Analyst says Israel is intensifying violent raids in the occupied West Bank and attempting to shift the “status quo” of East Jerusalem.
Published On 13 Aug 2024
Far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir led a crowd of thousands into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem on Tuesday and performed prayers. Despite Jewish religious rites being banned at the location, Israeli police reportedly offered protection, as well as to illegal settlers involved in violence in the West Bank.
Ben-Gvir promised to “defeat Hamas” in Gaza in a video he filmed during his visit and prayers.
Al-Aqsa is Islam’s third holiest site and a symbol of Palestinian national identity but it is also Judaism’s holiest place. Tisha B’Av is a Jewish day of mourning for the destruction of the site of an ancient temple by the Romans in 70 AD.
Ben-Gvir, who heads a hardline political party on which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government depends, led more than 2,000 Israelis through the compound singing Jewish hymns under the protection of Israeli police, an official from the Waqf, the Jordanian body that is custodian of the site, told AFP.
“Minister Ben-Gvir, instead of maintaining the status quo at the mosque is supervising the Judaisation operation and trying to change the situation inside Al-Aqsa Mosque,” the official said.
Israeli police also “imposed restrictions” on Muslim worshippers trying to enter the mosque, he added.
Minister of Negev and Galilee Affairs Yitzhak Wasserlauf and other members of the Israeli Knesset reportedly joined the march.
West Bank tension
In the West Bank, Israeli settlers mounted a series of marches to mark the day, according to local media.
“[The settlers] are using the fact that there is a religious holiday and religious commemoration to … lay claim to more Palestinian land,” Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim reported from Ramallah.
She said that people in one village, at-Tawani, had told her that it was the largest settler invasion that the community has seen thus far, in what has become a regular occurrence.
“We’ve seen it before. Settlers use the fact that they have a religious ceremony and they try and conduct those ceremonies in occupied territory,” Ibrahim continued, noting that village compounds are often invaded during such events.
Tension and violence between Isreal settlers, police and the military on one side, and Palestinian armed groups and civilians on the other, has spiked since Israel’s war on Gaza began in October.
The Palestinian Authority that administers parts of the West Bank says that more than 624 Palestinians, including 145 children, have been killed. Thousands have been arrested or forced from their homes due to demolitions and land confiscations, over the past 10 months.
At least 18 Israelis, including 12 security forces personnel, have also been killed in the occupied territory.
Early on Tuesday, Israeli forces killed a young Palestinian man and injured at least four others when they raided the homes of Palestinian prisoners and demolished two apartments in the cities of Ramallah and el-Bireh, local media reported.
Moataz Sarsour, a resident of the al-Am’ari refugee camp in the Ramallah and el-Bireh area, died of his injuries at the Palestine Medical Complex, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa.
Wafa did not provide further details on the condition of three other gunshot victims or a young man hit by an Israeli army vehicle during the predawn raids.
Impunity
Israel is intensifying its violent raids in the occupied West Bank and attempting to shift the “status quo” of East Jerusalem, including Al-Aqsa Mosque, as the world’s focus remains on the Gaza war, said Hassan Barari, a professor of international affairs at Qatar University.
“[Settlers] think that is a kind of a golden opportunity, that the region is in turmoil and the government is the [most] extremist in history … and they want to exploit this in order to change the status quo [of] the mosque,” Barari told Al Jazeera.
“The international community is either complicit or indifferent to what is happening in the West Bank and East Jerusalem,” he added, noting that Western leaders issue empty condemnations with little action.
“Israel feels it has impunity to do whatever it wants in the West Bank.”
Source: Al Jazeera and news agencies
Netanyahu’s Gaza war complements Zionist settler expansion: report
Israeli Prime Minister is prolonging the genocidal offensive in the Palestinian enclave to ensure his far-right allies help him stay in power, a new report indicates.
ZEYNEP CONKAR
AUGUST 12,2024
Netanyahu faces corruption charges in Israel and remains prime minister only with the support of far-right parties that back him as coalition partners.
