Israel and MAGA: Deep State Coups to Destroy Democracy

There are two parallel coups happening in the US and Israel.  In the US it is a deep state coup seeking to destroy constitutional and institutional foundations of American democracy. Christian nationalism and oligarchal capitalism are the engines of the process.

In Israel, the far-right coup is funded by the Tikvah Fund (IRS 990), a US Jewish foundation with $90-million in assets headed by Elliot Abrams and funded by among others, multi-billionaire, Miriam Adelson ($3-million). Besides Abram’s conviction for lying to Congress during Irangate, Abrams was the State Department official who urged Mahmoud Abbas to launch a (failed) coup against Hamas after it won the 2006 legislative elections. Trump named him special envoy to Venezuela before he overthrew the Maduro government there.  Abrams is a long-time champion of regime change, which includes Iran.

The US fundraising affiliate for the Israeli programs, with a suitable libertarian name, is American Friends of Israeli Liberty. It’s IRS 990 form shows that it has $5-million in assets. It is the US affiliate for a similarly named Israeli entity, the Herut: the Center for Israeli Liberty. On its website, it endorses a principle it calls “Jewish exceptionalism.”  Actually a stand-in for Zionist exceptionalism.

Through another Israeli subsidiary, the Kohelet Policy Forum, it sought unsuccessfully to destroy the Israeli judicary in a process dubbed by Israelis as the “judicial coup.” Other groups discussed here are engineering the takeover of the Israeli military and intelligence sectors. Under this rubric, Tikvah funds multiple think tanks and publishing houses.  It also recruits and trains promising young people. Then places them in positions in of influence: the judiciary, army, Shin Bet, police, etc.

They are figures with extreme Kahanist views seeking the elimination of Palestinians through genocidal violence or ethnic cleansing. Within Israeli itself, the ultimate goal is to destroy the secular state and replace it with a theocratic state, employing religion to advance political objectives. These were also cherished goals of of Meir Kahane himself.  They include Israeli expansionism, and wars of aggression against frontline neighbors, including those with whom it is at peace (Jordan, Egypt).  It envisions a return to the Biblical Davidic kingdom of expanded influence and borders (see below):  religion as fuel for political revolution.

An official of Tikvah’s Israeli affiliate offered a Biblical vision of Israeli expansionism:

Drawing on the example of Solomon’s kingdom, he explained why peace is not a strategic goal. He quoted from the Book of Kings: “And Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines and the border of Egypt. They brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life. … For he ruled over all the territory west of the Euphrates, from Tiphsah to Gaza, over all the kings west of the river. And he had peace on every side.”

He added that Zionism was an “expression of biblical nationalism and biblical political entities. We’re part of a long historical movement.”  Tell that to the atheists, secularists and apikorsim who founded the Zionist movement. It is ironic that Zionism has been transformed from a devoutly secular national movement of the late 19th century into a Biblical theocratic kingdom.

It is astonishing (though it shouldn’t be) that someone with such a vision for nation-state should base it on a book of dubious historical accuracy, which the Israeli zealots view as divinely-inspired.  According to this narrative, Jehovah is a warrior God, who carries the Israelite banner aloft into battle with the heathen tribes: myth as history and history as destiny.

There is another nation which pursued the same vision: led by a fiery charismatic who drew his people, beset by enemies, into an epochal battle. It did not end well for him.  Though had he lived today, he may very well have gotten away with it, given the collapse of institutions designed to prevent just such havoc as he wrought.

Tikvah funds a vast right-wing Israeli network engaged in transforming Israel:

…It encompasses a host of organizations with complementary roles. The Kohelet Policy Forum and the Misgav Institute focus on promoting legislation and policy proposals. The Israel Law and Liberty Forum trains judges and legal professionals to fill key positions …The Jewish Statesmanship Center, founded in the settlement of Kedumim, focuses on cultivating future leaders. The Shibolet and Sella Meir publishing houses provide a platform for new right-wing ideas and thought, while the Argaman Institute runs programs for economists and academics. Its crown jewel is the Churchill Program for security professionals.

It provided $10-million between 2024-2025 to fund this insurrectionist coup or, as Hillary Clinton once said: a “vast right-wing conspiracy.”

