The consequences of Israel’s brutal war on Gaza extend far beyond the devastation inflicted on Palestinians. Internally, Israeli society itself is suffering from deep and compounding trauma. As political, social, and security crises mount, the state appears to be teetering on the edge of internal collapse, raising serious doubts about its ability to regain balance in the foreseeable future.
Ami Bachar, a forensic investigator specialising in hazardous materials, warned that this critical phase in Israeli society is a point of consensus: “From the far-right to the far-left, from the east to the north—everyone agrees: Israel is unraveling.” In his article published on Zman Israel (translated by Arabi21), he paints a grim portrait of a fractured society: “This entity called ‘Israel’ has split biologically, genetically, environmentally. Every part now needs its own specialist nurse. Healing is only possible through re-integration—but that seems out of reach.”
Bachar continues: “I don’t even know how to count the cellular factions in Israel anymore: the Haredim, the Kahanists, the liberals. It’s as if we’ve become a mass of independent cells disconnected from the body. Instead of functioning as a united organism, these cells are attacking one another. Each sector is now in combat with the other.”
He likens Israelis to confused lymphocytes—immune cells that no longer distinguish between self and foreign: “They now attack anything that doesn’t perfectly reflect their identity. They release mechanisms of hatred that inflame chronic inflammation in every corner of this suffering body.”
Attempting to restore unity now, he argues, is doomed to fail. “The cancerous cells have gone out of control. They spread chaotically and irrationally. Every barrier is built with blood and sweat. Every selfish gene codes enmity towards its neighbours—and that hostility is inherited like a sacred curse. Israelis, trapped in these divisions, are now looking for any front to stab with a knife or shoot with a bullet.”
In a chilling conclusion, Bachar warns of a self-inflicted civil war of the immune system: “It will break bones, shatter lungs, and choke the heart. I never imagined that an auto-immune disease would be the defining image of Israel. But it is. And I don’t believe it will survive in time.”
He closes with a damning reflection on Israeli society: “Israeli children will witness this natural death unfold. Instead of coming together to heal their internal wounds, Israelis chose separation—deepening the divide. They’ve become a failed society, watching in apathy and deafness as their immune system collapses. Rather than seek a cure, they continue to feed the disease.”
