Not only Netanyahu: How the systems that made us one nation are collapsing

Nir Kipnis analyzes the disintegration of Israel's social fabric: the IDF has ceased to be a melting pot, academia is distancing itself from weaker strata, and political polarization deepens despite ideological convergence in the mainstream. The article points to politicians as inciters of hatred and to separate memorial ceremonies for October 7 as symbols of the rift.

In his column, Nir Kipnis analyzes the disintegration of Israel's social fabric, focusing on four central systems: the IDF, academia, housing, and politics. He argues that the IDF has ceased to be a 'people's army' with enlistment rates below 50%, and that advanced selection and placement processes have eroded the melting pot. Academia, he says, has become the domain of the upper-middle class, while private colleges absorb those with lower scores. The article notes that shared space has shrunk: separate schools, separate military units, separate career tracks. Despite ideological convergence in the non-Haredi Jewish mainstream (the center holds about 65 seats), polarization appears extreme, especially against the backdrop of two separate memorial ceremonies for the events of October 7. Kipnis attributes the radicalization to politicians 'hungry for power and money' who stoke hatred, and provides concrete examples: the belief that Hamas won in cooperation with the security establishment, and the belief that Netanyahu is responsible for the attempted hijacking of a Flydubai flight.