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Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel Pluto Middle Eastern Studies jewish Fundamentalism in Israel Pluto Middle Eastern Studies Also available Jewish History, Jewish Religion The Weight of Three Thousand Years Israel Shahak Open Secrets Israeli Foreign and Nuclear Policies Israel Shahak Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel Israel Shahak and Norton Mezvinsky Pluto 4 Press LONDON STERLING, VIRGINIA First published 1999 by Pluto Press 345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA and 22883 Quicksilver Drive, Sterling, VA 20166-2012, USA Copyright © Israel Shahak and Norton Mezvinsky 1999 The right of Israel Shahak and Norton Mezvinsky to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 0 7453 1281 0 hbk ISBN 0 7453 1276 4 pbk Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Shahak, Israel. Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel / Israel Shahak and Norton Mezvinsky. p. cm. - (Pluto Middle Eastern series) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7453-1281-0 (hbk.) 1. Orthodox Judaism—Israel—Controversial literature. 2. Orthodox Judaism—Political aspects—Israel. 3. Political violence—Israel. I. Mezvinsky, Norton. II. Title. III. Series. BM390.S486 1999 296'.095694'09045—dc2 1 99-30525 CIP Reprints: 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 Designed and Produced for Pluto Press by Chase Publishing Services, Sidmouth, EX1O 9QG Typeset from disk by Stanford DTP Services, Towcester Printed in the European Union by Antony Rowe, Chippenham, England Contents Preface vi Glossary xiii Introduction 1 1 Jewish Fundamentalism Within Jewish Society 5 2 The Rise of the Haredim in Israel 23 3 The Two Main Haredi Groups 44 4 The National Religious Party and the Religious Settlers 55 5 The Nature of Gush Emunim Settlements 78 6 The Real Significance of Baruch Goldstein 96 7 The Religious Background of Rabin's Assassination 113 Note on Bibliography and Related Matters 150 Notes 164 Index 169 Preface Virtually identified with Arab terrorism, Islamic fundamentalism is anathema throughout the non-Muslim world. Virtually identified with ignorance, superstition, intolerance and racism, Christian fundamentalism is anathema to the cultural and intellectual elite in the United States. The recent significant increase in its number of adherents, combined with its widening political influence, nevertheless, make Christian fundamentalism a real threat to democracy in the United States. Although possessing nearly all the important social scientific properties of Islamic and Christian fun- damentalism, Jewish fundamentalism is practically unknown outside of Israel and certain sections of a few other places. When its existence is acknowledged, its significance is minimized or limited to arcane religious practices and quaint middle European dress, most often by those same non-Israeli elite commentators who see so uncompromisingly the evils inherent in Jewish fundamentalis- m's Islamic and/or Christian cousins. As students of contemporary society and as Jews, one Israeli, one American, with personal commitments and attachments to the Middle East, we cannot help seeing Jewish fundamentalism in Israel as a major obstacle to peace in the region. Nor can we help being dismayed by the dismissal of the perniciousness of Jewish fun- damentalism to peace and to its victims by those who are otherwise knowledgeable and astute and so quick to point out the violence inherent in other fundamentalist approaches to existence. This book is a journey of understanding - often painful, often dreary, often disturbing - for us as Jews who have a stake in Jewry. With our hearts and minds we want Jews, together with other people, to recognize and strive for the highest ideals, even as we fall short of them. We see these ideals as central to the values of Western civilization and applicable throughout the civilized world. We believe these values do not stand in the way of peace anywhere. That a perversion of these values in the name of Jewish funda- mentalism stands as an impediment to peace, to the development of Israeli democracy and even to civilized discourse outrages us, both as Jews and as human beings. To identify and lessen, if not purge, this outrage, we have written this book and undertaken this journey in the hope that it may bring understanding to our readers vi PREFACE vii as it has brought understanding to us. Our assumption is that peace in the Middle East cannot be achieved until the currents and cross-currents of contemporary life in the region are understood. In this most historical and most religious area, understanding entails an exploration of the past that continues to impinge upon the attitudes, values, assumptions and behaviors of all the people of this beautiful and troubled