Far-right politics in Israel
[15][verification needed] In 1930, Brit HaBirionim under Ahimeir's leadership publicly declared their desire to form a fascist state.
[16] The Revisionist Maximalist movement borrowed principles from totalitarianism and fascism and it also drew inspiration from Józef Piłsudski's Poland and Benito Mussolini's Italy.
[15] The Maximalists believed that authoritarianism and national solidarity was necessary to have the public collaborate with the government, and to create total unity in Palestine.
[25] Two of the most infamous operations for which the Irgun were known; the bombing of the British administrative headquarters for Mandatory Palestine in Jerusalem on 22 July 1946 and the Deir Yassin massacre that killed at least 107 Palestinian Arab villagers, including women and children, carried out with Lehi on 9 April 1948.
[33] The White Paper's publication also intensified the conflict between the Zionist militias and the British Army; a Jewish general strike was called, attacks were launched against Arabs and British police, telephone services and power lines were sabotaged, and violent speeches of protest were held for several months.
[35] A week after the publication of the White Paper of 1939, the Irgun planted an explosive device in the Rex cinema in Jerusalem, injuring 18 people, including 13 Arabs and 3 British police officers.
[40][41] In the aftermath of the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel captured the Golan Heights, the West Bank, the Sinai Peninsula, and the Egyptian-occupied Gaza Strip.
[43] leading some Israeli political leaders to argue for the redefinition of the country's borders in accordance with the vision of Greater Israel.
The party's ideology, known as Kahanism, advocated the transfer of the Arab population from Israel, and the creation of a Jewish theocratic state, in which only Jews have voting rights.
[48][50] In the 1973 Israeli legislative election, Kach won 0.81% of the total votes, falling short to pass the electoral threshold, which was 1% at the time.
[52][53] Shortly after Meir Kahane was sworn in as a member of the Knesset, he made his first media-oriented provocation by announcing his plan to open an emigration office in the Arab village of Umm al-Fahm.
[62][63] The far-right in Israel opposed the Oslo Accords, with Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin being assassinated in 1995 by a right-wing Israeli extremist for signing them.
[45] Rabin was also criticized by right-wing conservatives and Likud leaders who perceived the peace process as an attempt to forfeit the occupied territories and a surrender to Israel's enemies.
[65][66] After the murder, it was revealed that Avishai Raviv, a well-known right-wing extremist at the time, was a Shin Bet agent and informant.
[68][69][70] His mission was to monitor the activities of right-wing extremists, and he allegedly knew of Yigal Amir's plans to assassinate Rabin.
The party's main goal is to advance policies against LGBT rights, and against what its backers call "the destruction of the family".
[101][102] The coalition government consists of seven parties—Likud, United Torah Judaism, Shas, Religious Zionist Party, Otzma Yehudit, Noam, and National Unity—and is led by Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Al-Aqsa mosque compound[a] (which Israelis refer to as the "Temple Mount") is the third holiest site in Islam and a Palestinian national symbol.
[110] In 2023 and 2024, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir initiated at least four marches to the Al-Aqsa compound in East Jerusalem, each of up to a thousand ultra nationalist Israeli settlers.
[111] On 26 February 2023, in retaliation for the shooting of two Israeli settlers earlier the same day by an unidentified attacker,[112][113] hundreds of Israeli settlers went on a violent late-night rampage in Huwara and other Palestinian villages in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, leaving one civilian dead and 100 other Palestinians injured, four critically, and the town ablaze.
[118] Israeli and Palestinian officials issued a joint declaration in Aqaba, Jordan to counter the recent round of Israeli–Palestinian violence.
[121][122] Condemnations from the United States, European Union, and Arab countries led to Smotrich retracting his comments and claiming they were said in the heat of the moment.
These include far-right parties such as Kach, Otzma Yehudit, and Eretz Yisrael Shelanu being represented in the Knesset, Israel's parliament.
[131] Establishment of unauthorized Israeli outposts in the West Bank is also common among far-right extremist groups, such as the Hilltop Youth.
