Those who wonder how the State of Israel woke up one morning to a situation of legal revolution and to a coalition that prides itself on changing the law (in first reading) so that the government can appoint judges and overcome decisions of the Supreme Court, one should look not only at Poland and Hungary, but also at the close ties forged between the Likud party and the religious Zionist parties and the extreme right parties in Europe.
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This weekend, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit Italy, one of the only countries on the continent where such a party (“Brothers of Italy”) came to power at the head of a right-wing coalition, but broke to the center after the elections and abandoned populist positions from the past. Brussels may have hoped that the current government in Israel would behave similarly (Prime Minister George Maloney made sure to visit Brussels immediately after her appointment, and changed her Eurosceptic rhetoric by 180 degrees), but so far she has been disappointed.
The writing regarding the cooperation between the center-right in Israel and the extreme right in Europe has been on the wall for years. The Likud and some of the political parties representing the settlements actually made a faithful alliance with European radical right-wing parties, which has been going on for nearly two decades and is only expanding. Many of the European parties grew out of Nazi, neo-Nazi and post-fascist movements and tried to whiten their image and gain renewed legitimacy by cooperating with Jews and the Israeli government.
Amendments to the legislation as part of the legal reform:
● Changing the composition of the committee for the selection of judges so that the coalition controls the appointments – In the discussions in the Constitution Committee for the second and third readings
● The candidates for the Supreme will appear before the Constitution Committee – In the discussions in the Constitution Committee for the second and third readings
● High Court judges will not be able to invalidate fundamental laws – Approved on first reading
● In order to invalidate a law, the agreement of 12 out of 15 High Court judges will be required – Approved for first reading
● A superseding clause will allow the Knesset to re-enact a law that was invalidated by a majority of 61 MKs – Approved for first reading
● The court will not be able to pass judicial review on the appointment of ministers – Confirmed in advance reading
● The court will not be able to invalidate the decisions of the government and elected officials due to the reason of reasonableness – In the debates in the Constitution Committee before the first reading
● Legal advice to the government will not be binding. Ministers will be able to appoint advisers on their behalf – Not currently promoted
Don’t call us Nazis, we won’t call you to withdraw from the territories
The Jewish communities in Europe mostly rejected the proposed embrace, due to the past of these parties saturated with Jew-hatred, Holocaust denial, glorification of fascist elements, protection of Nazis and war criminals and a host of other activities. But political figures in Israel were happy about the opportunity to receive rare European support on the issue of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Legitimacy for legitimacy, hand washing hand. You don’t call us Nazis, we won’t call you to withdraw from the territories.
Even before the examples of cooperation, in the end it seems that its results are that the “ideas” coming from the European extreme right in recent years – xenophobia and Islam, criticism against the public broadcasting and the “elitist” media, the fight in the “liberal” courts (for example on the subject of deportation of illegal immigrants -legal) and the vision of “illiberal democracy” also permeated the other side – and today it seems that they are steering some of the most powerful elements in the government that heads the State of Israel.
To name a few of the prominent European parties, it is the “Austrian Freedom Party”, the “Swedish-Democratic Party”, the “True Finns”, “Alternative to Germany”, the Belgian “Vlaams Blanc”, the “Party for Freedom” in the Netherlands and many others. Most of these parties received public visits to Israel organized by right-wing political parties. Most of them received meetings with senior Likud officials in the process, or meetings in European capitals from senior officials serving in the party. The foreign relations of the “World Likud” worked overtime with them.
Some of their leaders visited the settlements for supporting photographs published in the media. Most of them defined the State of Israel as a “front” in the fight against Islam. MK Ofir Akunis proudly met with “Vlaams Beleng”, former MK Yehuda Glick taught about Strache, representatives of Likud met in Europe with representatives of the “Democratic Swedes”, former MK Ayoub Kara happily met with representatives of extreme parties from across the continent; Eli Hazan, director of Likud’s foreign relations department, expressed public support for Vox, a Spanish far-right party, and the examples are numerous.
Likud has never apologized for its connections with the extreme right in Europe
Gradually, similar motives began to be heard on both sides, when they were supported by the American populist right, which is also stirring up what is happening in Europe: criticism of gender issues and LGBT rights, claims of “interference” by foreign associations, opposition to the “open society” vision of the Jewish billionaire c George Soros, and the definition of illegal immigrants as a “cancer” in the nation’s body. In fact, there is an ideological affinity between European far-right activists and populist right-wing activists in Israel, which flourishes on social networks. The Austrian Heinz-Christian Strache, who was recorded saluting in Ma’al Yad and was part of a youth movement A neo-Nazi, he was received with kingly honor by the Likud in Israel, including the organization of a visit to Yad Vashem.
Likud did not apologize for these ties, but nurtured and took pride in them, considering “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”. But one aspect worth remembering is that, with the exception of Italy, these radical right parties are often marginal in the European political system. Thus, instead of receiving international legitimacy or a new scope of action through the relationship with those parties; Instead of promoting Israel’s policies, the current government is on a collision course with Brussels.
The unpleasant truth
This collaboration is in fact an unpleasant truth. Perhaps under the cover of distance, the nature of the parties is not always understood. Perhaps the lack of familiarity with their domestic dynamics makes it possible to blur the meaning of opening the doors for them and the cooperation with you. But it is hard to imagine which of the readers would have felt comfortable at an “Alternative to Germany” election demonstration, inches from shaved-head neo-Nazis (in typical clothing), or even visiting the home of Rush and Vlams in the former Lanagh, where a cabinet is dedicated to Nazi war memorabilia from World War II. Or see first-hand how members of parliament of the AfD boycott in the Bundestag a speech by a Holocaust survivor (“to three birds on the lapel of German history”, according to a party official). Or after he realized that Strache came to visit “Bid Vashem” and instead of a cap there he put on his head a hat of an old anti-Semitic Austrian student fraternity.
This is an unpleasant truth, but it seems that the Likud party and the coalition it leads are on the way to realizing in Israel the wet vision of the European radical right.