Conservatism in Israel

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Conservatism in Israel is mostly based around upholding Jewish tradition, promotion of forms of Zionism that tend to be more irredentist in nature (i.e. Revisionist and Neo-Zionism, which promote the idea of Greater Israel as compared to Liberal or Labor Zionism, which are supportive of a two-state solution), promoting Israeli national security, maintaining the role of religion and the Rabbinate in the public sphere, support for the free market, and closer ties with the United States. [1] However, a variety of ideological trends exist within Israeli conservatism, and not all hold up every single one of these ideals or points of view.

Contents

History

Ancient Judean conservatism

Conservatism has been a major philosophy in Jewish society in the region going back to the Sadducees during the Second Temple period. The Sadducees were aristocrats during the Hasmonean dynasty who were sympathetic to Hellenization and Hellenized Judaism and sought to promote the interests of the priestly Kohen class, including the High Priest, or Kohen Gadol. [2] [3]

Conservatism in Mandatory Palestine

Revisionist Zionism and conservatism

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Ze'ev Jabotinsky

Revisionist Zionism was born as an ideology calling for the entire Mandate for Palestine, calling for Israeli sovereignty over "both banks of the Jordan." However, they eventually changed their position to "the whole land of Israel." [4] Nonetheless, the ideological forefather for Revisionist Zionism, Ze'ev Jabotinsky, called for equal rights for Arabs who would live in a potential Jewish state, albeit with hostility towards other Arab states, in his essay The Iron Wall. [5] For the most part, Revisionist Zionism initially lacked any clear ideology, with some variants calling for a bi-national liberal but nominally majority Jewish state, while other variants were outright fascist, sympathetic to Mussolini's Italy. [6]

During the Mandate period, the early foundations of conservatism were being built by political parties like Hatzohar and Agudat Yisrael, as well as by the paramilitary group Irgun. Hatzohar, which was founded by Ze'ev Jabotinsky in 1923, called for the immediate establishment of the State of Israel "on both sides of the Jordan". [7] [8] Jabotinsky himself was a supporter of Western-style liberal conservatism and national liberalism, synthesizing them into his personal understanding of Revisionism. [9] In 1925, Jabotinsky founded Betar as the youth wing of the party. However, Betar would gain influence beyond the party, becoming a major Jewish youth group in its own right, surviving long after Hatzohar itself was dissolved. After Jabotinsky's death in 1940, Irgun leader Menachem Begin took over Hatzohar, using it effectively as the political arm of his organization. [10]

In Israel's early history as an independent state, Revisionist Zionism was not nearly as powerful of a political force as socialism and Labor Zionism. Herut, a party founded by former members of the Irgun, mostly remained as an opposition party throughout the 1940s through 1960s. It eventually formed a coalition, Gahal, with the Israeli Liberal Party, which would eventually become Likud in 1973. [11] Revisionist Zionism has historically been the ideology associated with the Likud party, especially under Begin's leadership. [12]

Jewish religious conservatism in Israel

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Yeshiva students during the demonstration in opposition to conscription

Most Haredi Jews in Israel are generally religiously conservative, with some expressing right-wing Zionist perspectives while others take non-Zionist or even anti-Zionist perspectives.

Non-Zionism

Agudat Yisrael, a religiously conservative and Hasidic party in Israel, takes a more pragmatic stance towards Israel. It does not associate any particular religious meaning, negative or positive, to the State of Israel, [13] and thus while not anti-Zionist, cannot be considered fully Zionist either. This position is referred to Da'at Torah (literally "the opinion of the Torah"), which sees the Torah as supreme above all political decisions, more so than any version of nationalism or anti-nationalism. [14]

Religious Zionism

Religious Zionists also adhere to Jewish religious conservatism. For example, Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook's Gush Emunim movement sought to build settlements in the West Bank after the Six-Day War. [15] Some extreme religious nationalists, such as Bezalel Smotrich and his National Religious Party-Religious Zionism remain a part of the Israeli right to this day. [16] Some conservative religious Zionists are more moderate, however. Shas is a political party representing mostly Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews in Israel who follow the Sephardic law and customs towards being a religious Jew. While both Zionist and religiously conservative, Shas has historically been more interested in representing Sephardic Haredi interests rather than promoting settlements or upholding a particular view of the conflict. [17]

