Israeli Conservatism Has Collapsed

Key Findings:

This op-ed serves as a direct ask to conservatives to denounce the governmental plan at the center of the 2023 revolution in Israel. Although the reform was not helmed by the conservative movement, conservatives are “placing it on a pedestal of conceptual and intellectual depth”. So where they usually show conservative restraint, they are showing revolutionist tendencies, hence the author’s allusion to conservatism’s collapse. 

Israel’s economy prior to the revolution was flourishing, its currency was amongst the strongest in the world, and its high-tech industry highly competitive. Two months of internal turmoil can mean the nation “may be facing a crisis in the near future, as predicted by some 300 of the world’s top economists, including Kohelet Forum’s chief economist”.

Simultaneously, the nation’s status as a democracy is in jeopardy; and so too, its image as a democratic nation. The author argues that this runs the risk of stressing international ties, where relationships are built upon shared values. He argues that ties with the US are of especially great concern given the two countries’ shared democratic values, values that are being diluted in Israel by this reform. “Support for Israel among Democrats has dropped by 11%, so that for the first time a majority of the American ruling party favors Palestinians over us.” In other words, support for Israel is weakening where it matters most. 

Where conservatism has usually implied restraint in policy reform, it is now displaying an opposite set of values by supporting such radical change. The author contrasts this with liberals who tend to be more likely to incite reform with “revolutionary fervor”. The author urges conservatives to return to respect for institutions that have proven their durability, and to their cautious nature, so as to “dampen the self-confidence that justifies this radical change”.