Israel’s Security Model: Global Influence and Controversial Admiration

Tanil Bora*

The massacre carried out by Israel’s unconventional warfare apparatus by turning the pagers of Hezbollah organization members into bombs was, very clearly, admired. Partially openly, mostly secretly admired… Fehim Taştekin, writing in Gazeteduvar, stated that the attack “once again astonished Israel’s supporters.” Mustafa K. Erdemol, a foreign policy commentator for Halk TV, mentioned how “even Israel’s staunchest opponents admire and praise it.” It doesn’t necessarily have to be the staunchest; among those who oppose Israel’s occupation policies, there are many who express admiration for this “operation.” For instance, headlines like “A show from Israeli intelligence” are being used. The ‘geopolitical’ experts of the ruling powers, who view the cause of Gaza as the “defense of Anatolia,” of course, harshly condemn it, of course they frown, but they cannot hide their excitement at the dreadful nature of the “operation.” They bite their lips in admiration of the “geopolitical-geostrategic capability.”

Almost thirty years ago, while Palestine was once again under fire, I called this widespread feeling “envy towards Israel.”[1] I’m talking about the admiration for Israel’s “national security policies,” its intelligence performance, its brutal unconventional warfare ferocity, which has long been admired in stately and nationalist circles – despite all their Israel opposition and antisemitism. They adore bloodthirsty state vengeance, annihilative deterrence, all sorts of military-technological ‘geopolitical’ capabilities. They envy the audacity that doesn’t even take human rights and war crimes seriously as mere rhetoric.[2]

Let me refer to something I wrote more recently on October 18… In a sentence written about Hamas’ attacks: “With its operations of a brutal security state and an exceptional regime, isn’t the Israeli state one of the pioneers of what could be called ‘21st-century fascism’ ideologically and technically?”[3]

Indeed, it is. The Israeli regime stands out as a role model for the global security state. The genocidal actions in Gaza are a step in this. The cyber attack on Lebanon on September 17 is yet another step. The alarms this attack will trigger regarding security and surveillance needs could result in effects in the cyber-technological realm globally, akin to the aftermath of 9/11 (2001) with the anti-terror vigilance.[4]

Just this month, a book shedding light on the key role of the Israeli regime in the construction of the global security state was published: The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World by Australian journalist Antony Loewenstein (trans. Özlem Özarpacı. Metis Publishing, Istanbul 2024). The book is so current that it discusses Hamas’ October 7 attack in its preface. It explains the shock created by this attack as stemming from the Israeli administration being “overconfident due to technological superiority.” It compares this complacency to how the U.S. intelligence apparatus overlooked “some signs” before 9/11. The 9/11 analogy is also present in Loewenstein’s book. It defines the turning point of 9/11 as the U.S. embracing –and spreading globally, it should be added– an endless “war on terror” mentality.

This endless “war on terror,” as Loewenstein points out, is also the doctrine of the Israeli regime. He defines this regime, shaped by apartheid and the concept of perpetual counterterrorism, as “Netanyahuism.”

And on October 7, Netanyahuism was given the opportunity to “test new weapons in the field” and “proudly showcase them” while keeping in mind its “international clientele.” In another work translated into Turkish two years ago, William I. Robinson’s Global Police State, attention was drawn to how, since 9/11, Israeli state-linked firms had created “a unique position for themselves as suppliers for the global homeland security sector.” Gaza, long before October 7, had already functioned as a “laboratory” for the development of weapons and equipment in its daily routine. Products with the label “Tested in Gaza” are in high demand globally.[5] The book mentions India as well as Azerbaijan and Turkey among the major buyers of these weapons and equipment exports. The “Tested in Gaza” label has, in recent months, transformed into the shamelessness of an unabashed human rights atrocity.

Israel is not just a global supplier of weapons and equipment but also of occupation technologies, “anti-terror” techniques, and surveillance technologies – to put it in Anglo-Saxon parlance, an ‘inspiring’ global supplier. Surveillance and monitoring technologies, even before the pager bombing, were already a significant category. In The Palestine Laboratory, for example, it is pointed out that some Arab states might avoid using Israeli weapons in their police forces; however, since surveillance equipment cannot be easily traced, they can acquire it with a clear conscience. It is reminded that, before Jamal Khashoggi was killed, the Saudi intelligence tracked the dissident journalist using software from Israel’s famous surveillance company NSO. Putin is also noted as a ‘valuable’ customer of Israeli-origin surveillance and phone-hacking technologies.

After the cyberattacks carried out in Lebanon this month, it’s certain that this surveillance and phone-hacking market will expand. We can also be sure that, under the guise of national security, surveillance and control over citizens will become more intense across the globe. Along with the “global homeland security sector,” this will also be a boon for the global security state… As described by Israeli-American anthropologist and peace activist Jeff Halper, it will further develop the “global pacification industry” perfected by Israel.

Needless to say, Israel is not the inventor of all this; as Loewenstein puts it: “U.S. law enforcement didn’t need Israel to exhibit violent or racist tendencies…” You could replace the U.S. with many other state regimes. But Israel is a model, and let’s use the term again in its ominous sense, an ‘inspiration.’

In his book, Loewenstein predicts that the global climate crisis and mass migrations –to use a term borrowed once again from William Robinson– will further increase the demand for the “global homeland security sector.” States leaning towards “ghettoization in the Israeli style” are turning to Israel as a master supplier of know-how.

I mentioned the admiration and hidden envy in Turkey. Loewenstein explains how far-right and deeply antisemitic groups in the West do not hide their admiration for Netanyahuism’s practices. He recounts how one of the leaders of the alternative right, Richard Spencer, praised Israel for “reshaping the politics and understanding of sovereignty of the future.”

We know the concept of the military-industrial complex. As we just mentioned, Jeff Halper speaks of a “transnational military-industrial bloc.” Or, for that matter, the global security state, or the global police state… According to Robinson, who developed the concept of the global police state, Israel, “the most militarized nation in the world,” is “at the very heart of the global police state.” The Israeli regime, with its annihilation-driven perpetual “war on terror” policy, is becoming a model for a global security regime, even inspiring its loudest opponents.

[1] Envying Israel

[2] Isn’t audacity already a layer of the normalization of global extraordinary regimes? Isn’t this the essence of the state of helplessness in the face of Israel’s audacity (see Barış Özkul’s article Israel’s Audacity and Lawlessness)?

[3] Birikim Weekly: Kibbutz

[4] The first to point this out –as far as I know– was Kemal Can on the “Weekly Review” program on Medyascope on September 20.

[5] Translated by Akın Emre Pilgir. Ayrıntı Publishing, Istanbul 2022, pp. 187-188.

*Tanıl Bora was born in 1963 in Ankara. He graduated from Istanbul Boys’ High School, then Ankara University Political Science Faculty. He was a journalist at Yeni Gündem, a weekly news journal, in between 1984-88. He has been the research / reading editor in İletişim Publishing since 1988. In between 1993 and 2014, he was the editorial director in Toplum & Bilim Journal, a social science journal published every three months. In 2012, he became the editorial coordinator of Birikim, a monthly socialist culture journal for which he was writing articles since 1989.

This article was first published in Birikim Magazine on August 9, 2023 and translated into English bu Politurco.

This article was first published in Birikim Magazine on October 2, 2024 and translated into English bu Politurco.

Take a second to support Politurco.com on Patreon!