On Thursday 29 December, the Knesset (the Israeli Parliament) passed the vote of confidence in the new Israeli government: now in office, it is the most right-wing government in the history of the country. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, already indicted for corruption, returns to power in coalition with the extreme religious and nationalist right.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, 29 December 2022. © photo by AMIR COHEN / AFP
Let’s take a look at some of the key figures in the cabinet.
Itamar Ben Gvir (Jewish Power Party), Minister of National Security. He was a pupil of Meir Kahane, a racist rabbi whose anti-Arab Kach party was outlawed. Until a few years ago, Ben Gvir had a photo of Baruch Goldstein, the terrorist who massacred 29 Palestinians praying at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron in 1994, hanging in his home. In 2008, he was seen kicking a trans woman during a pride parade.
Young people cheer Ben Gvir by chanting:
“Your villages [Palestinians’, ed.] must burn down”.
Ben Gvir is in charge of the police and is already working to grant legal immunity to soldiers, ban the Palestinian flag in educational institutions, and institute death penalty for terrorism.
Bezalel Smotrich (Religious Zionist party), Minister of Finance and Minister of Defence. He’s an Orthodox Jewish, born and raised in Israeli colonies in the Golan Heights and the West Bank. He campaigned for the legalisation of Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, of which he now controls the civil administration. The government has already drawn up a plan to facilitate and support, also financially, the settlement of Israeli colonies in the West Bank, announcing that Jewish people have a “natural right” to all of Israel’s biblical lands, which annexation will be encouraged “within the limits of national and international interests”.
In addition, members of Smotrich’s party campaign for the right of private businesses to refuse service based on their religious beliefs: one party member said that, for instance, a hotel owner ought to be allowed to deny accommodation to a gay couple.
Avi Maoz (Noam party), deputy prime minister and in charge of founding a new “Authority for Jewish National Identity”. He too is a fundamentalist representative of Orthodox Judaism and has described the Jerusalem Pride as a “shame and disgrace”.
Jerusalem Pride Parade. © photo by Ohad Zwigenberg / haaretz.com
Maoz will lead the Ministry of Education Unit that supervises and finances extra-curricular activities in schools: school trips, projects, in-depth studies, meetings with associations… the perfect scenarios to convey, outside the school curriculum, identitarian ideas, religious fanaticism and anti-LGBTQ+ beliefs.
THE RIGHT-WING GAINS LEGITIMACY AMONG YOUTH AND LGBTQ+ PEOPLE
The election results reveal that society is increasingly drifting to the right, where nationalism and racism progress at a faster pace and in a different manner than in European societies. If the success of the right-wing in Italy is often attributed to the demographic and political weight of older generations and the low-turnout of the younger ones, in Israel data show a more disturbing reality: according to a study by the Israel Democracy Institute, 70% of young Jewish Israelis aged between 18 and 24 identify with the right-wing. In the 2021 elections, 7% of this age group voted for the Religious Zionist party, while in the over-65 group the percentage dropped to 3.4%.
There is also a relevant number of LGBTQ+ people supporting the right-wing. While feeling ostracised by the rest of the community, who sees them as “traitors” of their own cause, these people sometimes claim that their political choice not being influenced by their sexual orientation or gender identity is a sign of progress. Or they feel inclined to put their demands as LGBTQ+ people on the back burner, and prioritise the national issue which, they feel, is the utmost priority. Or, then again, they want to negotiate with the right-wing leadership to slowly advance gender and sexuality issues, pointing out that even Ben Gvir and Smotrich have softened their tones compared to the past. Here’s a quote from a gay man belonging to Jewish Power:
“From my perspective, the issue of LGBTQ rights today comes down to: I have to travel abroad to get married, instead of being able to get married in Israel. To me, issues like gender education at school, or whether you can register as queer or a non-binary person on your identity card, are eccentric stuff. They have nothing to do with basic LGBTQ rights. In my opinion, there are more pressing issues: expelling infiltrators [asylum seekers], personal security, the State’s Jewish identity, a right-wing economy”
VOICES SPEAKING UP AGAINST
The thousands of people who blocked the streets of Tel Aviv on Thursday night waving rainbow flags think and feel quite differently. As do the thousands who protested on the same night outside the Knesset in Jerusalem, during the government’s swearing-in.
Some Israeli LGBTQ+ organisations have already found creative ways to resist: the “Jerusalem Pride” organising group named its annual fundraising campaign “Avi Maoz” (after Noam’s homophobic politician) and planned to send the politician a thank-you letter every time they receive a donation for the event. Within 48 hours, 700 donations arrived – and as many letters were sent to Maoz. The association Israel Hofsheet offered free advice and marriage ceremonies to lesbian couples even though, let’s not forget, same-sex unions are not legal in Israel. These couples, then, need to get married abroad for their union to be legally recognised in their own country.
The majority of opposition voices sees the new government as a grave danger, and the demise of Israel’s chance to establish itself as a democratic, secular and liberal state. However, there are some other, rarer Israeli voices who harbour a paradoxical hope: that precisely a politician like Ben-Gvir is the hope for Israel. According to journalist Gideon Levy, liberal democracy was used as a smoke screen allowing the Israeli state to commit apartheid crimes against Palestinians and get off scot-free before the International Community. Now, with an explicitly racist politician like Ben-Gvir in office, the International Community might finally wake up. Because, in his opinion, in the face of Israel’s moral and political degradation, change can only come from a firm reaction of the International Community.
Much of the Palestinian militant world, too, sees a substantial continuity between this government and the Israeli colonial policies implemented since the founding of the State.
With the election of this new government, that from this point of view “shows the world the true face of Zionism”, the “moment of truth for Palestine” has finally arrived.
But will this “truth” bring better outcomes than “make-believe”?
THE SUPPORT OF BROTHERS OF ITALY
If we take into consideration what happened on our side, the reaction of the International Community does not bode well. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni congratulated Netanyahu, and promised full cooperation to ensure “stability and peace in the Middle East”.
After all, the European Conservatives and Reformists Group, of which Meloni is chairperson, is an ally of Netanyahu’s Likud. Brothers of Italy has often reiterated its support for Israel, that MP Edmondo Cirielli defined as “the only currently existing democracy in the Middle East”. Actually, BoI’s support for Israel is often used to prove their distance from fascism and anti-Semitism.
But how long can the word “democracy” coexist unhindered with racism and discrimination, now so explicit?
Simone Spera
translation by Antonio Pauletta
©2022 Il Grande Colibrì
Cover Image: Rendition on photo by AMIR COHEN / AFP
