8 March 7 • 2019 jn views ADL.ORG M any American Jewish organizations generally refrain from commenting on Israeli electoral issues. The fact that so many felt they had no choice but to condemn the agreement to include Otzma Yehudit Party (Jewish Power) on a mainstream party list in advance of the April 9, 2019, national elections demon- strates the level of concern with which American Jews and pro-Israel groups view this development and its implications — both in Israel and abroad — for how Israel’ s democrat- ic society deals with extremism and respect for minorities. The leaders of Otzma Yehudit are self-identified disciples of U.S.-born Rabbi Meir Kahane, who preached a radical form of Jewish national- ism that promoted unabashed and virulent anti-Arab racism, violence and political extremism. While he was alive, ADL and the vast majority of American Jewish organizations (including the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit) and lead- ers roundly condemned Kahane and the organizations he founded including the Jewish Defense League (JDL) and Kach Party, seeing his extremism and hate as anathema to Judaism and democratic values. It was the same in Israel. For example, upon Kahane’ s election to the Knesset, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir and his Likud party rejected Kahane’ s bigotry and made it a point to leave the parliament hall when Kahane rose to speak. Ultimately, Kahane’ s racist activi- ties led to the banning of his Kach Party from the Knesset and it was made illegal under Israeli law, which remains in effect to this day. Kahane’ s extreme worldview didn’ t die out following his assassi- nation in 1990. Baruch Goldstein, the Jewish extremist who murdered 29 Palestinian worshippers in cold blood in Hebron in 1994, was a dis- ciple of his, as was Yigal Amir, the Jewish law student who murdered Israeli Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin in 1995. Horrifyingly, both Goldstein’ s and Amir’ s actions were met with defense and even praise by a number of rabbis and other lead- ers in Israel and the U.S., including some who currently make up the Otzma party. In recent years, many in Israel and within the American Jewish com- munity have called out the hateful rhetoric and policies of the figures now leading the Otzma Party, but fundamentally viewed them in the same light as political figures on the far left who condemned Zionism and supported terrorism, essentially as fringe entities within Israel’ s lively democratic spectrum. That all changed when, thanks to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’ s orchestration, the national-religious Jewish Home Party announced a merger agree- ment with Otzma Yehudit, ensuring that this newly formed union will likely pass the threshold to enter Knesset. As part of the union, Otzma Yehudit will get as many as two Knesset seats. In exchange for the unified party’ s joining a right- wing Likud-led coalition govern- ment following the April elections, Netanyahu has reportedly offered the Jewish Home two government ministries. It is this decision, which in the interest of political expediency, ignores the hateful and extrem- ist views and policies of Otzma Yehudit, and brings Kahane-inspired leadership from exile into the main- stream Israeli discourse, that led to the extraordinary reaction in Israel and from the American Jewish com- munity. ADL and others in the American Jewish community consistently speak out against U.S. leaders and officials, whether on the left or right of the political spectrum, who enable anti-Semitic and other hateful bigotry and rhetoric. The Jewish community has stood up and spoken out against the inclu- sion of extremist far-right political parties in European governments like Austria. We must do the same and use our moral voice to speak out against the mainstreaming of Otzma within Israel. A future Israeli government that includes Otzma or its political affiliates will challenge Israel’ s founding values of respect and equality for all its citizens. In the ongoing fight against hate in the world, one of the true tests for success is whether or not one is ready to take on haters in one’ s own community. We can only hope that Prime Minister Netanyahu, the array of Israel’ s political parties and the Israeli voting public, recognize the dangers of mainstreaming Otzma Yehudit. Failure to do so will have repercussions for Diaspora-Israel relations, for Israel’ s Arab and other minority communities, and certainly to the overall health and cohesion of Israel’ s democratic society. ■ This was first published on the ADL Blog on Feb. 28, 2019. commentary The Dangers of Mainstreaming Otzma Yehudit, Israel’s Jewish Power Party Michael Ben Ari, leader of the Otzma Yehudit party, is seen outside the Israeli Elections Committee, Feb. 21, 2019. YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90, JTA.ORG Other Voices • “It’ s strange, troubling and hypocritical that the ADL, AIPAC, the AJC and the Israel Policy Forum condemned the technical merger of two small right-wing pro-Israeli political parties, Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Strength) and Bayit Yehudi (Jewish Home), but remained silent about mergers of anti-Israel Arab parties led by Arab Knesset mem- bers who oppose the Jewish state’ s existence and engage in outright treacherous conduct, including assisting Palestinian Arab terrorists and inciting anti-Jewish terror,” the Zionist Organization of America said in a statement. • The Republican Jewish Coalition said it has a longstanding policy of not commenting on internal Israeli politics. • Writer Yossi Klein Halevi of the Shalom Hartman Institute says the recent actions by the Prime Minister is a “desecration of Israel.” (Times of Israel) • Israeli political analyst Haviv Rettig Gur writes that “for Netanyahu to fight publicly for openly racist parties to enter the Knesset is a new level of compromise in his long-running game to remain at the top.” (Times of Israel) • Michael Koplow says: “If you have a problem with American politicians who embrace or even tolerate Farrakhan, but you dismiss Netanyahu’ s latest with a shrug and an eye roll, your right to complain about racism and extremism is shot.” (The Forward) • Noah Siegel, U.S. Foreign Service officer in Tel Aviv, writes, “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu crossed every moral line for political gain in Israeli politics when he brokered a merger of the religious nationalist Jewish Home party with Otzma Yehudit, the racist successor to the Kach and Kahane Chai parties, who advocated for the “transfer” of Arabs from Israel and the occupied territories. This completes the near total rehabili- tation of Kahanists into mainstream Israeli politics, despite the fact that Otzma’ s leader, Michael Ben Ari, has been banned from entering the United States for nearly a decade because of his links to terrorism.” (JTA.org) • American Jewish Committee statement: “The views of Otzma Yehudit are reprehensible. They do not reflect the core values that are the very foundation of the State of Israel. The party might conceivably gain enough votes to enter the next Knesset and potentially even become part of the governing coalition. Historically, the views of extremist parties, reflecting the extreme left or the extreme right, have been firmly rejected by main- stream parties, even if the electoral process of Israel’ s robust democracy has enabled their pres- ence, however small, in the Knesset. Ultimately, it is up to Israel’ s Central Elections Commission to determine, as it has done in the past, wheth- er Otzma Yehudit can be listed on the ballot on Election Day.” See related story on page 31.