R. David Harden’s commentary published in the Globe and Mail on September 5, presented a stark dichotomy at the root of Israeli society. Entitled: “The clashes playing out in Tel Aviv’s streets will define Israel’s future,” Harden attempted to break down a complex geo-political situation that has developed over the past several decades into an ideological clash with just two main points of view: secular vs. religious, progressive vs. regressive, moderate vs. extremist.

Harden identified the secular as the “High Tech State of Tel Aviv.” These are the Israeli citizens, Harden claimed, “where massive nightly protests are calling for a ceasefire deal with Hamas that returns the hostages home.” While Harden did not specify the political parties or figures with whom this group aligns, the implication is clear that they reject completely the current right-wing Israeli Knesset.

In contrast, Harden described the “Kingdom of Judah,” the religious extremists who will stop at nothing to achieve their goal of a wholly Jewish state “from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. In this modern Kingdom of Judah, there is no room for a Palestinian state or the Palestinian people. Mr. Ben-Gvir and Mr. Smotrich will put their country on a path of endless war to try to secure the kingdom for God’s chosen people.”

In the face of the threats Israel endures on multiple fronts, these claims are dangerously disingenuous.

A distance of approximately 1,900 kilometers lies between Tehran and Tel Aviv, and yet the tentacles of the Iranian regime are deeply entrenched nearby to the Israeli population centre. Hamas, in Gaza, and Hezbollah, in Lebanon, are each deeply indebted to Iran for the funding that allows them to attack Israel at will, support vast networks of tunnels, horde weapons, and handsomely compensate their collaborators. If Harden truly wants to identify and call out a dangerous ideology, he should look no further than the Iranian regime. But he chooses to ignore it instead.

Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran, is upfront and clear in his intentions: destroy Israel and destroy America. To this end, Iran funds the above-named terrorist organizations, who, in turn, act as loyal foot soldiers in endeavouring to carry out these goals.

In the face of this existential threat, it is truly galling to read a commentary like Harden’s. Israel is a liberal democratic state. There are not two competing factions for power in Israel, as Harden portrayed, but there are 10 different parties that currently hold seats in the Israeli Knesset. It was a “right-wing” Israeli government in 2005 that approved and carried out the unilateral disengagement of Israeli presence from Gaza, displacing thousands of Israelis who had called it home for generations. The political calculus of a given moment frequently outweighs ideology.

The protests currently taking place in Tel Aviv do, indeed, represent a frustration with the current government, and frustration with the hostage crisis that has seen dozens, at least, brutally murdered by Islamic terrorists. While Harden represented that these protests pose “the biggest battle for Israel’s future,” he is ignoring all actual threats to Israel, and the active political debate that has been a defining characteristic of Israeli society since its establishment.

Iran is a threat to Israel and the region at large. Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism are threats to the State of Israel. A worldwide cabal of journalists hell-bent on portraying Israel in the worst possible light is also a threat to Israel.

Citizens on the streets of Tel Aviv are protesting. They are also protesting in the cities of Jerusalem, Haifa, Be’er Sheva, and Caesarea. Across Israel, the desperate need to see the hostages returned is playing out in real time in the streets. But this is not the threat and schism in Israeli society that detractors, like Harden, would like to portray. As rockets rain down on northern Israel and soldiers lay down their lives in defense of their country in the south, the real schism is between Israel and terrorism, and between Israel and those who want to see her destroyed.

In Harden’s laser focus on Israel, he has deliberately ignored the Islamic Republic of Iran and its extremist Islamic ideology that is the single biggest factor in creating instability and war.