Iran May Exploit Israel Protests Amid Benjamin Netanyahu’s Divisive Judicial Overhaul
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Salma Hossein
- . August 4, 2023
- . Update: August 4, 2023 7:51 pm
As Israelis take to the streets to protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to weaken the judiciary, Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Iran are keenly waiting for the right moment to exploit the situation.
Israel observers believe the country’s enemies have taken to cyber operations to foment disunity in Israeli society, trying to weaken the Jewish nation and tear it from its Arab neighbors. Hamas and Iran may try to take advantage of the US keeping its distance from the Benjamin Netanyahu-led government.
Jason Brodsky, a senior Middle East analyst, in an article for the Middle East Institute, says Iran has attempted to use various cyber tools to sow societal division inside Israel in recent months. He highlighted a recent campaign that utilized Instagram to reveal the personal details of Israel police officers. It became dangerous after Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir fell for the campaign and lashed out at Israeli protesters on his Twitter account for endangering the safety of the police. Later on, Israeli security officials established this as misinformation spread by a foreign state (most likely Iran).
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Cyber campaigns in Israel have intensified after reserve officers in the IDF’s cyber intelligence Unit 8200 went on strike against the government’s judicial reform. This presents as a golden opportunity for Israel’s enemy states, especially the Axis of Resistance, to take advantage.
However, Shikma Bressler, a particle physicist who has become the face of the protests, believes Netanyahu’s judicial overhaul is an effort to erode Israel’s democracy. Protesters worry that this could lead to a dictatorship. In an interview with New York Times, Bressler said Israel is at a historical crossroads. “From here, there is no going back, we can only take one of the two ways forward. We can either fall into a very dark, extreme, racist place where the Israel that we know, in all its social and economic aspects, will be destroyed. Or we can build a new stronger, better democracy for the good of all people.”
The protesters want to preserve a more pluralist and liberal Israel, where there is no hierarchical or formal leadership. Protests are all over Israel, at over a 100 locations.
