Extremist nationalism is known to stoke the fire of fascism. The Zionist State stands as one of the world’s last strongholds of fascism, as some Israeli leaders and officials have been recently tending to say — a view also confirmed by polls tracking opinions in Israel’s political society.
Haaretz, the liberal Israeli newspaper, warned lately of attempts by the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to expel Palestinian politicians from the 1948 areas outside the Zionist States’ ‘democratic system’ on racist grounds.
Plans were revealed recently designed to enable thousands of Jewish Israelis living abroad to vote in the general election in a bid to lay a siege on the 1948 Palestinians’ electoral power. On a more revealing level, a later editorial in Haaretz quoted David Bitan, Likud lawmaker and coalition chairman at the Knesset (the Israeli parliament) as saying he does not wish to see Arab citizens taking part in the election because “95 per cent of them would vote for the Arab Joint List that does not represent them, but represents the Palestinian (National Authority) interest”!
The newspaper also noted that Bitan’s statement may not be a passing comment, but could have practical connotations, considering that his wish does not only denote his ignorance of the democracy laws, but also his racist position, which reveals an ambition to carry out a political transfer of the 1948 Palestinians. Recently, the Israeli Defence Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, suggested land exchange involving expulsion of the 1948 Palestinians to the 1967 lands as a precondition for negotiations. Now Bitan seeks to expel them beyond the walls of democracy!
For his part, Israel’s Education Minister Naftali Bennett plans recommendations for a “code of conduct” in the higher education institutes in a bid to minimise the political influence of the Israeli Left in the universities. Israeli journalists Zohar Shavit and Yaacov Shavit jointly wrote a satirical article, suggesting that the recommendations of Bennett be added to forbidden terminology along with a similar list that may be applied during lectures or debates and chats in the hallways or in university cafes. The two writers continued to say that as expected, the minister will soon find that his document will not be enough and will then move to send in his undercover men “armed with knowledge and disguised as university students in classes listening to every word that may go out of line”!
Israeli writer Sami Michael (an Iraqi Jew who migrated to Israel) spoke about a “filthy trinity” in Israel “represented in a corrupt regime, a greedy capital system that swallows everything and a violent metaphysical religion”.
He said the Israeli society “stands paralysed and confused before such a trinity, while Israel slips into the dark third world, moving far away from the enlightened democratic world”.
He added that Israel is swarmed with armies of rabbis in the form of spiritual guides “whispering into our ears ... until grave, many with immunity to criticism even if they were thieves, rapists, racist inciters protected by politicians who smell of fascism”. Michael concluded by admitting that in the reality of the occupation, “the violent [colonisation] in a land that is not ours, coupled with theft initiatives, makes the image of the violent occupier in the Israeli culture a source of admiration”.
Within the same picture, Israeli writer Aviad Kleinberg said that “the Israeli prime minister really believes that when Jews steal Arab land, even in disregard to law, they do an ethical Jewish act; stealing from the Arabs is always for the ... pride and glory of Israel!” Thus, views expressed by Israeli writers and politicians are not isolated from the situation on the ground. In fact they do expose the fascist thinking of Netanyahu’s government.
The fascist mentality-trends in Israel are not just restricted to its influential leaders. It is perceived along the lines of the various sectors of Israeli society, which has shifted to the Right and extreme Right since the beginning of the past decade. Israeli opinion polls have shown a majority of Israelis supporting suppression of Palestinians. The most recent opinion poll conducted by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel revealed a massive majority of Jews who believed that their state’s practices against the Palestinians do not represent a violation of human rights. Another result of the poll found that a little more than half of the Jews believed that similar practices carried out against the Jewish [“colonists”/colonisers] represent a violation of human rights.
Furthermore, the poll showed the public’s position with regard to human rights presented a challenging image. Most of them had respect for rights and a desire to foster equality, but the application of the value of rights in the eyes of many was limited to certain groups in a way that became oblivious to the rights of the Israeli Palestinians. Similar encroachment applies to civil societies in Israel. A poll conducted by Israel Democracy Institute found that 71 per cent of the Israeli public believed that the Israeli civil and human rights organisations caused harm to the state and that 76 per cent of those who considered themselves in the political centre also viewed such groups as harmful.
Indeed, the encroachment of the Right and extreme Right in Israel now touches the boundaries of fascism with no deterrent in sight under, according to United States Secretary of State John Kerry, “the most fiercely uncompromising rightist government in the history of the Zionist State”.
— Professor As’ad Abdul Rahman is the chairman of the Palestinian Encyclopaedia
