François Picard welcomes Dr. Gershon Baskin, a former hostage negotiator and Middle East Director of the International Communities Organisation. Drawing on his deep involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Baskin argues that recent developments – including the death penalty law passed on Monday – are not isolated measures, but part of a broader shift toward exclusionary nationalism, legal inequality and militarised thinking.
He says these trends, intensified by the trauma of October 7 and the prolonged conflict that followed, risk reshaping Israel’s identity in ways that challenge both its democratic foundations and its standing in the international community. At the same time, he insists this trajectory is neither inevitable nor irreversible.
History shows that even in deeply polarised societies, political imagination and diplomatic engagement remain the only viable paths to sustainable peace. Baskin hopes that both Israeli society and its international partners will recognise this before the current course becomes entrenched beyond repair.