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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.
Fascism is an extreme right-wing political ideology which is characterised by authoritarianism, regressive values, and extreme nationalism (see, Ultranationalism). Jewish nationalism is closely associated with Zionism, but Zionism has diverse meanings to different people, while the meaning of Jewish nationalism is more specific. Jewish nationalism has two aspects, religious nationalism and secular ethno-nationalism. Some extreme Jewish nationalist movements have either actively associated themselves[ citation needed ] with, or have been construed as engendering, fascism and historical fascist movements.
An early example of Jewish fascism was the short-lived Revisionist Maximalist movement that arose within the Brit HaBirionim faction of the Zionist Revisionist Movement (ZRM) in the 1930s and openly espoused its fascist values and goals.
In the 21st century, the Otzma Yehudit party (Hebrew: עָוצְמָה יְהוּדִית , lit. 'Jewish Power') has been characterized as an example of resurgent fascism or neo-fascism. [11]
Prior to the establishment of Israel, far-right Jewish groups were based on Revisionist Zionism, which promoted the Jewish right to sovereignty over all of Mandatory Palestine through the use of armed struggle. [12] Revisionist Zionism's ideological and cultural roots were influenced by Italian fascism. Ze'ev Jabotinsky, the founder of Revisionist Zionism, believed that Britain could no longer be trusted to advance Zionism, and that Fascist Italy, as a growing political challenger to Britain, was therefore an ally. [13] [14]
Revisionist Maximalism was a short-lived right-wing militant political ideology that was a part of the Brit HaBirionim faction of the Zionist Revisionist Movement created by Abba Ahimeir.[ citation needed ] Abba Ahimier was born in Russia in 1897 and migrated to Palestine at the age of fifteen. In 1928 Ahimier joined Jabotinsky's Revisionist movement and became one of the movement's important activists. [15] [ verification needed ]
In 1930, Brit HaBirionim under Ahimeir's leadership publicly declared their desire to form a fascist state at the conference of the ZRM, saying:
"It is not the masses whom we need ... but the minorities ... We want to educate people for the 'Great Day of God' (war or world revolution), so that they will be ready to follow the leader blindly into the greatest danger ... Not a party but an Orden, a group of private [people], devoting themselves and sacrificing themselves for the great goal. They are united in all, but their private lives and their livelihood are the matter of the Orden. Iron discipline; cult of the leader (on the model of the fascists); dictatorship." (Abba Achimeir, 1930) [16]
The Revisionist Maximalist movement borrowed principles from totalitarianism and fascism and it also drew inspiration from Józef Piłsudski's Poland and Benito Mussolini's Italy. [17] Revisionist Maximalists strongly supported the Italian fascist regime of Benito Mussolini and wanted the creation of a Jewish state based on fascist principles. [18]
The goal of the Maximalists was to "extract Revisionism from its liberal entrapment", because they wanted Ze'ev Jabotinsky's status to be elevated to the status of a dictator, [19] and desired to forcably assimilate the population of Palestine into Hebrew society. [20] The Maximalists believed that authoritarianism and national solidarity was necessary to have the public collaborate with the government, and to create total unity in Palestine. [20]
Nevertheless, the label "fascist" must be used with reservation because during that period of history as well as during later periods of history, non-fascist political factions frequently used it as a term of abuse during their disputes with each other, as in the 1930s, when the Social Democrat parties were accused of being "fascists" or "social-fascists" by Stalin and the communists. In the same way in Palestine in the 1930s, the Revisionist Zionists were frequently characterized as "fascists" by the Labor Zionist leaders and the Revisionists attacked the social democratic dominated General Confederation of Labor (Histadrut) and Ben Gurion by using terms like "Red Swastika" and comparing the Histadrut and Ben Gurion to fascists and Hitler. [21] [22]
In 1932, the Brit HaBirionim pressed the ZRM to adopt its policies which were titled the "Ten Commandments of Maximalism", and were made "In the spirit of Complete Fascism", according to Stein Uglevik. [16] Moderate ZRM members refused to accept this and moderate ZRM member Yaacov Kahan pressured Brit HaBirionim to accept the democratic nature of the ZRM and not push for the party to adopt fascist dictatorial policies. [16]
The Revisionist Maximalists became the largest faction in the ZRM in 1930 but collapsed in support in 1933 after Ahimeir's support for the assassination of Hayim Arlosoroff. [23]