An academy under Türkiye's National Intelligence Organisation (MIT) has published an in-depth report on Israel's war on Gaza, revealing that the Israeli government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has “openly engaged in genocide” in a desperate bid to retain political support.
The report titled "The Radical Right in Israel" states that some of the most important groups influencing Israel's political and military decisions after October 7 are the “fanatical, violent, far-right groups” in the country.
These groups are fervently pushing for the ongoing occupation and genocidal bombing of Gaza, the expulsion of its Palestinian residents, and the illegal settlement of the land.
‘Openly engaged in genocide’
But not everything is working out in Netanyahu’s favour.
A disagreement between the Israeli army and the far-right coalition members has reached a new level, with the military planning “a bloody but relatively more controlled occupation process,” contrary to Netanyahu’s open engagement in genocidal war.
The report highlights that this situation intensifies the rift between high-ranking military officials, eager to see Netanyahu removed from power, and the current government, which is dominated by the far-right.
"Former military members who saw Netanyahu, whom they almost viewed as a Trojan horse for the radical right, regaining his political power, realised that towards the end of the sixth month of the war, Netanyahu was actually extending the war and committing violent massacres to compensate for his own political losses," the report added.
Hence, these ex-military members openly stated that Netanyahu had no clear plan and “began pressuring Netanyahu for a clear plan that would ultimately see Israel withdraw from Gaza.”
In that regard, on June 19, the Israeli military spokesperson stated that promises to destroy Palestinian resistance group Hamas are "misleading," in apparent criticism of the country's political leadership.
“Anyone promising to eradicate Hamas is misleading the public,” Daniel Hagari said in an interview, adding that “Hamas is an idea. Those who think it can be made to disappear are wrong”.
Netanyahu's diplomatic manoeuvres aimed at delaying the end of the war can be associated with this situation, the report revealed.
The analysis also states that the far-right groups' advocacy for making the occupation of Gaza permanent and opening Gaza up for illegal Jewish settlement is a new point of contention with the Israeli army.
The army, which the report says opposes the current government, claims that securing an Israeli presence in Gaza would entail significant military and financial costs.
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Why does far-right push for illegal settlement?
According to the report, the primary motivation of Israel's far-right is "to completely Judaise the area from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea,” aiming to realise the concept of the "promised land," a key narrative in Zionism which asserts that Palestine with Jerusalem as its centre was promised by God to the Jews forever.
In this context, settler colonialism, which seeks to forcibly steal Palestinian land, is an inherent part of far-right politics in Israel, the report indicates.
Israel’s radical right’s view of Gaza sheds light on their motivations for seeking to fully reoccupy and repopulate Gaza with illegla Jewish settlers.
The report also suggests that Netanyahu’s approach of intensified attacks on Gaza is potentially related to his efforts to safeguard his political career against the radical right's populist pressures.
Netanyahu faces corruption charges in Israel and remains prime minister only with the support of far-right parties that back him as coalition partners.
Tension between far-right and seculars
Since 1967, Israel has occupied East Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Golan Heights, and, except for the 2005-2023 period, Gaza, in violation of international law.
“The violent extremists have established illegal settlements in these areas after 1967. Israel has a long history of using these elements as a pretext to maintain military presence in these regions,” says the report.
The settler groups living in the West Bank demand that Israel demonstrate greater military presence in the region and keep tensions high by committing acts of terror against Palestinians. These come at a cost: military and financial, according to the report.
“This situation causes serious tension between the fanatical, far-right groups in Israel and the high-level military cadres, a significant portion of whom are liberal-secular Israelis," it said.
Some of the senior Israeli officers, including Air Force pilots come from secular Jewish families and they are opposed to Netanyahu and the Israeli far right parties. They have been protesting over the last few years against the far right trying to destroy the judicial system.
Significant sections of the Israeli military, which don’t agree with the domestic agenda of the far-right groups, suggest that securing a Jewish presence in this area would involve significant financial costs.
The report explains that Israel's withdrawal from Gaza in 2005 and the evacuation of settlements caused the violent settlers to develop sceptical and cautious attitudes towards the Israeli state.
