The far right conquers the Israeli parliament – Gideon Levy

A coalition that would have been considered neo-Nazi in Europe has just managed to join knesset, the Israeli parliament. There is no other way to describe the alliance between the far-right parties HaTzionut HaDatit (religious Zionism), Otzma yehudit (Jewish power) and Noam. Xenophobia, homophobia and nationalism, combined with religious fundamentalism and violence: how to define it otherwise? No Western European country would have had the courage to form a government with such a party. In Europe this fascism would be unacceptable. In Israel, he is about to join the next government.

But this is not the worst news of the election night of 23 March. The real problem is that the right, as usual, triumphed. Everyone is talking about the outcome of Likud, the party of Benjamin Netanyahu, but the real winner is the Israeli right. Once again he has torn everyone apart: more than seventy deputies of the next legislature will be proud representatives of his hard and ruthless wing. A stronger majority than any possible coalition.

The fact that even someone on the right despises Netanyahu doesn’t make him any less right. Before and after the current prime minister, these people represent a violent, arrogant and isolated Israel that ignores the rest of the world. Even in the opposing camp there are people on the right who pretend to be centrists, but even excluding them from the count, most of the parliament is on that side. Amid the confusion and calculations about the blockades that could be against or for Netanyahu, the fact that Israel has once again proved to be a right-wing country has been lost sight of. The entry of religious Zionism and the other parties on the list into parliament and the identity of its members are causing a fuss in the camp of the losers, but it is a false and hypocritical attitude. It is good that the opposition is waking up, but as usual it is too late. Of course, to think of people like Itamar Ben-Gvir, leader of Jewish Power, and Orit Strock, of the Zionist House of Jews, within the knesset is terrifying. But it is easy to attribute only to them what many others, considered far less unpleasant, actually think, say and do.

Ben-Gvir says things that many Israelis think, even if they didn’t vote for him. The government and the military are already achieving many of the goals of the most nationalist party of the 24th legislature. So the entry into parliament of religious Zionism is not necessarily bad news. Because it will make hidden intentions evident in their crudest form, and perhaps finally awaken the opposition. It’s easy to be horrified by a racist like Ben-Gvir, convicted of inciting violence, but he no longer needs to scare anyone. What is really scary is that Israel has been putting its political ideas into practice for quite some time. Therefore it is a hypocrite who is horrified by his election but did not flinch when the Israeli army shot unarmed protesters in the head, as happened on March 19.

Nobody is shocked when soldiers break into Palestinian homes every week and drag people out of their beds; when every day the settlers usurp other lands and attack the peasants with chains, quads, drones and weapons and no one incriminates them; nor when Israel keeps two and a half million people in Gaza prison in horrible conditions.

Now the supporters of all these atrocities will be in parliament. It is good that the classroom can hear what they have to say, and that the world can hear. It is not from these elections that they gained legitimacy: it was given to them long ago by a majority of Israelis who tacitly approve them. It will be somewhat unfortunate to hear in parliament about the “relocation” (ie the expulsion from their homes) of Palestinians, but this is what the state already does in the Jordan Valley, Silwan and the southern Hebron Hills.

It is good that the Hebrew letter tet, the first of the word “transfers” and symbol of the religious Zionism party, take a seat in the knesset next to the photo of the father of Zionism Theodor Herzl. This is exactly what the state he envisioned has been doing since 1948, sometimes far from prying eyes.

(Translation by Francesco De Lellis)