It is difficult to tell who is influencing whom in this equation: MAGA or Tikvah. Probably, a little bit of both.  Some of the overlap may be incidental. But all of it springs from a similar set of motives involving the rejection/destruction of key pillars of each nation’s existence.  They envision a radical transformation from democracy to autocracy. Something far more sweeping & radical than even Orban’s “illiberal democracy.”

It’s no accident that the rabbinic mentor of this movement advocated that Israel become a “liberal dictatorship” governed not by modern law, but by ancient religious law (Sharia anyone?). He maintains that secular Israelis would learn to love his proposed system once they truly understood it: maybe the few secular Israelis who remained in the country after his divinely-sanctioned coup.

The process of mutual influence isn’t new in this particular circumstance.  MAGA and pro-Israel “political theorists” like Yoram Hazony were heavily influenced by Viktor Orban, who hollowed out of democratic institutions enabled by a corrupt oligarchal elite.  His methods involved takeovers of universities, media and the judiciary.  Ideas, methods and processes passed back and forth between MAGA and Orban’s Fidesz Party. MAGA even held a CPAC conference in Budapest.

Kohelet and the US Federalist Society hold some of the same goals regarding their respective judicial systems. They former sought unsuccessfully to dismantle the Israeli judiciary, which it found to be a stumbling block to enacting its sweeping right-wing agenda.  The US Federalist Society didn’t seek to enfeeble the judiciary. It sought a hostile takeover, to place right-wing justices on the Supreme Court and other federal courts, who would prevent Congress from enacting progressive legislation and approve far-right legislative agenda.

Kohelet, and by extension Tikvah, became enveloped in controversy regarding its role in promoting the judicial coup prior to 10/7. In response, Tikvah created another shell entity, Herut – The Center for Israeli Liberty.  It appears to be a way to shield itself from the unpopularity it generated during that ill-fated venture:

[It is] substantially funded by American Jews and pursues a sweeping effort to replace Israel’s elite…It trains a new generation of hawkish IDF officers from the far-right for positions in the security establishment. The organization, Herut (“freedom”) – The Center for Israeli Liberty, is the latest incarnation of the Jewish-American Tikvah Fund’s operations in Israel.

The group’s name conjures a libertarian world view in which “liberty” and “freedom” are substitutes for Judeo-supermacism and the dismantling of the secular Israeli state. Just as such similar terms are MAGA stand-ins for Christian nationalism.

Tikvah now has an even more sweeping ambition that the dismantling of the Israeli justice system:

…Wealthy American Jews are trying to reshape Israel’s elite. Where they once contented themselves with training right-wing legal professionals to transform the judiciary, the goal now is to transform the security establishment, placing it in the hands of figures who advocate the expulsion of Palestinians and a forever war.

Herut too has its own shell think tank, the Argaman Institute, which develops the programs, legislation and intellectual framework for the takeover of these institutions.  It is headed by the founder of one of the earlier iterations of far-right activism, Im Tirzu.  It focuses much of its energy on transforming Israeli academia from a traditional educational institutions into an uber-Zionist academy enforcing ideological purity.

Argaman trains these far-right leaders of the future through its Churchill Program for Statecraft and Strategy:

Participants…discuss conservative ideas and build a network…to become the foundation of a new right-wing elite. This is how the conservative movement operated in the United States, and how forces within the settler right now intend to operate in Israel.

The program seeks “a few good men” to transform Israel from a democracy (in Israeli terms) into a theocracy. To do so it enlists “individuals seeking to shape Israel’s national policies in foreign and defense affairs.”  Those who completed the course include “ministerial advisers, senior IDF reserve officers, legal professionals and Prime Minister’s Office staff.”

A few notes on the choice of names: Churchill is a figure with whom Netanyahu is much enamored. He has invoked the English wartime leader repeatedly, seeking to invoke the aura of the tough, unyielding commander leading his nation through danger and toward ultimate victory.

