A State That Does Not Control the Monopoly on Violence Will Die

Uzi Ben Nun argues that Israel's loss of control over the events in Khusra is not a conspiracy but a concession by parts of the right to institutional change in favor of dismantling the monopoly on violence. He cites Hobbes and Burnham to warn that a state that does not control the monopoly on violence will die, and warns against militia-like organizations that dismantle the state's foundation.

In an opinion column on Ynet, Uzi Ben Nun addresses the events in Khusra in the West Bank, where groups of Jewish rioters operate against Palestinian homes. He rejects the claim that this is a conspiracy or deliberate cooperation by the state, and argues that the problem is deeper: a concession by parts of the Israeli right to institutional change in favor of dismantling the state's monopoly on violence and power. He cites Hobbes, according to whom the state should be a 'Leviathan' that maintains law and order, and warns that a state that does not control the monopoly on violence will die. He mentions James Burnham, a conservative thinker who showed that the engine of liberty is a balanced institutional struggle, and that the end of the state begins when the struggle turns into disintegration in favor of militias. He calls on the state to fulfill its most significant role: to maintain the monopoly on violence and dismantle any group that challenges it.