Growth Of Religious Extremism In Israel Threatens The Peace Process
Allan C. Brownfeld
Special Interest Report
July-August 2000
The religious extremism which led to the assassination of Prime Minister Itzhak Rabin in 1995, is once again growing in Israel.
In June, Benny Katzover, a leader in the West Bank settlers movement, called Education Minister Yossie Sarid, head of the dovish Meretz Party, "an executioner among executioners" because he is "ready to transfer tens of thousands of Jews to the enlightened regime of his excellency Yasser Arafat." Katzover suggested that those protesting the peace process not stick to the "law book" in their demonstrations. Rabbi Daniel Shilo reiterated that "the transfer of parts of Eretz Yisrael amounts to treason." Shimon Riklin, leader of a group of young militant settlers, warned:
"If Barak evacuates settlements, he might be murdered." Carmi Gillon, head of the Shin Bet domestic security service, warns against such remarks, saying the possibility of their leading to violence should not be underestimated.
The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported in June that, "Threatening letters arrive regularly at the premier's office. One recently sent anonymously to Moledet Knesset Member Benny Elon read, `To the best of my judgment, one should prepare a shelf plan to assassinate Ehud Barak. Just like the Oslo Accord process was slowed down after the annihilation of Yitzhak Rabin, one can prevent withdrawal in the Golan by annihilating Ehud Barak.' Settler preparation for the `final battle are strongest in the areas where radicalism is usually most pronounced—Hebron, Beit-El and Kedumum."
In his new book, A Little Too Close To God. David Horovitz, editor of The Jerusalem Report, recalls that before the Rabin assassination he attended anti-Rabin rallies sponsored by Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud Party that he describes in these words: "I felt as if I were among wild animals, vicious, angry predators craving flesh and scenting blood. There was elation in the anger, elation bred of the certainty of eventual success." Now, he fears, this extremism is on the march once again.
Religious extremism has manifested itself not only in opposition to the peace process, but in a refusal to permit genuine religious freedom for non-Orthodox forms of Judaism. In June, a Conservative synagogue was set on fire, Yonathan Liebowitz, a spokesman for the Conservative movement, said witnesses reported seeing apparently Orthodox men, wearing black velvet skull caps fleeing as the flames raged. The synagogue had previously been defaced with graffiti that labeled it a place unworthy of worship.
The response to such religious violence has been minimal in Israeli religious and governmental circles. Writing in The Jerusalem Post (June 30, 2000), Barbara Sofer points out that when three synagogues were burned in Sacramento, California, the city's entire religious community—of Protestants, Catholics, Jews and Muslims, as well as the civic leadership, came together to show solidarity in the face of such a brutal assault. Law enforcement authorities quickly apprehended the guilty parties. In Israel, she laments, "Where is our religious establishment? Where are our political leaders to publicly condemn the violence? Rabbis cannot remain silent...I'm just one observant Jewish Jerusalemite, I condemn the violence against the synagogue. I condemn violence against any synagogue, any church, and any mosque..."
Synagogue president Hilary Herzberger said that, "If the chief rabbi had come out against such behavior, maybe it could have been prevented," Rabbi Ehud Brandel, president of the Masorti, the Conservative movement in Israel, said that the lack of a strong response by authorities the last time a synagogue was attacked "sent a message of encouragement to those radical groups,"
Rabbi Brandel declared: "We are still waiting for the Orthodox political and religious leadership to speak out." Legislator Meir Porush of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism bloc, accused the Conservative movement of being responsible for burning its own synagogue. This charge led Naomi Hazan of the secular Meretz Party to charge Porush with making "anti-Semitic statements" by blaming the victim for the crime.
Rabbi Andrew Sacks, director of the Conservative movement`s Rabbinical Assembly in Israel, said the key to change lies as much with the ultra-Orthodox establishment as with the police, who did not make any arrests after past attacks on Reform and Conservative synagogues. "I have no reason to think that the arson will change anything," he said, "As long as there is no punishment meted out, then what incentive is there for an individual not to do this?"
