בין קפלן לחווארה: השבר המשטרי ותפקיד החברה הצבאית בהגנה על הדמוקרטיה

Why is it the army that stands up against the coup d’état in Israel? And why do the protesting citizens ignore the military rule of the Palestinians? The article analyzes the interests of the army in preserving the distinction between its' sovereign rule in the Occupied Territories, and the democratic regime within the1967 borders. It also reveals the existence of a “military society”, which mobilizes the protest movement to protect the interests of the IDF. The article shows how the pogrom in Hawara expressed the army’s loss of control over the zealot settlers, and expanded the protests against the government, including threats of refusal, despite the fact that the event itself was marginalized and forgotten. The analysis of the sequence of events that halted the legislative overhaul in March suggests a close connection between the protests and the demonstrators’ awareness of the dangers to the existent regime if the government succeeds in erasing the 1967 border.The concept of a military society is presented here as a political, contingent, and dynamic concept aiming to explain the mechanism of democratic influence of the military on Israeli politics. Also, the awakening of civil society is described as a dynamic and contingent political phenomenon, which indeed grows in the shadow of the dominant security discourse, but is expected to face civil challenges in the future, including the need to expand the issues of the struggle and to include groups currently excluded, including the Palestinians.