T. Belman. There was not sufficient justification for banning Kahane and Kach. The Arab MK and parties do much worse and they are left alone. Similarly the Hilltop Youth are treated harshly and unfairly. They both take inspiration from historical heroes like the Maccabees and the freedom fighters from the late forties.
After WWII the Irgun and Lehi waged war on the British and were successful in getting them to leave. They did so even though the Haganah under Ben Gurion waged war against them at first.
Thanks to Netanyahu, Otzma Yehudit, whose name means “Jewish Power,” has a real shot.
Otzma Yehudit now seems likely to get into the Knesset, thanks to the unrelenting efforts of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Thanks to Netanyahu, Otzma Yehudit, whose name means “Jewish Power,” has a real shot. This is a party whose leaders are proud disciples of Rabbi Meir Kahane, whose party was banned from running for the Knesset in 1988 on grounds of racist incitement. Kahane advocated for the expulsion of most Arabs from Israel, and for those who remained to be second-class citizens under a theocracy. He was also involved in planning violent attacks on Palestinians.
More recently, three of the party’s four leaders – Baruch Marzel, Benzi Gopstein and Itamar Ben-Gvir – have past arrests related to violence against Palestinians and left-wing activists. They’ve posted photos of Arab MKs with nooses around their necks and held parties to celebrate Baruch Goldstein, the Kahane follower who killed 29 Palestinians in Hebron in 1994. They have the political acumen to keep former MK Michael Ben-Ari, an archeology professor who shares their views but has a cleaner record, at the fore.
This begs the question, why would Netanyahu want this party in the Knesset? Why did his spokesman release almost-daily statements calling for them to unite with Bayit Yehudi? Yes, Netanyahu is right-wing, and yes, he’s willing to play dirty when there’s a political need, but there is a massive ideological gap between the Likud, a party built on liberal values together with nationalism, and a party built on a theology and racialism.
The answer is all about the numbers.
In the last election, Otzma, which ran under the name Yachad led by former Shas leader Eli Yishai, came very close to passing the 3.25% electoral threshold, and tens of thousands of right-wing votes went down the drain.
Recent polling shows that Otzma,which is not running with Yachad this time, is worth two to three seats.
But now, Otzma is not the only right-wing party that’s hovering near the threshold. Bayit Yehudi, Kulanu and Yisrael Beytenu are all in that zone, albeit from above the threshold, not below it.
And this has been keeping Netanyahu up at night.
If too many right-wing votes go to parties that don’t make it into the Knesset, his victory will be far less assured than it seems from the polls. Netanyahu not only needs to be able to form a coalition, before that can happen, he needs a majority to recommend him to the president. A merger will make that a much more likely scenario by adding a couple of Knesset seats to the right-wing bloc.
And that’s the meaning of the term “technical bloc” that’s been thrown around to describe this move. Bayit Yehudi, National Union and Otzma Yehudit are likely to run as one list for the Knesset. But after April 9, they plan to break up, with Bayit Yehudi and National Union as one faction, Otzma as another. This way, they can get Netanyahu as prime minister but not really be together with Otzma, whose ideology they oppose.
Of course, there are a few problems with the plan. First of all, if this was so important to Netanyahu, he could have brought Otzma into Likud. But they argue that polls showed adding Otzma to the Likud list would not have brought in more votes, and there is some logic to voters for the most extreme right-wing party feeling comfortable with voting for Bayit Yehudi, which is both religious and Right, but not for Likud, which has a broader tent.
Then there’s the issue that many of Bayit Yehudi’s votes will be from Otzma supporters; perhaps votes worth more than the one seat Otzma will would be likely to get. And that’s a tougher pill for Bayit Yehudi to swallow. Some of the party’s top candidates have spoken out against the merger, saying not only is it an ideological issue, but it will alienate the base and send traditional Bayit Yehudi voters to the New Right.
The New Right pounced on the opportunity, sending out text messages on Wednesday afternoon that they should “in the name of Jewish values, concern for the whole Land of Israel and unity of our people, shake off Bayit Yehudi and choose the New Right.”
Netanyahu’s constant involvement in Bayit Yehudi is probably very amusing for New Right leaders Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked. The prime minister convincing prominent religious-Zionist Rabbi Haim Druckman to appeal to Bayit Yehudi’s leadership, much like he did several months ago when Druckman asked Bennett not to resign, is reassuring for the duo that left Bayit Yehudi in part to build a stronger right-wing front that can stand up to pressure from Netanyahu.
Now we’re left with the question of what a Knesset with Otzma Yehudit inside will look like.
We have an answer from the years 2009-2013, when Ben-Ari was in the National Union, running on the Kahanist ticket within that bloc. The truth is, with the exception of the occasional stunt – like taking African migrants to a fancy swimming pool in north Tel Aviv – he didn’t stand out all that much. He wasn’t very effective, and many other MKs didn’t want to cooperate with him. Being a small party in the opposition doesn’t let you get much done, even more so if you’re a one-man faction.
When it comes to post-election realities, it’s more a matter of symbolism than actual concern that Kahane-style policies will be enacted.
BEN GVIR IS DEEP COVER SHABAK
Ted’s observations above this article are accurate.
I have my doubts about whether any of the Otzma Yehudit candidates were ever convicted of personal involvement in violent assaults on Arabs, other than perhaps fistfights and other minor altercations that may have been initiated by Arabs. Theirs military authorities in Judea-Samaria have not hesitated to indict individuals whom they believe killed or seriously injured Arabs. Itamar Ben-Gevir, in particular, would not have been allowed by the Israeli court system to represent defendants in court, which she does all the time, if he had ever been convicted of serious violent acts. The courts would also have barred these men from running in previous elections if they had serious criminal records. But all three were permitted to run in the 2015 election, although they won no seats. The Supreme Court banned Moshe Feiglin from running for the Knesset for ten years, even though he was convicted only of having organized civil disobedience, not violence. And they banned Aryeh Deri from running for the Knesset for years, even though he was convicted only of corruption, not violence. It is therefore unlikely that Marzel , Gopstein and Ben-Gvir have serious criminal records. I think they were all held at various times in ‘administrative detention,” without being charged or convicted of crimes.
@ leonkushner:
LK- Well Put!
It’s clear from this article that its author has a definite Bias Against “Otzma” and its original visionary OBM-
Apparently, according to this author, not wanting to allow your sworn arch enemy to slaughter you- in your own home, none-the-less, is considered “Racist.”
Don’t most of US here at Israpundit and almost EVERYONE on the Political Right “Advocate” for the SAME THING?
H’mm, That sounds EXACTLY LIKE what The Arabs “Advocate for”- For us Jews- and all the other “Dhimis.” At least the few remaining ones whom they would not succeed in slaughtering!
What’s her definition of “Violent” please?
And just HOW exactly is SUPPOSEDLY being “Involved in planning” incriminating?!
And she is a lead journalist at “JPOST!”
I would never call the Kach party racialist (although I admit that I’ve never seen the word before). What Rabbi Kahane had was chochma (Jewish wisdom) and of course courage. Demanding that a group of people who want to kill you and rape your daughters, be thrown out of the country is not racist. It’s called self-preservation.
If most of the political parties in Israel were all right leaning and we didn’t have the problem of a looming existential threat from arabs living within Israel proper and as well as within the so called ‘disputed territories’ and of course our neighbours, then perhaps I wouldn’t be so strongly supportive of this new far right party. But since that is absolutely not the case, we need them now more than ever!