Fascist Friday: Israelis Who Think Lieberman Doesn't Go Far Enough

International observers are concerned that the rise of Lieberman signals the start of Israel's descent into fascism. What people don't know is that the Knesset has parties who think that Lieberman is too soft on Arabs. That's right. They are claiming that Lieberman will betray them all by not taking a hard enough line.

These days, the likely new Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu is negotiating with these parties to form his ruling coalition. Who are the members of these parties, what do they want? And what planet do they live on? In today's post, we will take a look at these parties and examine the platforms that got them elected:

The relatively moderate of the two parties to the right of Lieberman is Habayit Hayehudi (Jewish Home), formerly known as the Mafdal. The party's chairman, Rabbi Professor Daniel Herskovits, has asked to be the next Education Minister, a post held many times in the past by Mafdalniks. He would like to see an increase in Jewish education in the schools and the preservation of the state religious bureaucracy, the Rabbinate. The party seeks to bring back the section of the national identity card that features the nationality of each citizen, the better to know who is Jewish and who is not.

Habayit Hayehudi informs the Arabs of Eretz Yisrael to see Jordan as their national home. The platform manages to avoid even using the word "Palestinian." This is truly a blast from the past, given that the vast majority of the Israeli public has sort of figured out that the Palestinians, um, actually exist.

Of special interest to Americans, this party demands that imprisoned Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard be released. This is interesting; a coalition partner of a friendly government actively supporting a convicted spy.

Even more radical is the National Union, with four seats in the new Knesset. Similar to Habayit Hayehudi, the National Union also encourages an invigoration of Israel's Jewish nature. Just like Habayit Hayehudi, it believes in a one Jewish state solution and negates the idea of establishment of a Palestinian state. Not so kindly, the party declares that Arab residents living in Gaza and West Bank will be subjects of the Jordanian kingdom. That way Israel won't need to deal with the rebellious Palestinian "partner", and the Arab residents will have no rights on the land. The platform also mentions deprivation of citizenship from those who object to Israel's Jewish nature or identify with Israel enemies. I wonder if the word "enemies" includes the hundreds of innocent victims of the attack on Gaza.

Here is a campaign video in English more or less suggesting that Israeli settlers should have stayed in Gaza to stop the rocket attacks in Jerusalem:

Both of these parties strongly oppose Lieberman's willingness to acknowledge a future Palestinian state and to "divide" parts of Jerusalem. There are also several disagreements related to the seperation of synagogue and state. Lieberman is fighting for equal rights for the less Jewishly inclined of his flock, and helped elect the first Jewish convert in Knesset history.

Yet, after negotiating with the Likud on Thursday, it seems that Israel's most radical right wing parties have reasons to be optimistic. Likud Faction Leader MK Gideon Sa'ar spoke about his meeting with the National Union: "In recent years, we served together in the opposition, with a joint vision of the dangers engendered by the policies of the previous government. The Likud and the National Union were the hard nucleus of the opposition in recent years. Thus it is only natural that we are meeting now, after the public chose to undertake a revolution and change direction". National Union Member Yaakov Katz, said in the end of the meeting: "We represent a party-line that most of the members of the coalition represent, just that we are clearer and more open about what we want. There is an understanding with the Likud that the next government will be more Jewish and more Zionist."

===========

Note: this article was written with the assistance of our new intern, Roni Henig. Welcome aboard Roni!

Uri Avnery's excellent article on the risks of Israeli fascism, The Great Gamble.