Israel Moves Further Towards Religious Supremacy and Ultra-nationalism

By David Starr

Israel is moving more towards a Jewish theocracy based on the myth of religious supremacy and ultra-nationalism.

In the Knesset (parliament), a bill was pushed through declaring Israel to be the nation of the Jewish people. This exclusiveness has Jews being citizens with equal rights, but at the expense of non-Jews. It amounts to Arabs being treated like second class citizens where some people are more equal than others. The nation-state law in the bottom line is for Jews only. Israel does not belong to non-Jews. And the bill further promotes the immigration of Jews to Israel.

Carolina Landsmann wrote a piece published in Haaretz (January 16, 2022) which asserted that “The bill in fact provides a format conforming conversion with Jewish and Torah law – for the first time in Israeli law.” It sounds like the Israeli right is getting ahead of the United States’ Christian right in the efforts to have church and state entwined. So, Israel has its own version of threatening to violate the separation of church and state. In the U.S., the founders understood the consequences of church-state power, knowing the examples of the colonial powers of Europe in earlier history.

Israel is practicing a form of totalitarianism. Like Christian doctrine, Judaic doctrine has the same god in the Old Testament. It is a god who is jealous and is drunk with vengeance. No one is allowed to question or criticize this god and thus these monotheistic beliefs. There is an appeal to fear where if one doesn’t believe, hell will be the long-term penalty.

What are the specifics of the nation-state law? The publication Middle East Eye gives details:

-The vote was 62-55 to pass the law

-“The law says Israel is the ‘historical homeland’ and the ‘national home’ of the Jewish people.”

-“It says that only Jews have the right to exercise national self-determination in Israel.”

-“It says that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital and Hebrew is its language.”

-“It describes Jewish settlement as a ‘national value’ to be promoted by the state.”

When Palestinian MPs condemned the law, Parliament Speaker Yuli-Yoel Edelstein had them ejected from the parliament. The response of the Palestinian MPs was to call Edelstein a racist. Others were also outraged by the law. “Hassan Jabareen, director of Adalah, the Legal Centre for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, said the law features key elements of apartheid, which he said ‘is not only immoral but absolutely prohibited under international law.”’ Jabareen added that Israel is “favoring Jewish supremacy as the bedrock of its institutions.” As an example, what is missing from the law is the guarantee that non-Jewish citizens have equal treatment under the law.

A fact sheet published by the Arab Center D.C. revealed more opposition to the law: “Knesset member Haneen Zoabi argued that ‘A democracy does not exist without equality among its citizens. A selective democracy is not a democracy.”’ MP Ahmad Tibi “stated that the vote represents the ‘end of democracy.’ He tweeted that [this is] ‘The official beginning of fascism and apartheid.’” “PLO Committee member Hanan Ashrawi also denounced the Knesset vote by emphasizing that the Jewish nation-state law ‘gives license to apartheid, discrimination, ethnic cleansing, and sectarianism at the expense of the Palestinian people. Such racist and prejudicial legislation is illegal by all standards of international law, democracy, humanity, justice, tolerance, and inclusion.’”

Condemnation also came from Jewish sources. Progressive Jewish groups implied that Israel would have a tarnished image worldwide by enacting a law that has self-determination as a unique right to the Jewish people. In the United States, Jeremy Ben-Ami, the president of J Street, asserted that the law was “born in sin. It’s only purpose is to send a message to the Arab community, the LGBT community, and other minorities in Israel that they are not and never will be equal citizens.” The New Israel Fund condemned the enacting of the law as “tribalism at its worst.” And Alissa Wise, a rabbi and member of Jewish Voice for Peace expressed sarcasm regarding the law: “So, now we can officially be done with the ‘only democracy’ thing, right.”

A position paper (January 12, 2021) put out by the Jewish organization B’Tslem also refers to Israeli oppression as apartheid. It opposes “…the supremacy of one group – Jews – over another – Palestinians.”

There are four factors that the Israeli regime pursues for the benefit of the “Chosen People”:

-Land: “Israel works to Judaize the entire area, treating land as a resource chiefly meant to benefit the Jewish population. Since 1967, Israel has also enacted this policy in the West Bank, building more than 280 settlements for some 600,000 Jewish Israeli citizens.” And, thus, denying Palestinians of property rights.

-Citizenship: “Jews living anywhere in the world are entitled to Israeli citizenship. In contrast, Palestinians cannot immigrate to Israeli-controlled areas, even if they, their parents or grandparents, were born and lived there.”

-Freedom of Movement: “Israeli citizens enjoy freedom of movement in the entire area controlled by Israel. Palestinian subjects require a special Israeli-issued permit to travel.”

-Political Participation: “Palestinian citizens of Israel may vote and run for office, but leading politicians undermine the legitimacy of Palestinian political representatives.” And Palestinians who live in the Occupied Territories are not allowed to vote.

B’Tslem’s goal? To end the Israeli regime and its violations of rights, occupation and the threat of annexation.

Regarding annexation, Amnesty International published a fact sheet on this goal of Israel’s right-wing regime. Annexation by Israel:

-Violates international law.

“’Annexation’ is acquiring territory by force and is a flagrant violation of international law. In the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), ‘annexation’ means extending Israeli law to areas which are recognized as occupied and treating as part of the territory of Israel.”

-Blatantly disregards international law.