There is a slight but telling discrepancy between the English and Hebrew language names of the Program.  In Hebrew it is Churchill: Statecraft, Strategy and Security in a Nationalist Zionist Spirit (Hebrew website, English website). In English, it uses the neutral term “national.”  Its noteworthy that whenever an Israeli Jew commits a terror attack against Palestinians, the Hebrew term used is never “terrorism.”  But rather “nationalist.”  There is an echo of that here–in that Argaman endorses the settler movement and its goal of eliminating Palestinians by any and all means necessary, including violence (though it might not admit this explicitly).  This is Argaman’s version of “nationalist” Zionism.

An example of the type of leader Argaman is molding is IDF general, David Zini. He is a product of the Churchill program.  Netanyahu appointed him to head the Shin Bet.  He is a brutal, cruel, genocidal figure, extreme even by the standards of the Israeli far-right.  I would go so far as to call him a Judeo-Nazi.   He holds messianist-triumphalist views such as: “Palestinians pose a “divine existential threat” and…that “our enemies are the enemies of the Holy One.”

Other Churchill participants have developed a Project 2025-type document laying out a comprehensive program to enact its long-term strategic vision: “The Paradigm Project: A New Strategic Agenda for Israel:

…Peace is not a strategic goal. There is no “era without wars.” Israel must aspire to “a proactive initiative-taking (i.e. aggression) approach and decisive victory in any warfighting,” and reaffirm pre-emption. Israel should significantly expand its ground forces and…establish “long-term buffer zones,” (a policy already in place in Syria, Lebanon and Palestine) close to its borders. The military must be prepared to fight on several fronts at once, including deep, large-scale maneuvers involving several divisions hundreds of kilometers from Israel’s borders….(refers to Iran and entails regime change).

Despite their peace agreements with Israel, Egypt and Jordan (with whom Israel has been at peace for over 50 years) “could become active adversaries in the future” and should therefore be treated as “potential threats.” Israel must prepare “comprehensive operational plans” (ie. to attack them) for that scenario.

I’ve argued here that Israel has already enacted a hegemonic policy in the Middle East.  It has imposed its interests on all its neighbors.  This “strategic agenda” is hegemony on steroids.  Israel would not only become the dominant force in the region, it will close its vise on every potential enemy, including turning allies into adversaries.  It reminiscent of Trump’s outlook. He views every nation, whether friend or foe, with distrust. Either they are cheating the US. Or they pose a threat to national security.  He has pursued adventurist military operations in Venezuela and Iran, while attempting to strangle Cuba into submission.

If Israelis were smart. Before embracing any of this document, they might take a lesson from the abject failure of Trump’s adventures. He has overextended and overestimated US power.  He has emboldened enemies and confirmed to rivals that the US is a paper tiger.

The document proposes a goal enamored of the eliminatonists: the “voluntary transfer” of Palestinians: “Half a million Palestinians will leave in the first decade, followed by another 250,000 in the next.”  There will be nothing “voluntary” about it. It will not be a “transfer” of population, especially since they have no destination to which these 4-million Palestinians will be “transferred.” Further, “transfer” is a euphemism for ethnic cleansing, transforming Israel into a pure “Jewish” state rid of every Palestinian (in Nazi terms, Palestinerein).

Argaman’s leader argued that in order to realize these ambitious security objectives, all social programs must be reduced or eliminated entirely:

To cover defense costs, spending on public needs should be reduced..Thousands of public-sector jobs should be cut and the salaries of those who remain reduced. National Insurance payments (ie. social security, medical care, etc.) should be cut through emergency regulations, and education and culture programs frozen “because we do not have the luxury of paying for them at present.”

This is Marie Antionette telling her people: let them eat missiles.

Israel, according to the document, should enact a security philosophy right out of Pete Hegseth’s “war-fighting” playbook:

“…A new ethical code is required for the IDF, based on a national (ie. nationalist) moral framework rather than a universalist (ie. western) one. The code should be updated to emphasize the value of victory and national identity as an alternative moral framework.” Universal moral values grounded in human worth and dignity are to be abandoned. …Vanquishing the enemy is a “moral imperative.”

There seems to be a divergence of views between Tikvah and its Israeli clones.  The former has one set of goals in the US and a contradictory one in Israel.

It’s also noteworthy that Hegseth’s strategy has failed miserably in Iran and Yemen, producing a stalemated war in which weaker adversaries successfully resisted every weapon he could throw at them.