The Lehi, also known as the Stern Gang, was a Revisionist Zionist militant group, founded by Avraham Stern in Mandatory Palestine in 1940. The group split from the Irgun, and sought a similar alliance with Fascist Italy. [25] While the Lehi was not a homogeneous collective with a single political, religious, or economic ideology, [26] the group has nonetheless been described as having its "worldview in the quasi-fascist radical Right", [27] and most Lehi members appear to have been admirers of the Italian Fascist movement. [28] Lehi publications described Jews as a master race and Arabs as a slave race, [29] [30] [31] and the group advocated mass expulsion of all Arabs from Palestine and Transjordan [30] or even their physical annihilation. [32]
In the 2003 book "The Hope Fulfilled: The Rise of Modern Israel", [33] Leslie Stein wrote that the Lehi also believed Nazi Germany was less of an enemy of the Jews than Britain was, and attempted to form an alliance with the Nazis, proposing a Jewish state based on "nationalist and totalitarian principles, and linked to the German Reich by an alliance". [33] [34] [ verification needed ]
Avraham Stern, then commander of the Lehi, objected to the White Paper of 1939, British plans to restrict Jewish immigration and Jewish land purchase in Palestine, and proposed the creation of a binational Jewish-Arab Palestine. calling for an armed struggle against the British instead. [35] [36]
The Kach party, founded by Rabbi Meir Kahane in 1971, was a far-right, Orthodox Jewish and Religious Zionist political party in Israel. The party's ideology, known as Kahanism, advocated the transfer of the Arab population from Israel, and it also advocated the establishment of a Jewish theocratic state, a state in which Jews would be the only inhabitants who would have voting rights. [37]
The Likud party, founded by Menachem Begin (formally of the Lehi militant group), and led by Benjamin Netanyahu, is the right-wing major party in Israeli politics. So, within Israel, in relative terms, they are centre-right, and nominally liberal. However, by international standards, and according to their international critics, they are arguably "far right". [38] Al Jazeera's senior political analyst described Marwan Bishara described Netanyahu as the "godfather of modern Israeli fascism". [39] In early 2023 the far-right Likud-led coalition were frequently called fascists and compared to historical fascist reigemes, including by Israeli Holocaust historian Daniel Blatman (see below).
In Israel, the far-right opposed the Oslo Accords, and in 1995, Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated for signing them by Yigal Amir, a right-wing Israeli extremist. [40] Yigal Amir, Rabin's assassin, had opposed Rabin's peace process, particularly the signing of the Oslo Accords, because he felt that an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank would deny Jews their "biblical heritage which they had reclaimed by establishing settlements". [41] Rabin was also criticized by right-wing conservatives and Likud leaders who perceived the peace process as an attempt to forfeit the occupied territories and a surrender to Israel's enemies. [42] [43] After the murder, it was revealed that Avishai Raviv, a well-known right-wing extremist at the time, was a Shin Bet agent and informant. [44] Prior to Rabin's murder, Raviv was filmed with a poster of Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin in an SS uniform. [45] [46] [47] His mission was to monitor the activities of right-wing extremists, and he allegedly knew of Yigal Amir's plans to assassinate Rabin. [48]
In the 21st century, Otzma Yehudit or Jewish Power, a religious Zionist political party led by Kahanists, has been characterized as being a fascistic in nature. [49] [50] Israeli sociologist Eva Illouz has called Otzma Yehudit leader Itamar Ben Gvir representative of Jewish fascism. [51]
This aspect of its ideology is often described as being inherited from the Kach movement, [52] [53] and as having been propelled to the fore by Netanyahu's bringing of religious Zionist parties into government. [54] [55]
The 37th Cabinet of Israel, formed on 29 December 2022, following the Knesset election on 1 November 2022, has been described as the most right-wing government in Israeli history, [56] [57] [58] [59] as well as Israel's most religious government. [60] [61] The coalition government consists of seven parties—Likud, United Torah Judaism, Shas, Religious Zionist Party, Otzma Yehudit, Noam, and National Unity—and is led by Benjamin Netanyahu. [62] In association with the 2023 Israeli judicial reform the Likud-led Thirty-seventh government of Israel was frequently described as "Fascist" or "Dictatorial". [63] [64] [65]
In 2023, as part of a campaign for judicial reform, a bill known as the "reasonableness" bill was passed in Israel. This controversial law limited the power of the Supreme Court of Israel to declare government decisions unreasonable. [66] In one instance, more than 80,000 Israeli protesters rallied in Tel Aviv against the far-right government's plans to overhaul the judicial system. [67] In early 2024, the Supreme Court struck down the reform [68] on the grounds that it would deal a "severe and unprecedented blow to the core characteristics of the State of Israel as a democratic state". [69]
