Year of Rupture: The Deepening Democratic Divide in Israel in 2023

The 2023 judicial reform crisis in Israel intensified a growing democratic divide. This article employs a cultural-sociological lens to interpret the conflict as part of a broader struggle over national identity. Drawing on original panel survey data and Latent Class Analysis, it identifies five distinct nationalist belief clusters among Jewish Israelis that structured divergent responses to the reform initiative. A key cleavage separates those concerned about democratic backsliding from those endorsing majoritarian rule. This divide has heightened political polarization and reinforced alignment between national identity and party affiliation. Contrary to expectations, the October 7 Hamas attack did not unify the public but entrenched existing divisions. The article considers whether rising concern over democracy might catalyze a broad political realignment with implications for Israel’s democratic future.