Over the last years we had the opportunity to witness a historical shift of Israel’s political architecture, a deliberate reconfiguration from a liberal-democratic state into a hybrid entity marked by increasing theocratic traits. The driver of this change has a name and a face: Benjamin Netanyahu (whose real surname is Mileikowsky) an Ashkenazi Jew (almost atheist) that inserted himself among Sephardim and ultra-Orthodox Jews to remain on the political scene.

The roots of the evolving Israeli political landscape

Netanyahu’s power relies on a large network of alliances with ultra-Orthodox parties (like for instance Shas, United Torah Judaism (now a former ally after having quit the coallition in a dispute over military service) and far-right factions such as Otzma Yehudit. The leader of this party is Itamar Ben Gvir, appointed by Netanyahu as Minister of National Security. Ben Gvir, once marginalized for his far-right views and ties to Kahanist ideology (Zionist ideology based on the views of Rabbi Meir Khane), now plays a prominent role in security policy and has reportedly backed the establishment of a religious-nationalist auxiliary militia under the guise of enhancing internal stability. This unit with an operating budget of roughly $300  million sparked international criticism reflecting the Israeli Prime Minister’s willingness to accept the legitimization of fringe elements in exchange of his political survival. Another decisive moment that marked the shift towards a rightward legal paradigm was on March 29^th when Isreal’ s parliament approved Netanyahu’s judicial reform plan. This latter expands political control over judicial appointments altering the judicial selection committee composition. Replacing two Bar Association seats on the Judicial Selection Committee with government appointees had four serious consequences:

Theocratic tendencies

The increased political control over judicial appointment represents only the tip of the iceberg of Israel’s judicial rehaul. This latter, initiated in early 2023, aims to curb the judiciary’s influence in order to progressively increase religious officiousness into every realm of power. Without taking the risk of getting bogged down amid complicated technicism there is the need to underline two drastic changes carried out under Netanyahu leadership. Firstly, in July 2023, the Knesset (Israeli house of representatives) eliminated the so called “reasonableness standard”. This latter is an essential judicial tool thanks to which the Israeli Supreme Court is able to express its oversight capabilities by blocking governmental decisions deemed as “extremely unreasonable”.  With its removal given the lower level of legal scrutiny executive overreach becomes a widespread occurrence. To this extent I would like to quote  former Supreme Court President Aharon Barak: ““I strongly oppose the bill to abolish or reduce the reasonableness standard, and I am convinced that the proposal… will seriously damage the fundamental values of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state”. Secondly Netanyahu coalition has worked towards the expansion of the authority of rabbinical courts granting in February 2023 the legal authority to arbitrate civil disputes, such as contract disagreements and property claims, given mutual consent of the parties involved. By applying Jewish Halacha (Jewish religious law) these courts are progressively creating a dual track justice system promoting a shift of rabbinical jurisprudence from private religious affairs into the public domain. Secular Israelis or non-Orthodox populations may feel compelled to accept religious adjudication in business or labor disputes to maintain communal ties or real estate deals. Eventually this might undermine pluralistic legal norms and elevate religious legal standards over secular democratic ones. Israel’s “Levantine drift is a phrase that is being increasingly used on social media to describe the country’s perceived move away from Western-style liberal democracy. Recent web data and sentiment analysis of Hebrew-language posts from July 2025 suggest sustained public anxiety. Among trending hashtags are #דמוקרטיה_בסכנה ("democracy at risk") and #מדינה_הלכתית ("halachic state"), with citizens expressing fear over policies that prioritize religious orthodoxy over civic inclusivity.

Netanyahu’s “Pivot”: Instrumental Politics or Ideological Shift?

Franky when faced with questions of this relevance providing a clear-cut answer is not possible. It does not honor the complexity of the theme where a large contingency of anthropological, tactical, historical and political elements blends into a complex network of interrelated dynamics. Keeping this in mind there is valuable evidence and argumentation for both theses. However, I would like to focus on the historical dimension of the Jewish people. From there feel free to draw whether the conclusion makes more sense to you. Thomas Herlz theorized the Zionist movement in 1896 indicating the need of creating a developed state where Jewish people could live only off their work, keeping the rabbis inside the synagogues averting any theocratic tendency. Later, the founders of Israel were Ashkenazi and most importantly laic. When the Sephardim arrived in Israel mainly from Arab countries despite having surnames that did not need any eastern adaptation were ghettoized in tent cities, being treated as immigrants on an inferior class due to their strong religious spirit and the perceived distance with due to respect to the Western heritage of Israel’s founders. With a racist overtone they were called Mizrahim. Over the years the Mizrahim began to emancipate themselves especially after the creation of the Black Panther movement in 1971, claiming revenge over the Ashkenazi group. After the 6 days war, the first Israeli settlements in the West Bank were occupied by the Mizrahim unitedly  the ultra-Orthodox community. These two groups(initially marginalized)  eventually became a demographic bomb (Mizrahim roughly 60%, Haredim 13.6%). Along with the high fertility rate these two groups broadcasted a conservative and religious vision that steadily but deeply infiltrate itself in Israeli social fabric with the ultimate goal to archive the Ashkenazi as the predominant group. Their purpose is to make the religious sphere the core of the whole national life, deliberately abolishing the possibility of the two states and aiming to acquire the totality of the West Bank. This vision assumes the need to break free from any Western-friendly democratic model, that the Jewish population do not (and will never) perceive as their own. The trajectory towards a theocratic model is clear and Bibi Netanyahu has understood this for a long time.  He also knows better that excessive eastern physiognomy might create some issues in the relationship with the USA, its biggest fan and die-hard supporter.