For now, it's still Benjamin Netanyahu’s Israel. In 2023, in the immediate aftermath of the country’s worst day of bloodshed in its history, pundits predicted the quick demise of the right wing prime minister. On this the third anniversary of the October Seventh attacks, Israel’s still not reckoned with the security failures on the day, the root causes of the Hamas-led terror attack, the brutal war of vengeance that followed and most of all, Netanyahu’s still prime minister with a fair shot at re-election. Even if the Likud leader’s voted out on October 27th, his most serious general election rivals don't exactly advocate for a radical break when it comes to the Palestinians.
Three years on, there are trigger words, such as ‘genocide’ that make many supporters of Israel either enrage or squirm. Central to the direction Israel takes is another word - Zionism. The UK’s Green Party has now gone so far as to equate it with racism. What did Zionism mean in 1948 when Israel was founded? What does it mean today? And can the concept be compatible with a lasting solution that brings peace to the Middle East?
