In 1995, a young Itamar Ben Gvir was filmed at a protest holding a badge he had ripped off Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin’s car.
“We got to his car, and we’ll get to him, too,” the future Israeli politician bragged.
Three weeks later, Rabin was assassinated by a far-right extremist. Ben Gvir had nothing to do with the murder, but 27 years later and on the cusp of potentially becoming a senior minister in the next Israeli government, the Otzma Yehudit party leader – though he says he has moderated – continues to espouse extremist views; the same nationalist and racist rhetoric that drove Rabin’s killer.
Many in our community were rightly outraged last week when our federal government withdrew Australia’s recognition of west Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
The betrayal of that policy reversal was so personal and deeply felt because our connection to the State of Israel is visceral. For many Australian Jews, it is a core part of our identity.
Which is precisely why we should be equally outraged that someone like Ben Gvir, and indeed, his factional ally of convenience, Religious Zionism leader Bezalel Smotrich, may be about to have a profound influence on Israel’s future.
The values espoused by these two men and their alliance not only run counter to democratic values, but also to our Jewish values.
A self-described disciple of the extremist Kach MK Rabbi Meir Kahane, who was convicted on terrorism charges and subsequently banned from the Knesset, Ben Gvir has himself been convicted on terror charges.
Until recently, he kept a picture of Baruch Goldstein, who murdered 29 Palestinians at the Cave of the Patriarchs in 1994, on a wall of his home in Hebron.
The name of his party, Otzma Yehudit, translates as “Jewish Power”; he has advocated for the expulsion of Israeli Arabs from the country. When street riots erupted in mixed cities during last May’s Israel-Hamas war, Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai accused Ben Gvir of fanning the flames.
And when he visited Jerusalem’s flashpoint Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood during clashes between Israelis and Palestinians earlier this month, he pulled out a gun and urged police to shoot the Arab stone throwers. He has also made a habit of visiting the Temple Mount at times of heightened tensions.
This is the man who is likely to be handed a senior ministry should Opposition Leader Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right coalition muster up a majority after next Tuesday’s Israeli election.
As for Smotrich, he was arrested by the Shin Bet in 2005 on suspicion of organising violent demonstrations against the Gaza disengagement.
Just one month ago, the Religious Zionism leader called for “the current Arab parties and their representatives” in Israel to be outlawed.
In 2020, Smotrich compared the birthrate among Negev Bedouin women to a “bomb”, saying “if we don’t neutralise [the explosive] mechanism, it will explode much harder on us”.
The right-wing lawmaker has also proposed a radical overhaul of Israel’s legal system to reduce the power of Israeli courts and hamper the Supreme Court’s ability to keep checks on Knesset legislation that falls foul of Israel’s Basic Laws, which could seriously imperil Israel’s democracy.
Both men reject Reform Judaism, Smotrich saying he considers non-Orthodox Judaism a “threat”, while Ben Gvir was quoted in 2020 by TheJ.ca as saying, “I don’t want Reform Judaism, Israel needs to be Jewish.”
And both have expressed anti-LGBTIQ sentiment, Smotrich declaring, “I’m a proud homophobe.”
The betrayal of that policy reversal was so personal and deeply felt because our connection to the State of Israel is visceral. For many Australian Jews, it is a core part of our identity.
At the last Israeli election, the alliance between Otzma Yehudit and Religious Zionism – brokered by Netanyahu to boost his own prime ministerial chances – won six seats. This time around, polls have the faction winning as many as 14 seats to become the third-largest party in the Knesset.
The values espoused by these two men and their alliance not only run counter to democratic values, but also to our Jewish values. Their increased influence could prove catastrophic for Israeli society’s uneasy cohesion, the robustness of Israel’s democracy and its image to the outside world.
Here in Australia, we vigorously defend Israel against the many slurs spouted by its detractors. Our young Jewish students bear the brunt on campus as student union after student union pass motions calling the Jewish State colonialist, racist and apartheid in nature. Earlier this month, the National Tertiary Education Union joined the fray with its own motion full of slanders against Israel.
We fight these things because we know we are right. But how are we to continue to effectively defend an Israel where Ben Gvir and Smotrich’s negative influence runs rampant, potentially dismantling all we defend and hold dear?
And as stated eloquently in an opinion piece this week, the increase in antisemitism that would result would put the safety of our communities under threat.
Much is at stake. While we respect Israel’s democratic process, we also must speak out against the mainstreaming of extremist ideologies in Israeli society. If extremists are given important positions in the Israeli government it could undermine not only Israel’s security, but its future as a Jewish and democratic state, negatively impacting it global standing, while having implications for the safety of Diaspora communities.
If we truly love the State of Israel and care for its future, in addition to condemning outside factors such as the Jerusalem reversal, UN resolutions, student motions and other unfair criticism of Israel as unacceptable, we need to equally call out the dire threats from within.
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