[Opinion. How can anybody want this for their society, their communities, their children. It’s sociopathic.]

How hypermilitarism pervades everyday life in Israel

From the sacred to the mundane, military imagery suffuses the Israeli public sphere — shaping our imagination, desires, and collective identity.

Nissi Peli

+972 Mag: 10 April 2026

Contemporary Israeli society is characterized by hypermilitarism. This form of militarism is not merely a political philosophy: it is a state of being that fundamentally structures the self, shaping our imagination, thoughts, desires, relationships, and sense of our collective as Israelis. Almost everything is perceived and understood in military terms, values, and imagery, while a permanent state of emergency and war become the natural order.

A 2018 ad for Ichilov’s Lis Maternity and Women’s Hospital featuring an illustration of a saluting baby wearing an army beret, accompanied by the text: “Recipient of the President’s Award of Excellence for the year 2038 (will probably be born at Lis).” This award, one of Israel’s most prestigious military honors, is presented annually to 120 IDF soldiers. (Screenshot)

Right: A 2022 campaign by non-profit “A Real Israeli Doesn’t Evade.” The word Mishtamet (draft evader) has a unique derogatory connotation in Hebrew. The campaign’s poster shows an elderly person’s hand marked with an Auschwitz tattoo, clutching a military dog tag, alongside the text: “Know where you came from and where you are going.”

This ideology spans the Israeli spectrum from the spiritual and theological militarism of hilltop youth and religious settlers, to the secular, liberal militarism that is prominent among the Israeli bourgeoisie. At almost any point in life, Israelis see themselves and those around them through a military lens: as soldiers-to-be (as pre-service youth, and later as potential reservists), active-duty soldiers, or former soldiers.

Even those who do not enlist, or who are exempted from reserve service later in life, are perceived in relation to the army and are treated as outcasts by the majority of Israeli society. Conscientious objectors face not only jail time, but regular hostility and incitement, while politicians across the political spectrum occasionally threaten to strip civil rights from those who refuse to “share the burden.”

Much has already been said about the sociology of militarism in Israel: how high-ranking military officials regularly go on to become successful politicians, how journalists receive their training in military media units; how cafés and bars and trains are crowded with armored soldiers and civilians, and how the education system participates in militaristic indoctrination and the army’s recruitment efforts. What often goes under the radar, however, is the way that militarism permeates everyday life in Israel in its more banal forms — a phenomenology of the militarized everyday. 

Indeed, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted as much in September, when he argued that Israel must become a “super-Sparta,” securing economic self-reliance and expanding domestic arms production to deal with the country’s growing “diplomatic isolation.”

Only by dismantling this ideology — especially the myth that Zionist militarism secures, rather threatens, Jewish safety — can we begin to move towards a different, more just and prosperous future for both Jews and Palestinians. 

Some might say that they have no choice but to be constantly on alert. As they are surrounded by millions that want them gone or pushed into the sea. The whole thing seems a little crazy over such a small strip of land.

20 hours ago, how241 said:

The whole thing seems a little crazy over such a small strip of land. amount of water

There FTFY