Anti-Zionism

There are also ultraconservative factions of Israeli society which are anti-Zionist. Neturei Karta is a Haredi anti-Zionist and ultraconservative group which split off from Agudat Yisrael due to its leniency towards Zionism. [18] However, Neturei Karta are seen as extreme by most Jews, including fellow Haredi anti-Zionists. A more mainstream Haredi anti-Zionist group would be the Satmar Hasidic dynasty. Nonetheless, the basis of both of these groups is the Three Oaths, which mandates divine punishment to any Jews attempting to rebuild a Jewish state or homeland. Both Satmar and Neturei Karta agree that the Holocaust was divine punishment from God for Zionism, something all other religious Jewish groups reject. [19]

"Neo-Zionism"

"Neo-Zionism" is a term often used to refer to a more generic form of Israeli right-wing nationalism, combining aspects of both Religious and Revisionist Zionism. Most notably, Neo-Zionism is notable for its relations with other illiberal and right-wing populist movements globally, it's criticism of Labor Zionism specifically and pro-peace Zionists more broadly, especially those that promote a two-state solution to the conflict, support for a strong security policy based on American neoconservative ideas, and supports the goal of building a "Greater Israel" in the West Bank (which they call Judea and Samaria) and Gaza. [20] One of the most notable neo-Zionist groups is Im Tirtzu, which campaigns against left-wing, liberal, and post-Zionist academics in Israeli universities and colleges. [21] Many have also referred to Benjamin Netanyahu's leadership over Likud to be neo-Zionist in nature. [22]

Arab and Islamic conservatism in Israel

Conservatism in Israel is not limited to Israeli Jews, as there are many Israeli Arabs who are conservative as well. Mansour Abbas split from the Arab, secular, and mostly left-wing Joint List coalition over his advocacy for conversion therapy. Abbas' political party, the United Arab List, or Ra'am, is a socially conservative and moderate Islamist party focusing on anti-LGBT policies, law and order, and supporting a two-state solution. [23] Ra'am mostly gains support from Bedouin Arabs living in the Negev. [24]

Criticism

2023 Israeli judicial reform protests on Kaplan Street in Tel Aviv against Netanyahu and his far-right government's Judicial reforms. hmKHAh ngd hhpykh hmSHptyt, rKH' qpln pynt mnKHm bgyn, 4 bmrTS 2023.jpg
2023 Israeli judicial reform protests on Kaplan Street in Tel Aviv against Netanyahu and his far-right government's Judicial reforms.

Conservatism in Israel has received criticism from both Zionists and anti-Zionists alike, especially over issues such as supporting the influence of the Israeli Chief Rabbinate on public life, opposition to LGBT rights, Israeli housing issues, judicial reform, and their opposition to a peaceful settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based upon a two-state solution or Palestinian self-determination.

See also

Notes

    Related Research Articles

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Zionism</span> Movement supporting a Jewish homeland

    Zionism is a nationalist movement that emerged in Europe in the late 19th century aiming for the establishment of a homeland for the Jewish people, particularly in Palestine, a region roughly corresponding to the Land of Israel in Jewish tradition. Following the establishment of the State of Israel, Zionism became an ideology that supports the development and protection of Israel as a Jewish state. It has also been described as Israel's national or state ideology.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Neturei Karta</span> Anti-Zionist Haredi Jewish religious group

    Neturei Karta is a fringe religious group of Haredi Jews that was founded in Jerusalem in 1938 after splitting off from Agudat Yisrael. It is an active opponent of Zionism and advocates a "peaceful dismantling" of the State of Israel under the belief that the Jewish people are strictly forbidden from re-establishing sovereignty in the Land of Israel until the arrival of the Messiah. To this end, the group's members believe that the existence of a Jewish state is a rebellion against God as it did not occur with divine intervention through the Messiah.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Ze'ev Jabotinsky</span> Russian Revisionist Zionist leader (1880–1940)

    Ze'ev Jabotinsky was a Revisionist Zionist leader, author, poet, orator, soldier, and founder of the Jewish Self-Defense Organization in Odessa.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Betar</span> Revisionist Zionist paramilitary organization

    The Betar Movement, also spelled Beitar (בית"ר), is a Revisionist Zionist youth movement founded in 1923 in Riga, Latvia, by Vladimir (Ze'ev) Jabotinsky. It was one of several right-wing youth movements that arose at that time and adopted special salutes and uniforms.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Revisionist Zionism</span> Right-leaning faction of the Zionist movement

    Revisionist Zionism is a form of Zionism characterized by territorial maximalism. Revisionist Zionism promoted expansionism and the establishment of a Jewish majority on both sides of the Jordan River.

