What is the endgame of the Israeli government? They've already told us.

Ben Gvir gave an interview this week in which he showed his cards. None of it should come as a surprise. All indicators point to tyranny and the end of democracy in Israel.

What is the endgame of this government? This is what Ben Gvir, our current Minister for National Security, said this week to a religious news outlet:

(Translation mine)

“The ‘reasonableness clause’ is just the tip of the iceberg. It’s the appetizer to build up the appetite. It is not the essence of the legal reform. The reform is about the committee to appoint judges, The Ombudsman Bill, and the override clause. This is just the beginning. We can’t stop here.”

Ben Gvir spells it out. If Ben Gvir gets what he wants, Israel will end up looking like this:

Israel 2030, under Ben Gvir’s Rules

In Ben Gvir's Israel, women are afraid to leave their houses -- for fear of being attacked, stoned, or arrested. Women are no longer allowed to speak in public at government events, they must dress in ways that suit the most religious radical ideas -- maximim body cover. Women's singing has been banned across the country. Women are no longer allowed to work in certain jobs -- busdrivers, taxi drivers, judges, or business owners. Anything they own belongs to their husband -- and don't even try to get divorced. When women divorce, they lose everything.

In Ben Gvir's Israel, Palestinians are attacked, tortured, jailed, and terrified on a daily basis. Thousands are expelled from their homes and left for homeless. Thousands are fired from their jobs for items they post on social media. Hundreds are arrested for walking down the street when a police officer or random citizen decides that they are a threat. Palestinians cannot attend Israeli universities or work in jobs in Israeli institutions unless they swear allegiance to Israel and wear an Israeli flag on their shirts. A Palestinian who has a relative in jail will have their family house is bulldozed and the family left on the street.

In Ben Gvir's Israel, religious rules reign. People can be jailed for carrying non-kosher food, for having crackers in their bags on Passover, or for eating on the street on Tisha B'Av. Non-Orthodox Jews can be jailed for holding mixed prayer groups. Rabbis who conduct non-Orthodox weddings can be jailed. American Jews who have been photographed trying to pray in mixed settings at the kotel are banned from israel -- and if they are caught, they are tortured at the airport before being sent home. Non-kosher food is banned, and anyone caught selling things like pork go to jail for life. And of course women can be jailed for speaking to loud, for singing, for dancing, or for wearing 'immodest' clothes -- as determined by any male passing by. Men regularly call the police to arrest women walking into medical clinics, libraries, or supermarkets wearing clothes deemed "provocative".

In Ben Gvir's Israel, jails are filled with thousands of Palestinians, as well as women, feminists, journalists, LGBT leaders, non-Orthodox Jews -- all held indefinitely without charge and without seeing a lawyer or evidence. The police and the justice system have abandoned all aspects of due process, fair trial, or impartiality. The system is driven by politics -- Ben Gvir's politics.

In Ben Gvir's Israel, leaders of the opposition are also in jail -- Merav Michaeli, Aida Tome Suleiman, even Yair Lapid spent time in jail.

In Ben Gvir's Israel, the media and social media are controlled and contained by the government. Anyone airing or posting anti-government content is sent to prison indefinitely without charge, where they are tortured and never heard from again.

In Ben Gvir's Israel, police do not need any justification when they attack citizens. The police can engage in any violence that they want, and they are protected.

In Ben Gvir's Israel, judges, ministers, governmental directors, mayors -- are all political appointments advancing a radical religious, racist, woman-hating agenda. There is no accountability. There is nobody to talk to.

In Ben Gvir’s Israel, the heroes are religious settlers – especially the ones willing to randomly attack Palestinians, to uproot Palestinians trees, or to randomly take over and build homes onn Palestinian lands. They are given massive budgets, tons of positive media attention, and cushy jobs.

In Ben Gvir’s Israel, budgets go to yeshivahs and settlements. Places like Modiin, Raanana, Kvar Saba are going broke because their taxes are funneled to yeshivahs. Non-religious Jews and Palestinian Israelis cannot afford homes. Affordable housing goes to yeshivot and settlements.

In Ben Gvir’s Israel, Tel Aviv’s secular community has dwindled, replaced by yeshivahs. Palestinians in Yaffo have been mostly evicted. New housing is only built for Yeshiva groups – who spend their days on the boardwalk throwing eggs at beachgoers. Nobody can safely go to the beach anymore.

In Ben Gvir’s Israel, settler violence against Palestinian villages is the norm, celebrated throughout the government. Thousands of Palestinians in the west bank have been killed in random acts of violence, all have them have been officially posthumously labeled “terrorists” – even 3-year-olds and their nursing mothers. Their killers are given stipends, rewards, cushy jobs, and political appointments.

Anyone trying to protest any of this is jailed indefinitely, or worse.

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You think this is unrealistic? It's already started. Many of these things are already happening, as I’ve been writing about. Violence against women, violence against Palestinians, control of the media, political appointments, the erosion of due process, giving more power to the police to arrest citizens, evictions — all of this has already begun and is getting worse. Some of it started even before this government came into power. The “reform” will simply put it all into law — which will be very hard to undo.

Now that this government is pushing forth 140 bills without being moved even a smidgen by the masses of protesters, this is the trajectory we are on. If these protests don’t matter, if Biden is already walking back his comments and inviting Bibi to the White House, then this is where we are headed.

This is the endgame of the people in government in Israel.

What to do now?

I wish I knew

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