In the last few weeks, despite the impressive military success of both the Israel Air Force and intelligence, and the massive American armada and accompanying military forces fighting in Iran, there is a growing sense of despondency, and even depression, among various sections of the Israeli population.
There are those whose cause of distress is the unending missile and rocket attacks, from Iran, Hezbollah, and recently the Houthis in Yemen (which our authorities keep arguing are gradually decreasing in numbers – but the facts prove otherwise), and the resulting loss of life, injuries, and physical damage and destruction.
The state authorities and coalition members seem to be increasingly apathetic in emotional terms, and unresponsive (or stingy) in financial terms. If you happen to live along Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, the situation seems much worse, as demonstrated in the emotional outcries last week by Kiryat Shmona Likud Mayor Avichai Stern, and Eitan Davidi, chairperson of Moshav Margaliot.
But the frustrations of the current stage of our unending war are not the only cause of the despondency and depression. There is already an accumulation of causes – each emotionally loaded for its own reasons.
For example, there are those who are paying an exorbitant price, in economic terms and marital difficulties, because of the unending military reserve duty (there are men, and even women, who have already served over 700 days since the Hamas invasion and mega-atrocities on October 7, 2023). Although IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir keeps expressing dismay at the massive shortage of manpower in the IDF to perform all the necessary tasks of the evolving situation – which is the main, if not the only cause of the over-dependence on reservists – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is playing every trick in the political game to keep the haredi parties in his coalition, by exempting all the haredi men of military service age from such service.
Despondency and depression have also been caused by the fact that, despite its many spectacular military operations, the government does not seem to understand that such operations do not necessarily result in victory.
Throughout the various operations, Netanyahu has repeatedly declared that we are but a step away from a total victory, yet this victory seems to evade us, indicating that something is missing. Perhaps it is the absence of diplomatic and political efforts, in addition to military means, to attain stable, realistic goals.
Supposedly, US President Donald Trump is portraying such a path – but not really. Regarding Iran, Trump’s alleged diplomatic efforts are viewed either as a tactic to gain time toward a broader military operation, or as a sloppy move to end the war abruptly, without obtaining a victory. The latter scenario would be prompted by political problems at home, and widespread opposition to the war and its effect on the approaching US mid-term elections.
Israel's ongoing 'constitutional reforms'
There is another cause for despondency and depression, which is not directly connected to the war itself. Despite the ongoing war, and the hardships that it entails, the coalition, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s full support, is continuing to push forward the “constitutional reform” – the plan to break down Israel’s liberal democracy (as the opposition claims), despite the war against Iran.
The coalition is doing so by means of legislation, and anti-democratic moves by Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir, and Bezalel Smotrich, the finance minister who is also an additional minister in the Defense Ministry, in charge of the Settlement Administration in Judea and Samaria, who does not hide his wish to eventually annex all of Judea and Samaria.
It has been said that most of the 220,000 Israelis who have left the country since Israel’s 37th government was elected at the end of 2022 have done so for one or more of these reasons.
Of course, it is not the entire population that is despondent or depressed. There are those who support the government full-heartedly, and believe that Netanyahu and his government know exactly what they are doing. They might occasionally be troubled by the frequent need to run to safe rooms or air-raid shelters with insufficient prior warning, or the scarcity, or total absence, of such rooms and shelters. But they maintain that much this is simply untrue, or exaggerated, and that there is no reason to fret.
There are members of the religious community – both national religious and haredi – who believe that whatever happens is the will of God, and that the leaders of the world are His emissaries, whose leadership is a tool for achieving divine goals, even if this does not always appear to be the case. In accordance with this approach, the whole notion of despondency and depression due to events in the course of the war is unjustified.
One group suffering quite strongly from despondency and depression due to the situation are senior citizens, like me, in their 70s, 80s, and even 90s; mainly Ashkenazim who identify as left-wingers or centrists. They are not only worried that the Israel they participated in building, shaping, and maintaining, is going down the drain, but, as one childhood friend said, “I fear we are heading in the direction of World War III.”
The reason this age group is particularly vulnerable is that many of its members feel relatively useless under the circumstances. Even participation in peaceful demonstrations is dangerous these days, when police violence against demonstrators does not spare senior citizens.
Of course, only the future will tell whether the fears that cause the despondency and depression were justified or exaggerated. Hopefully, the results of the next general elections, to be held later this year, will end the war being fought on many fronts, under more optimal conditions than those that currently seem available.
In addition, hopefully Israel’s liberal democracy will survive, through efforts to introduce certain reforms, by broad agreement, that will make the system more palatable to wider sections of the population. This would be undoubtedly desirable.
The writer has written journalistic and academic articles, as well as several books, on international relations, Zionism, Israeli politics, and parliamentarism. From 1994-2010, she worked in the Knesset Library and the Knesset Research and Information Center.