    Hatzohar, full name Brit HaTzionim HaRevizionistim, was a Revisionist Zionist organization and political party in Mandatory Palestine and newly independent Israel.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Haredim and Zionism</span> Overview of the relationship between Haredim and Zionism

    From the founding of political Zionism in the 1890s, Haredi Jewish leaders voiced objections to its secular orientation, and before the establishment of the State of Israel, the vast majority of Haredi Jews were opposed to Zionism, like early Reform Judaism, but with distinct reasoning. This was chiefly due to the concern that secular nationalism would redefine the Jewish nation from a religious community based in their alliance to God for whom adherence to religious laws were "the essence of the nation's task, purpose, and right to exists," to an ethnic group like any other as well as the view that it was forbidden for the Jews to re-constitute Jewish rule in the Land of Israel before the arrival of the Messiah. Those rabbis who did support Jewish resettlement in Palestine in the late 19th century had no intention to conquer Palestine and declare its independence from the rule of the Ottoman Turks, and some preferred that only observant Jews be allowed to settle there.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Yisroel Dovid Weiss</span> Haredi Jewish anti-Zionist activist

    Yisroel Dovid Weiss is an American Haredi Jew, activist, and spokesman for the worldwide religious group Neturei Karta, a Haredi anti-Zionist group. Residing in Monsey, New York, he believes that Jews should peacefully oppose the existence of the Israeli state: "It would be forbidden for us to have a State, even if it would be in a land that is desolate and uninhabited." He emphasized the need for a complete return of land to Palestinians, rejecting the '67 borders and advocating coexistence.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Brit HaBirionim</span> Political party in Mandatory Palestine

    Brit HaBirionim was a self-declared faction of the Revisionist Zionist Movement (ZRM) in Mandatory Palestine, active between 1930 and 1933. It was founded by Abba Ahimeir, Uri Zvi Greenberg and Yehoshua Yeivin.

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    Non-Zionism is the political stance of Jews who are "willing to help support Jewish settlement in Palestine ... but will not come on aliyah."

    As an organized nationalist movement, Zionism is generally considered to have been founded by Theodor Herzl in 1897. However, the history of Zionism began earlier and is intertwined with Jewish history and Judaism. The organizations of Hovevei Zion, held as the forerunners of modern Zionist ideals, were responsible for the creation of 20 Jewish towns in Palestine between 1870 and 1897.

    The Iron Wall is an essay written by Ze'ev Jabotinsky in 1923. It was originally published in Russian, as he was born in Russia as Vladimir Yevgenyevich Zhabotinsky and wrote for the Russian press.


    Revisionist Maximalism was a short-lived right-wing militant political ideology and Jewish militant ideology which was part of the Brit HaBirionim faction of the Zionist Revisionist Movement (ZRM) created by Abba Ahimeir.

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    Jewish fascism is a term that is applied to Jewish political factions which are on the far-right wing of the political spectrum.

    Labor Zionism or socialist Zionism refers to the left-wing, socialist variation of Zionism. For many years, it was the most significant tendency among Zionists and Zionist organizations, and was seen as the Zionist sector of the historic Jewish labour movements of Eastern Europe and Central Europe, eventually developing local units in most countries with sizable Jewish populations. Unlike the "political Zionist" tendency founded by Theodor Herzl and advocated by Chaim Weizmann, Labor Zionists did not believe that a Jewish state would be created by simply appealing to the international community or to powerful nations such as the United Kingdom, Germany, or the former Ottoman Empire. Rather, they believed that a Jewish state could only be created through the efforts of the Jewish working class making aliyah to the Land of Israel and raising a country through the creation of a Labor Jewish society with rural kibbutzim and moshavim, and an urban Jewish Proletariat.

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