The USA and Israel are assessed against ten defining characteristics of fascism, revealing disturbing similarities and critical differences, writes Dr Mark Diesendorf.
TO ENGAGE in a serious discussion of this issue, we need a clear definition of fascism. But concise dictionary-type definitions fail to distinguish fascism from ruthless dictatorships.
Does fascism have characteristics that permit us to identify, say, Italian fascism under Mussolini with German fascism under Hitler, despite some differences, and to compare degrees of fascism between countries?
Historian and author Rutger Bregman has proposed ten characteristics of a fascist state (see below), based on his knowledge of Nazi Germany. In a clear, concise video, Bregman makes a clinical diagnosis, finding that the United States under President Trump satisfies all ten characteristics of a fascist state, like the former Nazi Germany.
There is little debate among serious scholars that, since its foundation in 1948, Israel has been conducting settler colonialism, ethnic cleansing, apartheid (in the West Bank) and crimes against humanity. Recently, most genocide experts, United Nations Special Rapporteurs, community-based aid organisations and even two Israeli human rights organisations have added genocide to that terrible list. But is the term “fascism” appropriate for Israel?
Accompanying the controversial “working definition” of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) is the statement:
‘...criticism of Israel similar to that levelled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic.’
In the present article, ‘any other country’ is chosen to be the United States. This article analyses the extent to which Israel has become a fascist state by applying to Israel the same ten characteristics of fascism that Bregman applies to the USA. Hence this analysis cannot be credibly labelled “antisemitic” according to the IHRA viewpoint.
How far has Israel “progressed” through Bregman’s ten characteristics of fascism?
1. Mythic past
Like Nazi Germany (the Master Race) and the United States (Make America Great Again), Israeli leaders evoke a mythic past, in this case Israel and the Jewish people as “chosen by God”. However, there is a long-standing debate within Judaism over the meaning, interpretation and the contemporary relevance of the idea that the Jewish people are “chosen”.
Furthermore, the Zionist claim that Jews have a historical right to Palestine is controversial among historians, political philosophers and scholars of international law.
2. Victimhood and revenge
Building on the real neglect of the working classes, Trump has invented a victimhood for White, male, straight, uneducated Americans, thus permitting them to seek revenge through acts of violence, such as the storming of the Capitol on 6 January 2021.
The mistreatment and suffering of the Jews over millennia is real and well documented, forming the basis for the notion that Israel is forever the victim and may now seek cruel revenge by any means possible.
3. Hierarchy
Trump treats white Americans as superior and calls migrants “animals... poisoning the blood of the nation”. Many Jewish Zionists see themselves as a people chosen by God, while Israel, like the USA, considers itself above international law. Some Israeli politicians call Palestinians “animals”.
4. Worshipping strength; contempt for weakness
This characteristic is shared by Nazi Germany, the USA post-World War II and Israel. All have initiated wars. All reject(ed) international law. Internally too, all three have practised a form of apartheid.
5. Cult of action replacing democracy
Fascists believe democratic processes are weak and slow. Nazi Germany and Trump’s USA replaced democracy with subservience to the executive government. Trump encouraged the insurrection of 6 January 2021. The Government of Israel is attacking one of the roots of democracy: despite 29 weeks of protest, in 2023 it passed legislation that’s the first step in making the judiciary legally subservient to the executive.
6. The Great Leader and saviour
Both Hitler and, for a large fraction of the U.S. population, Trump play this role. However, two-thirds of Israelis want Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to leave politics. Unlike Trump, he is not a Great Leader.
7. Purification of institutions
Loyalty to the Leader overrides democratic institutions, which must be purified by dismantling government agencies and removing individuals who are potentially suspect from remaining agencies. While this was/is the norm in Nazi Germany and Trump’s USA, in Israel only a few individuals (such as schoolteachers) have been fired for opposing government policies.
Huge demonstrations against the Government have been permitted provided they don’t block traffic. But protests by Arab Israeli citizens have been treated harshly.
8. Propaganda and lies
While most mass media in Israel, the USA and Australia reproduce Israeli and U.S. government propaganda on Palestine, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz has somehow managed to continue as a beacon of responsible journalism.
Nevertheless, Israel operates a huge, well-funded propaganda campaign both internally and internationally. It has been successful in removing “hostile” U.S. Representatives and Senators. Another propaganda success was disseminating the unsubstantiated (also see here) claims that on 7 October 2023 Hamas beheaded babies and conducted systematic rape (although there is indirect evidence of sexual assaults).
9. Merger of state and corporate power
In the USA, the strength of the military-industrial complex has grown rapidly since President Eisenhower invented the term and has captured the state. The Israeli Government has close relations with private companies, especially for weapons, cybersecurity and surveillance.
10. Violence and terror
In the USA, masked agents of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.) agency kidnap and occasionally murder people with impunity. The Israel Defence Forces, supported by the Israeli Government, targets Palestinian civilians and civilian infrastructure (see also here and here) – hospitals, refugee camps, schools, universities, energy and water supplies, and sewerage plants – with missiles, bombs, artillery and sniper fire. It tortures prisoners.
These methods are directed against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, and against neighbouring Lebanon, Syria and Iran. Assassinations of political leaders and “enemy” scientists are standard tactics.
Discussion
Unlike the USA, which satisfies all ten of Bregman’s characteristics of fascism, Israel satisfies six characteristics (numbers one, two, three, four, eight and ten) and partially satisfies two others (numbers five and nine). Fortunately, Israel lacks a Great (fascist) Leader and has not yet “purified” its institutions, although its government is gaining power over the judiciary.
This suggests it may not be too late for the growing numbers of Israelis who oppose their government’s policies and illegal actions, supported by external pressure, to step back from fascism and its behaviour as a rogue state.
Dr Mark Diesendorf is Honorary Associate Professor of Environment and Society at UNSW Sydney and author with Rod Taylor of 'The Path to a Sustainable Civilisation' (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024).
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License
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