ما الخطأ الذي حصل في إسرائيل؟

The book What Went Wrong in Israel? by Omer Bartov seeks to explain what he sees as a state of widespread indifference within Israeli society towards the suffering of the Palestinians, due to a shift in Zionism Because of the Holocaust from a theoretical idea to a political necessity. But the decisive turning point came, in the writer’s view, after the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, as the leadership at that time chose not to establish fundamental democratic foundations, such as drawing up an official constitution or clearly defining borders, and did not seek true reconciliation with the Palestinians who were displaced. In this regard, Bartov says, “When a state decides that it will no longer be a normal state, its nature changes,” considering that this marked the beginning of the shift towards what he calls “settler colonialism” and “ethnic nationalism.” The article highlights Bartov's personal and intellectual background, which lends weight to his criticism. He is the son of Zionist parents who participated in the 1948 war, and he himself served as an officer in the [army] Israeli](https://www.ajnet.me/encyclopedia/2024/10/9/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D9%8A%D8%B4-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A5%D8%B3%D8%B1%D8 %A7%D8%A6%D9%8A%D9%84%D9%8A-%D9%85%D9%86-%D8%B9%D8%B5%D8%A7% D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%B5%D9%87%D9%8A%D9%88%D9%86%D9%8A%D8%A9) He worked in the West Bank, Gaza, and Sinai, before becoming one of the most prominent researchers in the Holocaust and its ideology [Nazi](https://www.ajnet.me/encyclopedia/2016/6/7/%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%B2%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D 8%B9%D8%B1%D9%82-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A2%D8%B1%D9%8A-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D9%82%D9%85%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%87%D8%B1%D9%85 And historical memory. This experience lies behind his criticism of the use of Holocaust memory in Israeli political discourse, as he believes that it has sometimes turned into a huge “fig leaf” that feeds “a feeling of victimhood, vanity, and the euphoria of power.” Bartov admits that he is "strongly and categorically opposed to Zionism as it is practiced today in Israel." At the same time, the article points out that some critics, especially Palestinian researchers, believe that its analysis does not go far enough, considering that the problems it describes were inherent from the beginning.