In this atmosphere of distrust, the fanatical far-right groups established various civil society networks to meet their legal and financial needs independently of the state when necessary, and despite receiving significant support from the state, these organisations have become important tools for the far-right to engage in Israeli politics.
Far-right civil society organisations significantly influence political decisions, support settlement expansion, shape public opinion, engage in legal advocacy, form security militias, undermine peace efforts, and impact government policies, thereby promoting a nationalist and expansionist agenda.
Although their presence is much higher in civil society than in politics, currently with two political parties in the Knesset, Religious Zionist and Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power), the far-right keeps pushing for aggressive nationalist policies and the expansion of settlements.
As a key far-right figure, the National Security Minister and the leader of the Otzma Yehudit, Itamar Ben-Gvir, se
Therefore, he is completely opposed to the existence of a Palestinian state and advocates for Palestinians to be expelled to other Arab countries.
Radical pro-settler Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich is another influential figure who is one of the founders of Regavim, a civil society organisation established to slow down and prevent Palestinian construction activities.
All actions related to illegal settlement activities in the occupied West Bank require Smotrich's approval, leading to an expansion of settlements and placing their management in the hands of settler figures more than ever before.
SOURCE: TRT WORLD
Zeynep Conkar
Zeynep Conkar is a deputy producer at TRT World.
@zeyneepconkar
Ben Gvir scorns PM’s objections as Jews seen praying on Temple Mount: ‘It’s my policy’
As worshipers prostrate themselves during minister’s visit, Netanyahu pans breach of status quo, but Ben Gvir shrugs him off; outraged Haredim warn they may reconsider partnership
The uproar began as Ben Gvir visited the Temple Mount on Tuesday morning to mark the solemn Jewish fast day of Tisha B’Av, which mourns the destruction of the Temples that once stood in Judaism’s holiest site. Some of the Jewish visitors were filmed praying and prostrating themselves, in violation of police instructions.
The vague status quo governing the compound, the holiest site in Judaism and third-holiest in Islam, allows Muslims to pray and enter with few restrictions, while non-Muslims, including Jews, can visit only during limited time slots via a single gate. Visibly religious Jews are only allowed to walk on a predetermined route, closely accompanied by police.
Palestinians often claim Israel wishes to assert greater control over the Mount, and the issue is seen as a particularly sensitive one, with explosive potential for the region. Violations of the status quo are viewed by Israeli security officials as having the potential to set off mass unrest. The Temple Mount has been the scene of frequent clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli security forces, and tensions at the disputed compound have fueled past rounds of violence.
While Jews are not officially allowed to pray, police have increasingly tolerated limited, quiet prayer in recent years.
But Tuesday’s prayers were far more explicit, with numerous men flattening themselves on the ground, and loud calls of “Shema Yisrael” heard in videos from the scene.
Ben Gvir, who was joined at the site by fellow Otzma Yehudit minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf, filmed a video at the scene, saying over background calls of “Shema”: “There is great progress here on [matters of Israeli] sovereignty and rule, images of Jews praying here as I’ve said. Our policy is to allow prayer.”
It was the third time the police minister has made such a claim while visiting the Mount, with the Prime Minister’s Office being repeatedly forced to issue denials that this was Israel’s policy.
But police did not appear to take any action to stop the prayers in the videos on Tuesday.
Ben Gvir also said, with the Dome of the Rock in the background, that “we must win this war [against Hamas]” and “bring them to their knees.”
Religious journalist Arnon Segal was ebullient, writing on X, “The Temple Mount is ours. A historic and dramatic day: Prostrations, loud singing and prayer in the presence of ministers… A dream come true.”
The Prime Minister’s Office once again rebuffed the top minister’s claim, saying, “Policy at the Temple Mount is directly subject to the government and the prime minister. There is no private policy by a specific minister at the Temple Mount — neither by the national security minister nor by any other minister.”
The PMO went further this time, in light of the clear footage of prayers taking place, saying, “The incident this morning at the Temple Mount is a deviation from the status quo. Israel’s policy at the Temple Mount hasn’t changed.”
But Ben Gvir brushed off the reprimand, doubling down on his assertion.