land. Jewish opposition in Israel to Jewish fundamentalism greatly increased after a Jewish, funda- mentalist, religious fanatic, Yigal Amir, who insisted that he was acting in accordance with dictates in Judaism, shot and killed Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. That numerous groups of religious Jews after the assassination supported this murder in the name of the "true" Jewish religion aroused interest in Israel in past killings by Jews of other Jews who were alleged to be heretics or sinners. In our book we cite present and past investigations by Israeli scholars documenting that for centuries prior to the rise of the modern nation state, Jews, believing they were acting in accordance with God's word and thus preparing themselves for eternal paradise, punished or killed heretics and/or religious sinners. Contemporary Jewish fundamentalism is an attempt to revive a situation that often existed in Jewish communities before the influence of modernity. The basic principles of Jewish fundamentalism are the same as those found in other religions: restoration and survival of the "pure" and pious religious community that presumably existed in the past. In our book we describe in some detail the origins, ideologies, practices and overall impact upon society of fundamentalism. We emphasize mostly the messianic tendency, because we believe it to be the most influential and dangerous. Jewish fundamentalists generally oppose extensions of human freedoms, especially the freedom of expression, in Israel. In regard to foreign policy, the National Religious Party, ruled by supporters of the messianic tendency of Jewish fundamentalism, has continuously opposed any and all withdrawals from territories conquered and occupied by Israel since 1967. These fundamentalists opposed Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai in 1978, just as twenty years later they continued to oppose any withdrawal from the West Bank. These same Jews printed and distributed atlases allegedly showing that the land of Israel, belonging only to the Jews and requiring liberation, included the Sinai, Jordan, Lebanon, most of Syria and Kuwait. Jewish fundamentalists have advocated the most discriminative proposals against Palestinians. Not surprisingly, Baruch Goldstein and YigalAmir, the most sensational Jewish assassins of the 1990s, and most of their admirers have been Jewish fundamentalists of the messianic tendency. viii JEWISH FUNDAMENTALISM IN ISRAEL In the 1990s, Israeli sociologists and scholars in other academic fields have focused more attention than ever before upon the social effects in Israeli society of Jewish fundamentalists. The overwhelming opinion of these scholars is that the adherents of Jewish fundamentalism in Israel are hostile to democracy. The fun- damentalists oppose equality for all citizens, especially non-Jews and Jewish "deviants" such as homosexuals. The great majority of religious Jews in Israel, influenced by fundamentalists, share these views to some extent. In a book review published on October 14, 1998, Baruch Kimmerling, a distinguished Israeli sociologist, citing evidence from a study conducted by other scholars, commented: The values of the [Jewish] religion, at least in its Orthodox and nationalistic form that prevails in Israel, cannot be squared with democratic values. No other variable - neither nationality, nor attitudes about security, nor social or economic values, nor ethnic descent and education - so influences the attitudes of [Israeli] Jews against democratic values as does religiosity. Citing additional evidence, Kimmerling commented further that secular, Israeli Jews who had acquired college or university education had the greatest attachment to democratic values and that religious Jews who studied in yeshivot (religious schools) most opposed democracy. It is clear that fundamentalist antagonism to democratic values, as well as to most aspects of secular culture and life style, is deeply instilled in Israel's religious schools. The documentation of fundamentalist antagonism to the secular life style of a majority of Israeli Jews is clear. The September 20, 1998, edition of Yediot Ahronot, the largest circulation, Hebrew- language, daily Israeli newspaper, for example, contained a "cultural profile" survey of Israeli Jewish society. The survey revealed that the major Israeli consumers of culture, who visit museums and attend concerts and the theater, had finished high school and defined themselves as either secular or not Orthodox (religious). The Israeli religious press and pronouncements by Israeli rabbis, condemning cultural activity, have confirmed the survey's findings. Jewish fundamentalists have displayed severe enmity against Jews who adopt a different sexual life style. Many Israeli
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