During 2022 and 2023, the Likud-led far right coalition was frequently described as "Fascist" or a dictatorship, and other references to extreme authoritarianism, such as "Stalinist" (the authoritarian aspects of Stalin, not the economics). [70]
In association with the 2023 Israeli judicial reform the Likud-led far-right coalition were compared to Germany in the 1930s, by journalists and historians in Israel. [64] [71]
In February 2023 Yossi Klein said, "Protests are for a democracy. Protests aren't effective in a dictatorship, and the dictatorship is already here," in a Haaretz opinion piece titled "Germany 1933, Israel 2023". [64]
Daniel Blatman, an Israeli historian whose specialty is the history of the Holocaust, [72] is the head of the Institute for Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. [72] When he was interviewed for Haaretz by Ayelett Suhani, Blatman stated "Israel's government has neo-Nazi ministers. It really does recall Germany in 1933". [71] His remarks drew some international attention from long-standing critics of Israel. [73] However, while he was specifically referring to the authoritarian aspects of 1930s Germany, he did not make direct comparisons to either the ghettos or the Holocaust. [71]
Additionally, Blatman has compared the current Israeli government to a previous Israeli government. In 2010, he published an opinion article in Haaretz titled, "1932 Is Already Here". [74]
Published | Article | Publication | Author or person interviewed | |
---|---|---|---|---|
2023-02-10 | Israel’s government has neo-Nazi ministers. It really does recall Germany in 1933 | [71] | Haaretz | Daniel Blatman interviewed by Ayelett Suhani |
2023-02-17 | Germany 1933, Israel 2023 | [64] | Haaretz | Yossi Klein |
2023-02-10 | Do not march blindly into dictatorship | [63] | Haaretz | Yossi Klein |
2023-10-03 | Neo-Fascism threatens Israelis and Palestinians alike | [65] | Haaretz | Elias Zananiri |
2023-02-13 | Unsure if Israel is a democracy foreign investors are fleeing the apartheid state | [75] | Middle East Monitor | |
2022-12-21 | Netanyahu, the godfather of modern Israeli fascism | [39] | Al Jazeera English | Marwan Bishara |
2010-12-26 | 1932 Is Already Here. | [74] | Haaretz | Daniel Blatman |
Also during 2023, Haaretz journalist Amos Harel expressed concern that the policies and actions of the Israeli far-right would lead to a "third intifada". [76]
In 2024, many individuals and groups on the far-right in Israel are advocating for the reoccupation of Gaza following the Israel–Hamas war. [77]
At the onset of the war, Defence minister Yoav Galant, who is usually considered a moderate, made extremist statements that many considered incitement to war crimes or genocide. On 9 October 2023, Yoav Galant made a speech which many consider genocidal. [78] [79]
“I have ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed. We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly,” [80] [81]
In a piece for Jewish Currents, Raz Segal (an associate professor of Holocaust and genocide studies at Stockton University and the endowed professor in the study of modern genocide) [82] wrote that the assault on Gaza can also be understood in other terms: as "a textbook case of genocide". [83]
Likud, officially known as Likud – National Liberal Movement, is a major right-wing political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin and Ariel Sharon in an alliance with several right-wing parties. Likud's landslide victory in the 1977 elections was a major turning point in the country's political history, marking the first time the left had lost power. In addition, it was the first time in Israel that a right-wing party received the most votes. After ruling the country for most of the 1980s, the party lost the Knesset election in 1992. Likud's candidate Benjamin Netanyahu won the vote for prime minister in 1996 and was given the task of forming a government after the 1996 elections following Yitzak Rabin's assassination. Netanyahu's government fell apart after a vote of no confidence, which led to elections being called in 1999 and Likud losing power to the One Israel coalition led by Ehud Barak.
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 influenced by fascism.
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.
The Religious Zionist Party, known as Tkuma until 2021 and officially known as National Union–Tkuma, was a far-right, ultra-nationalist, Jewish supremacist, and religious Zionist political party in Israel. In all the elections since its founding in 1998, the party had joined other factions and competed as part of a united list. In 2023, the Religious Zionist Party and The Jewish Home agreed to merge to become National Religious Party–Religious Zionism.
