In shadow of war, Israel starts to return to normal
The fraught mood that characterized Israeli society since the abduction of the three teens and throughout this war seems to be dying down, with Jews returning to the Arab towns and social media interactions becoming more moderate again.
What kind of Israeli society will we find once the war is over? What will it look like? Will it be as tough and intolerant as it appeared during the long weeks of fighting? Will the freedom to criticize government policies go back to what it was before the war? Or maybe society will adopt the new codes that emerged during the campaign, when the public was expected to bite its tongue as long as fighting was going on. And what will the political constellation look like on “the day after”? Will the right manage to turn the support it received during the war into an electoral sweep in the next elections? And then there’s the left. Will it manage to rouse itself from its wartime hibernation?
While the war may still be going on, a certain calm that has begun to permeate the public mood is already noticeable. Even though the cease-fire has already collapsed, and rocket fire from Gaza has started again, there is a feeling that life is returning to normal. The aggressive mood has died down, the waves of racism have begun to dissipate and unrestrained responses on social media have already become more moderate. All in all, the dialogue has calmed down, and the ideological debate between right and left is almost back on track again.
