File: A general view of the Givat Ronen outpost in the West Bank on October 25, 2006 (Olivier Fitoussi / Flash 90)
This past month we have witnessed several worrying incidents of extremists on the far right in Israeli society.
On August 9th, two Israeli Bedouin women were driving with a two year-old toddler to the Palestinian city of Nablus when they mistakenly entered Givat Ronen. Settlers threatened them and stoned and burned their car. They were eventually protected by Israeli soldiers and taken to hospital, and Israeli security forces arrested the Israeli settlers suspected of the assault. Member of Knesset Limor Son Har-Melech, of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, tried to defend the act, claiming that the women’s car did not have an Israeli license plate.
In a second incident, on August 15th, dozens of masked settlers entered the village of Jit (near Nablus), and shot live ammunition, burned homes and cars, and damaged water tanks.
Although Israeli leadership has condemned these two settler attacks and Israeli security forces acted decisively by arresting suspects and investigating them, there is serious concern that such acts receive the explicit or implicit support of extremists in the Knesset and in the Government. While Itamar Ben Gvir leader of the Otzma Yehudit party remains Minister for national security, many extremists sense that they have support for their actions. This is a dangerous pathway. Israel has always been a democracy where the rule of law prevails, but if the extreme right gain more power, this could be under threat.
The Times of Israel reported that in an unprecedented act last week, Ronen Bar, chief of Shin Bet (Israeli internal security) sent a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Minister of defence Yoav Gallant, and several other government ministers accusing Ben Gvir of encouraging Jewish extremists and radical settlers in the West Bank and beyond and emboldening them to commit acts of “terror” against Palestinians without fear of consequences. Extremists have been encouraged by light-handed treatment of crimes and “a sense of secret backing” from police, Bar wrote. The Israel Police, under the far-right Ben Gvir, has repeatedly been accused of turning a blind eye to violence and intimidation by settler extremists.
This adds to the wider threat to Israeli democracy, where members of the current government have been working to delegitimize the Judiciary and the power of the attorney’s office, thus threatening the delicate balance and separation of powers that is so essential for a functioning pluralistic democratic society.
Internal threats to Israeli democracy from extreme right groups need to be met face on with strong opposition from moderate right and left members of society that stand for values of religious pluralism, gender equality, and rights of LGBTQI and other minority groups. Similarly, the threat to the legitimacy of the Jewish state and the Jewish people from the extreme left need to be met by strong opposition that stands for the rights of Israelis and Jews to live in peace and security in Israel and around the world.
ARZA Australia and our global movement ARZENU, together with the World Union for Progressive Judaism, are working to advance our values for a better future in world Jewry and Israeli society. We represent the voice of the progressive Australian Jewish community in the World Zionist Congress and fight for the values of democracy, pluralism and equality.
When I attended the emergency World Zionist Organisation conference (held in February 2024 in Jerusalem as a response to the October 7th massacre and its aftermath), we advocated and promoted several resolutions representing our values at the Vaad Hapoel (executive committee). This included a resolution that was passed, entitled “Lifting Jewish Communities Around the World” that supported recognition of reform conversion. And recently we received positive news of the recognition of a reform conversion from the community in Uganda, where the first member of the Abayudaya community was recognised as Jewish for the sake of Aliyah, thanks to the work of the Israeli Religious Action Center (IRAC).
You can refer to this and other resolutions we passed in this link:
www.wzo.org.il//Upload/media/Files/resolutions_as_adopted.pdf
We have an election coming up within a year for the next World Zionist Congress. Your membership is more important than ever before, so we can continue to represent the pluralistic voice of Australian Jewry for a better Israel. Each membership represents a vote for the number of mandates we will have compared to the orthodox and ultra conservative groups, impacting our power to promote our values in the Congress.
Unfortunately some congregations recently neglected to include ARZA membership as part of their shul membership. We urge you to become active members – your membership participation will go a long way to support our efforts to keep uniting the community and build the enlightened society we have been praying for. Please join now via this link:
Ayal Marek
President ARZA
Co VP UPJ