Abba Ahimeir was a Russian-born Jewish journalist, historian, and political activist. One of the ideologues of Revisionist Zionism, he was the founder of the Revisionist Maximalist faction of the Zionist Revisionist Movement (ZRM) and of the clandestine Brit HaBirionim.
Brit HaBirionim was a clandestine, self-declared fascist 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.
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.
Benzion Netanyahu was a Polish-born Israeli encyclopedist, historian, and medievalist. He served as a professor of history at Cornell University. A scholar of Judaic history, he was also an activist in the Revisionist Zionism movement, who lobbied in the United States to support the creation of the Jewish state. His field of expertise was the history of the Jews in Spain. He was an editor of the Hebrew Encyclopedia and assistant to Benjamin Azkin, Ze'ev Jabotinsky's personal secretary.
The common definition of Zionism was principally the endorsement of the Jewish people to establish a Jewish national home in Palestine, secondarily the claim that due to a lack of self-determination, this territory must be re-established as a Jewish state. Historically, the establishment of a Jewish state has been understood in the Zionist mainstream as establishing and maintaining a Jewish majority. Zionism was produced by various philosophers representing different approaches concerning the objective and path that Zionism should follow. A "Zionist consensus" commonly refers to an ideological umbrella typically attributed to two main factors: a shared tragic history, and the common threat posed by Israel's neighboring enemies.
Otzma Yehudit is a far-right, ultra-nationalist, Kahanist, and anti-Arab political party in Israel. It is the ideological descendant of the outlawed Kach party.
Kahanism is a religious Zionist ideology based on the views of Rabbi Meir Kahane, founder of the Jewish Defense League and the Kach party in Israel.
Yachad is an Orthodox Jewish political party in Israel formed by former Shas member Eli Yishai. The party combines certain groups of ultra-Orthodox Jews with some religious Zionists.
The New Right is a right-wing political party in Israel, established in December 2018 by Ayelet Shaked and Naftali Bennett. The New Right aims to be a right-wing party open to both religious and secular people. The party did not win any seats in the April 2019 election, though it won three seats in the subsequent election of September 2019, retained these in the March 2020 election and increased to seven seats in the 2021 Israeli legislative election. It is currently the sole member of the Yamina alliance.
The Union of Right-wing Parties was a short-lived electoral alliance of right-wing to far-right religious Zionist parties which included The Jewish Home, Otzma Yehudit, and Tkuma. The list was created ahead of the April 2019 Israeli legislative election, after the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, urged the Jewish Home alliance to accept Otzma Yehudit as part of its list for the April election, to avoid losing votes for the right-wing bloc. The alliance gained five seats in the April election.
Ofir Sofer is an Israeli politician. He is currently the Minister of Aliyah and Integration and a member of the Knesset for the National Religious Party–Religious Zionism.
Noam is a far-right Orthodox Jewish, Religious Zionist political party in Israel, officially established in July 2019 by an extremely conservative faction in the Religious Zionist community inspired by rabbi Zvi Thau and his Har Hamor yeshiva. The party's main goal is to advance policies against LGBT rights, and against what its backers call "the destruction of the family". Avi Maoz, the party's leader, was elected to the Knesset in 2021, and is the party's sole representative.
The National Religious Party–Religious Zionism, or Mafdal–Religious Zionism, is a far-right religious Zionist political party in Israel. The party was formed in August 2023, when the Religious Zionist Party and The Jewish Home parties agreed to merge. The merger is expected to give the former Religious Zionist Party a foothold at the municipal level, while The Jewish Home will be able to wield some power after not gaining any seats in the 2022 Israeli legislative election.
Far-right politics in Israel encompasses ideologies such as ultranationalism, Jewish supremacy, Jewish fascism, Jewish fundamentalism, Anti-Arabism, and ideological movements such as Neo-Zionism and Kahanism.
Conservatism in Israel is mostly based around upholding Jewish tradition, promotion of forms of Zionism that tend to be more irredentist in nature, 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. 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.
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: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)Donor: Boston Public Library
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: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)If the Kach Movement and its legacy represent fascism and racism, this fascist legacy has been transmitted and continues to be passed on to certain Israeli people, parties and movements, as is the case with Otzma Yehudit and other more radical movements, including the Hilltop Youth Group, Lahava, and La Familia.}
Israel has sworn in its most religious and right-wing parliament
Israel's most right-wing and religious government in its history
the most religious and hardline in Israel's history
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: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)Netanyahu's new government, deemed the most religious and right-wing in the country's history.
A database of more than 500 statements showing Israeli incitement to genocide provides ample evidence of genocidal intent.
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