Ilan Pappé on the three pillars that support the Israel project

Israel is not just a state.  Israel is a project.  It is a settler colonial project.  And I do think that we are witnessing the beginning of the end of this project, because it rests on three pillars.  One is material, of coure, and there I agree.  I mean, when you use an index that looks at sustainability of the state according to their material capability, Israel is doing well...  And it does well mainly because of the United States.  So this is a condition that can change.

The second pillar is the social coherence of the settler society.  And we know that this coherence is nonexistent anymore.  There is a bit of an optical illusion because of the Hamas operation on the 7th of October that created a sense of unity.  But it's not going to cover up for the fragmentation of the society that we have seen until the 7th of October.  It seems that social coherence that is based on hatred of the Arabs or Palestinians and doesn't have very much else in common, is not very sustainable.

And more importantly than anything else, of course, there is the legitimacy pillar.  Israel enjoys the legitimacy of Western governments, or governments in the global north.  And therefore, there is a sense that it can still be sustainable because of that support of the elites.  But it has lost support of the civil societies.  And this is why probably it's the only state in the world that lobbies for its existence.  Not for its policies, not for its better economic performance, but for its very moral justification.  And it's losing that battle.

~ Ilan Pappé, "Ilan Pappe on Israel: 'We are witnessing the beginning of the end'," Middle East Eye, December 7, 2023