“The national security minister’s policy is to enable freedom of worship for Jews in all places, including the Temple Mount, and Jews will continue to do so in the future as well,” he said in a defiant statement.
“The Temple Mount is a sovereign area in the State of Israel’s capital,” Ben Gvir added. “There is no law that permits engaging in racist discrimination against Jews at the Temple Mount or anywhere else in Israel.”
In reaction to the incident, police did at one point delay the continued entry of observant Jews, who were initially allowed to enter in groups of 100. After the visits were renewed, security forces cut the groups down to 50 each.
The official Palestinian news agency Wafa, quoting the Jordanian Waqf, said some 2,000 Jews had entered the site on Tuesday, with the number expected to rise throughout the day.
Muslim and Jewish anger
Criticism of Ben Gvir’s visit to the Temple Mount poured in from all directions, including from Arab and Western leaders, members of the opposition and even ultra-Orthodox lawmakers who are Ben Gvir’s partners in the coalition (Haredim are opposed to Jewish visits to the site, believing its holiness precludes setting foot there nowadays).
MK Moshe Gafni, head of the Degel HaTorah faction of the United Torah Judaism party, charged that Ben Gvir doesn’t care about the “harm to the Temple Mount’s sanctity and the status quo,” alleging he was causing immense damage to the Jewish nation and causing unnecessary hate on Tisha B’Av.
He said that his faction would have to “check with our rabbis whether we can be partners with him, and will clarify this to the prime minister as well.”
Gafni has repeatedly threatened to bolt the coalition over several issues, but has not followed through.
Religious Affairs Minister Michael Malkieli (Shas) reiterated the Chief Rabbinate’s stance against Jewish visits to the site due to its holiness, adding that it also constituted “unnecessary provocation to nations around the world.”
He quoted the fathers of religious Zionism, Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook and his son Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook, as saying that Jewish sovereignty in Israel must not be achieved via means that go against the Torah.
“Ben Gvir’s electioneering at the Temple Mount, which completely goes against the stance of security officials, during a war, is endangering the lives of Israeli citizens and the lives of our soldiers and police officers,” Opposition Leader Yair Lapid argued in a post on X.
“This bunch of irresponsible extremists in the government is trying to drag Israel to an all-out regional war,” he added. “These people can’t run a country.”
Ra’am MK Waleed Alhawashla wrote on X, “Red lines were crossed today at Al-Aqsa with mass provocations by extremists. Ben Gvir and his supporters yearn for more war and more fatalities, yearning for conflagration.”
Hadash-Ta’al MK Ahmad Tibi called Ben Gvir a “pyromaniac” who has decided to go ahead with “any provocation to bring about a regional war,” and placed the blame on Netanyahu for letting him “go wild for the sake of his political survival.”
Beyond the issue of prayers, Palestinian and Arab leaders view the uptick in Jewish visits as a violation of the status quo in and of itself.
Jordan issued a strident statement condemning the far-right ministers’ visit to the Temple Mount, which it said “reflects the insistence of the Israeli government and its extremist members to disregard international law and Israel’s obligations as the occupying power.”
Amman urged the international community to “firmly” condemn the visit, alleging that the site is an exclusive place of worship for Muslims and is under the jurisdiction of the Jordanian Waqf, and asserting that Israel has no sovereignty over the “occupied city of Jerusalem and its Islamic and Christian holy sites.”
The Palestinian Authority also condemned Israel for allowing the worshipers to visit the site, calling it a “dangerous provocation.”
Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for PA President Mahmoud Abbas, said Ramallah holds Israel “responsible for these practices” and called on the United States to “intervene immediately to stop these provocations against our holy religious sites.”
Egypt said it “condemns the storming of the courtyards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque by two Israeli ministers, members of the Israel Knesset, hundreds of Israeli settlers and extremists, and the raising of the Israeli flag, under the protection of the Israeli police.
It also called on the international community to “play an active role in confronting these violations that stir up emotions and thwart efforts to reach a ceasefire in Gaza.”
Over the years, a network of far-right groups has produced politicians who now influence Israeli policies, says a report by Türkiye’s National Intelligence Organisation (MIT).
