Criticism of Israel’s new ultra-religious and far-right coalition government intensified this week amid escalating violence between Israeli security forces and Palestinians. of the Palestinian territory.
Last week, 10 Palestinians, plus two civilians, were killed in a raid by Israeli security forces on the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Jenin, and then another seven people were killed in a terror attack outside a synagogue in East Jerusalem. settlement. A 13-year-old Palestinian boy also shot and wounded two Israelis in East Jerusalem.
Israel announced that the homes of the Palestinian attackers’ circle of relatives were sealed off and would be demolished, and took steps toward other punitive measures against the families, potentially adding stripping them of their residency and citizenship rights and expelling them.
“We are not in favor of escalation, but we are in a position to face any scenario,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his cabinet. “Our reaction to terrorism is a heavy hand and a strong, swift and accurate reaction. “
Netanyahu recently began his sixth term as Israel’s prime minister, a return to force that was only imaginable by forging a coalition with members of extremist, far-right, ultra-religious political parties that had long existed on the fringes of Israeli politics.
Since returning to power, Netanyahu has appointed some of those questionable figures to leadership positions in his government, adding Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who has already been arrested for allegedly staging an attempted terrorist attack and is a self-proclaimed “proud homophobe,” and Itamar Ben-Gvir, a radical ultranationalist who has chanted “death to Arabs” in the afterlife and was convicted of inciting racism and by an organization. terrorist.
As the new national security minister, Ben-Gvir is now in charge of the Israel Police.
Mounir Marjieh, an advocate for Palestinians in East Jerusalem, told CBS News that Palestinians living in the occupied territories expect more violence from the Israeli police and armed forces, and additional restrictions on rights under the new extremist coalition.
“Palestinians are faced with a formula that is based on the precept of Jewish domination, hegemony and superiority,” Marjeih said. “It’s a struggle to live here, to stay here. “
One of Ben-Gvir’s first acts in his new position is to make a stopover at the Jerusalem site that Jews call the Temple Mount and Muslims call Haram al-Sharif, the al-Aqsa Mosque compound. outside Israel as a challenge to the prestige quo agreement under which the site has long been controlled to keep the peace. The scale prompted a warning from the U. S. State Department. “
“What Ben-Gvir has done is very risky in many ways,” Marjeih said. “We are talking about one of the most volatile geographical locations in Jerusalem. . . There is a very transparent agreement that governs this place. Violating this agreement has explosive potential. “
Ben-Gvir has already banned the Palestinian flag from flying in public spaces. It seeks to replace gun legislation to make it less difficult for Israelis to buy weapons and has pledged to boost the structure of the deal in the occupied West Bank. The structure of the new agreements undermines any eventual two-state solution that would see the creation of an independent Palestinian country alongside Israel. He also pledged to eliminate regulations on police and soldier involvement, and promised a harsher remedy for Palestinian prisoners.
“I think there are enough reasons after the appointment of this Israeli to feel consistency, to feel constant fear,” Marjeih said.
Boaz Bismuth, a member of the Knesset, or the Israeli parliament, from Netanyahu’s Likud party, told CBS News that Ben-Gvir had “made mistakes in the past. . . But he said, “I made mistakes. I have changed, “and I to him. “
Bismuth said Ben-Gvir “hates terrorists. . . But he hates or hates the Arabs. “
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken visited the region earlier this week and met with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. He said the U. S. continues to seek a two-state solution, but said ending the standoff is “fundamentally up to them. “find a way forward that defuses the existing cycle of violence and, I hope, also leads to positive steps to restore trust. “
Asked if he supported a two-state solution, Bismuth replied, “No. “
“My message to America is, thanks to GodArray. . . that we are friends,” he said. “We have the same percentage values. However, we can also disagree. “
Some Americans who have made a living in Israel have expressed deep fear for the new government and the direction the country is taking. Tens of thousands of Israelis have gathered in the streets of Tel Aviv to protest proposed judicial reforms, as well as proposed adjustments to anti-discrimination law that may limit the rights of women, LGBTQ people, liberal Jews and other minority teams, in some cases for reasons.
“Americans want to know that this is not just a continuation of other right-wing governments. It’s a sea change,” Moshe Chertoff, who grew up in California and moved to Israel in the 1970s to live on a socialist kibbutz, told CBS. News. ” I don’t perceive what kind of excessive Judaism it is. It’s not the Judaism I knew or would say 75% of American Jews know. “
Some prominent American Jews in the United States are also concerned about the adjustments Israel’s radical new government might introduce. On Wednesday, nearly 170 prominent American Jewish leaders released an open letter calling for “a critical debate on Israeli policy. “
“Our complaint stems from a love for Israel and its unwavering protection and well-being,” the letter said. “Some will try to dismiss its validity as anti-Semitic. a specific complaint or not, such a complaint of Israeli policy is not anti-Semitic. Indeed, they reflect a genuine fear that the new administration will reflect the anti-democratic tendencies we see emerging elsewhere, in other countries, and here in the United States, rather than reinforcing the shared democratic values that underpin U. S. -Israel relations.
Abraham Foxman, a Holocaust survivor and former head of the Anti-Defamation League, told CBS News that if the new Israeli government undermines civil rights or democracy in Israel, it may leave many American Jews with serious doubts.
“The escalation of violence makes it all the more urgent that the Netanyahu government commit to some of the spending to withhold aid to allied democracies and Diaspora Jewish communities,” Foxman said. “The Jewish community, especially in the United States, is a liberal community. . Judaism has liberal values, if the values in the State of Israel supersede relations with the LGBT community, non-Orthodox, Arabs, etc. , it will have an effect on dating. . . . I need this government to know that if it touches Democracy, if it touches the basic appointments between Israel and the Jewish people, will have consequences. The consequences will be: it will be more difficult to protect Israel. “
Ghilad Kariv, a member of the Israeli Knesset opposition and a Reform rabbi, told CBS News that only a portion of Israelis voted for the new government and that most are not ultra-religious.
“Our duty is not to give up. Our duty is to remember that many Western democracies are facing situations of high demand in recent years and today,” Khariv said. “We are part of a global wave of ultra-nationalism and the rise of the far right. You see it in Europe, you also see it in the United States. And our duty is that there are millions of Israelis who are fully committed to Israel’s basic democratic and liberal values. “
This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Moshe Chertoff’s name.