Zionism is facing its most serious crisis since Israel’s creation. The ideology that spurred European Jews to mobilise for a Jewish state now faces the limitations of its credibility in a world that values democratic and non-discriminatory principles. The circle of critics and those willing to pull back from unequivocal support for the Jewish state range from the political to the football field, from music concerts to mass mobilisations across time zones and language groups.
The latest Israeli election is seen as a desperate opportunity for Zionism to save itself from the excesses of its isolated leaders.
The political cost of supporting Israel unequivocally even had US President Donald Trump ruling the consequences.
He said, “It’s a bad talking point.” He even suggested further financial aid to Israel would be stopped. He had timed his stunning statement just as polls were opening for the recently held mid-term elections in the US. The electorate of the country on which Israel depends for its diplomatic, military and financial support voted resoundingly against Trumpian politics. From posh campuses to buzzing counting centres, the vote was a veto.
Earlier, both 2026–27 UEFA Nations League group-stage matches between the Republic of Ireland and Israel were moved to neutral venues due to security concerns. While one match took place in early October, the other took place in late September. Then there was the unprecedented spectacle of Irish players with black armbands, heads bowed while the Israeli national anthem played, and finally skipping the customary pre-match handshakes.
The drama was played out well beyond the football pitches.
Earlier in the summer, similar sentiments were on display at sold-out music concerts, on both sides of the Atlantic. Such feelings were replicated in enormous street marches.
‘Isreal exceptionally dangerous’
The American reluctance to march against Israeli policies has been jettisoned in recent years as global audiences and social media imagery brought home ample doses of excesses committed in the name of security. In fact, mobilisation has been demonstrated on Capitol Hill as well, with civil rights groups lobbying American lawmakers against deepening defence ties with Israel.
In September, 56 groups had issued a letter to the leaders of the US House and Senate Armed Services Committees.
“At a time in which American interests are increasingly diverging from those of Israel, and American public opinion is turning increasingly against unconditional support for Israel, creating new points of influence for Israel in the US defence-technology ecosystem is exceptionally dangerous,” states the letter.
This sharp division over Israel is in fact a replica of fissures within the Jewish state as to the direction it is headed and should go. The global drop in support, or even empathy, for Israel is largely on account of the leadership style of outgoing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Following the surprise Yom Kippur attack of 7 October 2023, the conduct of the war on Hamas and its attacking allies in Gaza has been discussed and commented upon ad nauseam worldwide. Even as it deeply divided Israel, the application of disproportionate force retains its reverberating impact across the West.
Also read: Israel’s 100 shades of racism are on display in its election
A crisis moment for Netanyahu
West is, of course, where Zionism began, both as a social as well as a political movement. And the West is where support matters for Israel, a settler state like many countries in the New World. Additionally, the West is where most of the leadership of Israel has come from, until the 28 October elections.
Although Netanyahu’s electoral bloc emerged the largest, it falls short of a majority, and those not in the bloc are not willing to touch it.
Gadi Eisenkot’s greatest appeal at the ballot box comes down to one simple truth: he isn’t Benjamin Netanyahu.
Eisenkot will be Israel’s first non-European Prime Minister in a country with a non-Western majority. Historically, the largest number of Jews resided in Arab and Muslim majority lands, with a sprinkling in countries like India. These communities predate European Jewry and outnumbered them too.
Loosely, sociologically and linguistically, these communities have come to be called Mizrahi, or easterner. A word that came to be coined after the formation of Israel, ie Zionist Orientalism.
Israeli television host Yinon Magal, a prominent ally of Benjamin Netanyahu, sparked controversy by calling Eisenkot a “monkey” of “Mizrahi-Moroccan” heritage being managed by “Ashkenazi elites.”
Eisenkot has a month to be the first non-Ashkenazi Prime Minister of Israel. The crisis of Zionism is also very much within Israel, as such blatantly racist remarks reflect. And now they’re compounded by the fact that forming a non-Netanyahu government requires at least the explicit or tacit support of 19 Arabic-speaking members elected to Israel’s Knesset.
Even though Netanyahu is not acceptable to a majority of members, he tried to rally them around forming a national unity government to keep Arab members from influencing the government. Arab votes for a Zionist government are indeed a 2026 crisis moment.
Manvendra Singh is a BJP leader, Editor-in-Chief of Defence & Security Alert and Chairman, Soldier Welfare Advisory Committee, Rajasthan. He tweets @ManvendraJasol. Views are personal.
(Edited by Saptak Datta)
Trust our diplomacy is observing unfolding events carefully. A lot has been invested in the relationship with Israel. I2 U2. At the cost of discarding the traditional, prudent balanced maintained amongst all important states West Asia. The February attacks and their aftermath have hurt the Indian economy. India’s approach to Israel and all that it has done in the subsequent to the 7th October attacks is at variance with the consensus in Global South.