FATIH SEMSETTIN ISIK
AUGUST 12, 2024
A group of fanatic Jewish settlers sit on the ground at the exit of Ashdod Port and block trucks carrying aid to Gaza, in Ashdod, Israel on February 4, 2024. / Photo: AA
Israel's brutal war on Gaza is supported and championed by its prominent far-right politicians, alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
While many attribute the rise of the far-right to Netanyahu, this emergence of the far-right is not a recent phenomenon, but has been in the works for a long time in which civil society organisations have played a significant role.
Far-right Israeli politicians Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich have emerged from these groups.
Ben Gvir, Minister of National Security, and Finance Minister Smotrich, leaders of the Otzma Yehudit and Religious Zionism parties respectively, have moved from marginal positions to become central figures on the current political landscape.
To understand the influence these far-right politicians, who also belong to far-right social groups, have on Israel’s policy, judiciary reform, and its larger political arena, a report has been published by the academic branch of Türkiye’s National Intelligence Organisation (MIT).
Events such as the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, Camp David Accord in 1978, Oslo Peace Accord in 1994 and the 2005 Israel’s Gaza withdrawal have radicalised the far-right in Israel, the report indicates.
The report delves deeply into the relationship between the radical right groups in Israel and Netanyahu's government, highlighting the significant influence these groups have on government policy.
The study extensively examines the far-right's NGO network, and emphasises on the extensive network that has enabled the far-right to influence Israel's policies against Palestinians by enforcing settler colonialism: which seeks to forcibly steal Palestinian land.
"Another function of civil society organisations and think tanks for radical right-wing groups in Israel is the dissemination of their agenda, which may initially be perceived as radical, through the voices of civil actors in the media and public sphere," says the report.
In this context, it is essential to examine some of these far-right organisations and their ideological sameness and differences.
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and fanatical Jewish settlers, participated in a provocative "Flag March" organised in reference to Israel's occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967, passing through the Damascus Gate to the Old City of Jerusalem on May 18, 2023. / Photo: AA
Mercaz Harav Yeshiva
After the Arab-Israeli war in 1967, the far-right in Israel became more politically prominent. But the institutions that ideologically support the idea of Israel date back many decades - even before the Zionist was state carved out Palestine. Chief among these, and perhaps religiously the most significant, is the Mercaz Harav yeshiva (Jewish traditional school).
Mercaz Harav (The Rabbi's Centre) is a yeshiva founded in 1924 by Rabbi Avraham Kook, one of the founders of Religious Zionism, during the British Mandate in Jerusalem.
Kook's teaching of Religious Zionism, which assigns a messianic role to the Israeli state, was incorporated into the curriculum of this yeshiva. Over time, Mercaz Harav became one of Israel's largest and most central higher religious education institutions.
In the 1970s and 1980s, the Gush Emunim (Bloc of the Faithful) movement, which spearheaded the emergence and spread of Jewish settlements in the West Bank after the Israeli occupation, was founded by students of Rabbi Kook from Mercaz Harav. Some members of the group became further radicalised, carrying out several terror attacks and plotting to blow up the Dome of the Rock.
The school also serves as a "cloak of legitimacy" that the far-right use for electoral gains.
During a May 2023 speech in the institution on the occasion of marking so-called Jerusalem Day, in reference to Israel's occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, upon invitation along with prominent members of his Likud party, signalled that the far-right could not find a better ally than him.
Banners depicting then-US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, by the Yesha Council bearing the words in Hebrew, "No to a Palestinian State" and "Sovereignty Do it right!", in Jerusalem June 10, 2020. / Photo: Reuters Archive
Yesha Council
The Yesha Council, the umbrella organisation that represents illegal settlers, was established in 1980 as a successor to Gush Emunim (Block of the Faithful).
Gush Emunim worked to promote illegal Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, which they regarded as the return of Jews to their Biblical homeland. The Yesha Council provides the settlers with a platform to participate in politics.
