventing other citizens from living their lives by blocking main roads, and this is true right across the political spectrum! No doubt readers can add examples of their own.

We are melting down and have to find a path to social sanity and accommodation before it is too late. I am crying gevalt! I have no magic formula for how to fix it, nor how to get our leaders to lead responsibly. This is really critical, because we are losing it! That is not a luxury Israel can afford. The stakes are only everything.

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)