The religious extremism which led to the assassination of Prime Minister Itzhak Rabin in 1995, is once again growing in Israel.
In June, Benny Katzover, a leader in the West Bank settlers movement, called Education Minister Yossie Sarid, head of the dovish Meretz Party, "an executioner among executioners" because he is "ready to transfer tens of thousands of Jews to the enlightened regime of his excellency Yasser Arafat." Katzover suggested that those protesting the peace process not stick to the "law book" in their demonstrations. Rabbi Daniel Shilo reiterated that "the transfer of parts of Eretz Yisrael amounts to treason." Shimon Riklin, leader of a group of young militant settlers, warned:
"If Barak evacuates settlements, he might be murdered." Carmi Gillon, head of the Shin Bet domestic security service, warns against such remarks, saying the possibility of their leading to violence should not be underestimated.
The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported in June that, "Threatening letters arrive regularly at the premier's office. One recently sent anonymously to Moledet Knesset Member Benny Elon read, `To the best of my judgment, one should prepare a shelf plan to assassinate Ehud Barak. Just like the Oslo Accord process was slowed down after the annihilation of Yitzhak Rabin, one can prevent withdrawal in the Golan by annihilating Ehud Barak.' Settler preparation for the `final battle are strongest in the areas where radicalism is usually most pronounced—Hebron, Beit-El and Kedumum."
In his new book, A Little Too Close To God, David Horovitz, editor of The Jerusalem Report, recalls that before the Rabin assassination he attended anti-Rabin rallies sponsored by Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud Party that he describes in these words: "I felt as if I were among wild animals, vicious, angry predators craving flesh and scenting blood. There was elation in the anger, elation bred of the certainty of eventual success." Now, he fears, this extremism is on the march once again.
Religious extremism has manifested itself not only in opposition to the peace process, but in a refusal to permit genuine religious freedom for non-Orthodox forms of Judaism. In June, a Conservative synagogue was set on fire, Yonathan Liebowitz, a spokesman for the Conservative movement, said witnesses reported seeing apparently Orthodox men, wearing black velvet skull caps fleeing as the flames raged. The synagogue had previously been defaced with graffiti that labeled it a place unworthy of worship.
The response to such religious violence has been minimal in Israeli religious and governmental circles. Writing in The Jerusalem Post (June 30, 2000), Barbara Sofer points out that when three synagogues were burned in Sacramento, California, the city's entire religious community—of Protestants, Catholics, Jews and Muslims, as well as the civic leadership, came together to show solidarity in the face of such a brutal assault. Law enforcement authorities quickly apprehended the guilty parties. In Israel, she laments, "Where is our religious establishment? Where are our political leaders to publicly condemn the violence? Rabbis cannot remain silent...I'm just one observant Jewish Jerusalemite, I condemn the violence against the synagogue. I condemn violence against any synagogue, any church, and any mosque..."
Synagogue president Hilary Herzberger said that, "If the chief rabbi had come out against such behavior, maybe it could have been prevented," Rabbi Ehud Brandel, president of the Masorti, the Conservative movement in Israel, said that the lack of a strong response by authorities the last time a synagogue was attacked "sent a message of encouragement to those radical groups,"
Rabbi Brandel declared: "We are still waiting for the Orthodox political and religious leadership to speak out." Legislator Meir Porush of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism bloc, accused the Conservative movement of being responsible for burning its own synagogue. This charge led Naomi Hazan of the secular Meretz Party to charge Porush with making "anti-Semitic statements" by blaming the victim for the crime.
Rabbi Andrew Sacks, director of the Conservative movement`s Rabbinical Assembly in Israel, said the key to change lies as much with the ultra-Orthodox establishment as with the police, who did not make any arrests after past attacks on Reform and Conservative synagogues. "I have no reason to think that the arson will change anything," he said, "As long as there is no punishment meted out, then what incentive is there for an individual not to do this?"
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