The Council has played a significant role in the recent policies to entrench the Israeli occupation in the West Bank and hinder the establishment of a Palestinian state. For instance, the council lobbied for the establishment of the road network that divides the West Bank and is used exclusively by Israelis in the territory.
It also pressured the Netanyahu government to apply Israeli domestic law directly to illegal settlements like Maale Adumim and terminate the UN-led Hebron International Presence which was established after the 1994 Hebron massacre. The motion was passed in 2019.
David Elhayani, the chairman of Yesha Council, opposed the formation of the Palestinian state proposed in Trump’s Mideast peace plan.
A general view of Silwan neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem, where Elad aims to strengthen the Jewish connection to Jerusalem and create a Jewish majority in Palestinian neighborhoods. Photo: AA Archive
Elad
Another institution of the far-right political network is Ir David Foundation (Amutat Elad). The organisation is based in the tourist site City of David/Ir David in occupied East Jerusalem.
It promotes a narrative of Jerusalem’s history that relies on controversial excavations in order to solely celebrate the Jewish history of the area, erasing much of the site’s history. The organisation established a political theme park in Silwan, in which excavations led to the damage of Palestinian homes.
Since the 1980s, the Jewish National Fund has reportedly financed the group to pursue settlement actions. Another report states that donations were made through the Bahamas, the Virgin Islands and the Seychelles or the "tax haven" to avoid recording them, and Israeli tax authorities ignored Elad's budget.
Considered one of the wealthiest NGOs, the group supervises about 70 settlement outposts in Silwan, and has reportedly received around $7.9 million to support Judaisation projects in the Wadi Rababah neighbourhood in the area.
Elad’s method of harnessing not only the land, but what lies beneath it, in order to bring about historical revisionism, which has always been central to Israeli nation-building. But it has, under increasingly right-wing governments over the past few decades, become ever-more brazen in its scope.
Israelis demonstrate outside the headquarters of the Kohelet Policy Forum in Jerusalem, March 9, 2023. / Photo: Reuters Archive
Kohelet Policy Forum
The Kohelet Policy Forum is an influential right-wing think tank actively shaping Israel’s legislative agenda. It played a crucial role in drafting the contentious 2018 Nation-State Law and the judicial reforms proposed in January 2023.
It also orchestrates media campaigns, preparing speeches and op-eds for ministers and Knesset members to advocate for these divisive legislations. The forum is funded by American Jewish billionaires Arthur Dantchik and Jeffrey Yass and currently led by Moshe Koppel, who received his traditional Jewish education at Yeshivat Har Etzion, which is located at the Alon Shvut settlement.
The Kohelet also established the Shilo Forum following Trump’s proposal of the 2017 relocation of the US Embassy to Jerusalem, which advocates the annexation of Area C in the occupied West Bank.
Bezalel Smotrich, center, waves an Israeli flag together with other Jewish settlers during the provocative "Flag March" next to Damascus Gate, outside Jerusalem's Old City, Tuesday, June 15, 2021. / AP Archive
Regavim and Komemiyut
Regavim (Pieces of land) is an organisation that closely monitors Palestinian construction activities in both Israel and the occupied West Bank, reporting issues related to building permits and other legal loopholes to the Israeli government. Its aim is to minimise Palestinian construction and urbanisation activities.
The organisation was established in 2006 right after the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
Regavim's stated goals include "halting the Palestinian takeover of Area C [of the West Bank]," "strengthening the Kaminitz Law," and "restoring governance to the Negev." Since its inception, Regavim has employed drones and aerial photography to closely monitor construction by Palestinians in occupied territories and Palestinian citizens of Israel.
Regavim’s more extreme sister organisation, Komemiyut (Independence), was established shortly after Regavim.
Both of them have almost identical lists of founders.
Komemiyut's foundation rests on an NGO called "Komemiyut – Jewish Spirit and Heroism". The NGO was established in 2006 with Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich as one of its founding members.
Smotrich, served as operations director for Regavimt. The current Israeli finance minister and defence minister in charge of illegal settlement in the occupied West Bank. David Friedman, the former U.S. Ambassador to Israel under President Trump, also served as the organisation's director from 2011 to 2017.
