This Israeli dystopian novel is becoming the Jewish state’s reality

Photo by Restless Books/Getty Images/Nora Berman

Contributing Columnist Sruli Fruchter September 26, 2025

Imagine an Israel ruled by an authoritarian king, governed by fanatical messianists and so internationally isolated that it teeters on economic collapse. That chilling future is what Israeli novelist Yishai Sarid depicts in his 2015 award-winning novel, The Third Temple, translated into English last year by Yardenne Greenspan.

Now, thanks to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, this once far-fetched dystopian warning is becoming Israel’s reality: a country where one man’s agenda reigns supreme, religious fanatics dictate national policy and diplomatic relationships continue to break down. The book shows how supremacy, egotism and authoritarianism will doom the Jewish state into a Third Exile.

The Third Temple follows Prince Jonathan, son of the ruling King Jehoaz in the year 2048, who is tasked by an angel of God to save the country by convincing his father to relinquish the throne before Yom Kippur — an unthinkable act of treason and heresy.

Narrated by Jonathan, the book never explicitly outlines Jehoaz’s misdeeds. Instead, it relies on the kingdom’s observable reality as the greatest testament against him: rampant corruption, an impoverished population and a warmongering monarchy.

But the kingdom’s worst reality is that critiques against it are never tolerated.

When Jonathan’s second-oldest brother, Joel, privately disparages their father for his army suffering many casualties in a recent battle, which King Jehoaz concealed from the public, Jonathan reacts with disgust. “I didn’t know what to say,” Jonathan thinks to himself. “Had another man voiced such thoughts, I might have accused him of treason.”

Rather than engage with the substance of Joel’s fears, Jonathan’s first thought is about the permissibility of such words. Questioning is considered a form of treason.

In The Third Temple, dissent is forbidden, so self-reflection is impossible. The angel lambasts Jonathan to act and do what is right, but Jonathan rejects any notion that he should be disloyal to his father.

Netanyahu is following the same playbook. Protesting against his government, demanding a hostage deal, calling for humanitarian aid into Gaza, grieving Palestinian suffering or anything aside from sycophantic adulation of Netanyahu’s leadership is met with fierce backlash. You will be accused of indulging antisemitism, aiding Hamas or endangering the Jewish state.

As a recent example, consider the state comptroller’s report lambasting Netanyahu and other senior ministers for mishandling Israel’s civilian home front before and after Hamas’ terrorist attack on Oct. 7, 2023.

Netanyahu blasted the report as not only “irrelevant” but also maliciously timed to undermine the IDF’s ground offensive in Gaza City, which he called “a critical stage in Hamas’s defeat.” Netanyahu’s message is clear: any investigation implicating him is inherently anti-Israel and threatens the state’s well-being.

In this way, Netanyahu is like Jehoaz, the self-appointed king who always rejects accountability.

The corrupt religious fanatics in Jehoaz’s court are reminiscent of Netanyahu’s far-right cabinet members. Ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir want to annex the West Bank, occupy Gaza and “encourage” Palestinian emigration — morally repugnant moves that are already diplomatically devastating the Jewish state.

Smotrich and Ben-Gvir also routinely incite vigilantism and settler violence in the West Bank. Last August, settlers chanting “We are Ben-Gvir’s gang” burned down the home of a Palestinian family in Jit. Just two weeks ago, a settler attack injured 14 Palestinians in a single village, including a three-month-old infant and an elderly couple. Smotrich and Ben-Gvir’s tacit support of this violence has earned them bans on entering countries worldwide.

The worst of all of Sarid’s characters, however, is Jonathan — the one who sees the signs, hears the warnings, receives God’s encouragement to stand up for what is right, but still refuses to speak up.

“Jonathan,” the angel coaxes during one of their many encounters. “I see your weakness, but you’re going to have to find strength. This is serious business. The fate of your father and the kingdom are in your hands.”

Nearly every time, Jonathan is frozen into inaction. He incessantly questions the angel, rejecting all answers and embracing skepticism at every turn.

The reason for Jonathan’s recalcitrance is that he has turned his father into his God. This idolatry — of an ideology, a king, a state — blinds his eyes and deafens his ears. It is a telltale sign of authoritarianism.

In his famous 1978 essay “The Power of the Powerless,” Vaclav Havel writes that totalitarian regimes rely on “the abdication of one’s own reason, conscience, and responsibility, for an essential aspect of this ideology is the consignment of reason and conscience to a higher authority.”

Jonathan reminds me of Israel’s unequivocal supporters — establishment Jewish organizations, policy groups, social media influencers — whose abdication of their “own reason, conscience, and responsibility” leads them to forego any questioning of the Jewish state. All ethical and logical questions are outsourced to Netanyahu, the “higher authority” who dictates what is right and what is true.

That appeasement will not ward off impending disaster.

Throughout The Third Temple, Jonathan beseeches God’s help in prayer and service to avert whatever calamity might be coming for the kingdom. The sardonic irony is that God has told Jonathan all along what he ought to do — to convince his father to surrender the throne.

Israel is suffering from a similar crisis of leadership with Netanyahu. Militarily, Israel’s war aims of annihilating Hamas remain unachievable, its soldiers are tired and dying, its devastation in Gaza is brutal, and its endgame is non-existent. Diplomatically, the genocide label grows more popular, arms embargoes await, and public opinion has plummeted. There’s a reason why 52% of the Israeli public does not trust Netanyahu.

Over the last two years, Netanyahu has proven that he and his government are unfit to lead the Jewish state. Like Jehoaz, he must relinquish his grip on power for the country to elect new leadership that can chart a better path — one of peace, stability, and rectification.

The Third Temple is a prophetic warning. We would do well to heed it.