“[A]nnexation is unlawful. Israel’s continued pursuit of this policy further illustrates its cynical disregard for international law. Such policies do not change the legal status of the territory…”

-Increases the odds of more rights violations.

“Amnesty International is calling on the Israeli authorities to immediately abandon plans to further ‘annex’ territory in the West Bank because they will exacerbate decades of systematic human rights violations against Palestinians…”

-Is a repeating pattern of war crimes.

“Settlements are created with the sole purposes of permanently establishing Israeli civilians on occupied land; this is a war crime under the Rome statute of the International Criminal Court and ‘annexation’ has no bearing on this legal determination.”

-Makes it necessary for the international community to reject Israeli annexation.

“Members of the international community must enforce international law and re-state that ‘annexation’ of any part of occupied West Bank is null and void. They must also work to immediately stop the construction of illegal Israeli settlements.”  

In addition, annexation puts a question mark on the residency and citizenship of Palestinians and the right-wing Israeli regime has no plans to grant Palestinians Israeli citizenship. But the two-state solution should still be considered by the international community, however difficult. Annexation would further the expropriation of Palestinian property in the OPT, which would be given to Israeli settlers. In turn, Palestinians would be denied adequate housing since the Israeli regime and the settlers would recognize Palestinian villages as being illegitimate and possibly ripe for demolition.   

Rights groups have accused Israel of discriminating against non-Jews ever since the nation was founded in 1948. It has been a case of giving Jews preferential treatment in relation to the law, land, basic rights and equal treatment. There have been cases of Jews having exclusive communities, which amounts to segregation, and that includes the Occupied Territories where Israeli settlements are being imposed on Palestinian land, causing an increase in tension and conflict. The settlers don’t seem to give a damn.

There is a bizarre and open alliance between Zionists and white supremacists, this according to a fact sheet from the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights entitled “Freedom Bound: Resisting Zionism and White Supremacy.” But it may not be that bizarre as “this alliance becomes all the clearer when we look at the shared histories and values of the United States and Israel.” Both “were founded as settler colonial outposts, created through the ethnic cleansing of native people.”

Black and Palestinian solidarity exists. “From racial profiling to police and military brutality, to corporate profiteering off of mass incarceration of youth, the systems that oppress the Palestinian people and Black communities in the U.S. are rooted in white supremacy.” The realization of the similarities between the struggles of Blacks and Palestinians shows “a long history of Black-Palestinian solidarity.”

Regarding colonization, “Israel continues to displace Palestinians and build illegal, Jewish only settlements on stolen Palestinian land…” Israel has taken 90% of the land since 1948.

There is a call to eliminate all bans. “Israel’s denial of the right of 7 million Palestinian refugees to return to their homeland have roots in racism, xenophobia, and religious intolerance.”

And the fact sheet mentions “Israel’s Apartheid wall” which is a “monument to state control and domination of the powerful over the oppressed.”

Considering the overall situation, Palestinians have retaliated with attacks in Israeli territory. Israel, as well as the United States, consider these attacks terrorism. And they may be labeled as such. But Israel with its military arsenal (backed by the U.S.) has resorted to revenge, killing many more Palestinians compared to casualties on the Israeli side. Should this also be called terrorism? Yes, but both the U.S. and Israel cynically see this as a security concern for the “Holy Land.”

There is not a look at the roots of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the western and Israeli side by many supporters of Israel. Occupation is a major culprit and it is made worse by the continuing, forceful establishment of Jewish settlements in the OPT. Israel has violated international law so many times yet is not called out for it by, e.g., U.S. leaders. And there are Israeli Jews who see the Palestinians as subhuman. So, racism is another culprit.

It is tragically ironic that there are Jews who are racist considering the barbarism Jews suffered through during the Nazi Holocaust. An estimated six million Jews died as a result, along with other “undesirables.” With the continuing oppression of Palestinians, there are Jews who have not learned from history. They take on the characteristics of fascists, at least on the right-wing side.

However, it is virtually a sin to criticize any Jews. Immediately the anti-sematic card is played. But given the long history that has characterized the oppression of Jews, there are those, Jewish and non-Jewish, who have reflexively condemned the critics. So, it is not surprising why.

Israel is not exempt from criticism. It is the same with all nations since rights violations occur in them in one degree or another. The ideological motives of nations do differ, however. The ideological motives of Israel are mired in religious supremacy. Specifically, it is the Israeli right-wing that is pushing religious supremacy, whether it is the government, religious fanatics, military, police and settlers. There is of course an overlapping of these elements, having similar or the same interests.

The Boycott, Divest and Sanctions movement (BDS) is a major actor in dealing with the Israeli-Palestine conflict. BDS continues to hold Israel accountable for what can be accurately called criminal behavior. While Palestinians are not totally innocent, BDS nevertheless targets Israel as a priority. It looks at Israel as the aggressor (more than Palestine), with the right-wing still not renouncing its goal of enforcing the myth of religious supremacy. And it looks like some Jews, at the least, will never do that.

The conflict between Israel and Palestine has gone on for so long it does not look like there is an end in sight. But the situation has to be resolved. The Israeli right and the regime itself are playing a dangerous game by trying to impose a “democratic” theocracy and continuing with taking Palestinian land for settlements. The religious supremacy myth and ultra-nationalism has made Israel a rogue nation.