It is also involved in the Garin Torani movement. The members of the movement have moved to the geographic and social periphery of Israel – especially if you are nonreligious, educated and liberal. It follows a religious nationalist ideology on the far right of Israeli politics.
Unlike Regavim, which presents a more ‘diplomatic’ face of the far-right pro-settler groups, Komemiyut openly declares its mission of “enhancing Jewish uprightness as a central national idea in the State of Israel, reinforcing Jewish settlement and thwarting intentions to expel Jews.” It also supports the establishment of a Halachic (Talmudic law) state, rejecting a Jewish state based on a secular law.
Among the rabbis of this movement is Dov Lior, rabbi of Kiryat Arba (the largest Jewish settlement in Hebron) and Rabbi Haim Yerucham Smotrich, of Beit Yatir (Jewish settlement in the South Hebron Hills), who is the father of Bezalel Smotrich.
Meir Ettinger attends a remand hearing at the Magistrates Court in Nazareth, Israel August 4, 2015. / Photo: Reuters Archive
Noar Hagvaot and Mered
Noar Hagvaot (Hilltop Youth) is a settler youth organisation that establishes and expands outposts in the occupied West Bank. The organisation is a derivation of the ideology Rabbi Meir Kahane, who, in 1971, founded right-wing Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) Party, advocating Jewish supremacy. The party’s leader, Itamar Ben-Gvir, serves as the Minister of National Security in the 37th government.
Hilltop Youth or Noar Hagvaot is led by Meir Ettinger, a Kahanist activist, that pursues the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and conducts attacks on Palestinian villages.
He has the pedigree. He is the grandson of Meir Kahane, his maternal grandfather, and Mordechai Ettinger, a rabbi at the Ateret Cohanim yeshiva.
Ettinger is also the leader of Mered (Revolt), a group responsible for the 2015 arson on the home of a Palestinian couple, killing them and their 18-month-old child in Dawabsheh in the occupied West Bank.
Following the attack, the Israeli officials uncovered Mered’s activities, revealing Ettinger calls for the “dispossession of gentiles” who inhabit the Holy Land and the replacement of the modern Israeli state with a new “kingdom of Israel” ruled by the laws of the Torah.
Rest of the groups
Other than the aforementioned groups, there are several organisations that aggressively push the far-right agenda in Israel, particularly focusing on occupied East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.
Ateret Cohanim is a yeshiva, located in Muslim quarters in the Old City of Jerusalem, and is notorious for its efforts to displace Palestinian residents by acquiring their properties in the occupied East Jerusalem.
Torat HaMedina founded by Yair Kartman and Yaakov Yakiv, who are also associated with the Movement for Governability and Democracy and Komemiyut, openly embraces its vision of a Halakha state. The group's website states its mission as "engaging in formulating public policy based on the Torah and advancing these policies through study, research, legislation, and public initiatives."
The Temple Mount Faithful movement is the oldest of the groups that demands the removal of the mosques from the Mount and its transformation into a Jewish centre. The Temple Mount Sifting Project and the Temple Institute are dedicated to the controversial and provocative goal of rebuilding the Jewish Temple, driven by a messianic zeal.
Haliba and B’Yadeynu advocate for Israeli sovereignty and Jewish prayer rights over the Al Aqsa Mosque, frequently raiding the area and inciting tensions with the Muslim community.
Lehava, which means "flame" in Hebrew, is the acronym for "Prevention of Assimilation in the Holy Land". Known for its extremist and often violent actions, the group targets Jewish people’s intermarriage and assimilation, promoting an extremist ideology. National Security minister Ben Gvir is a legal representative and a vocal supporter of the group.
SOURCE: TRT WORLD
Fatih Semsettin Isik
Fatih Semsettin Isik is a deputy researcher at the TRT World Research Centre. Before that, he worked as a research assistant and social media coordinator at Al Sharq Forum. He has a Bachelor's of Political Science from Bilkent University and Master's degrees in the same field from Istanbul Sehir University and Central European University. His research interests include Israeli politics, EU-Middle East Relations, Turkish Politics and the role of diasporas in foreign affairs.
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