The price of freedom is (still) eternal vigilance

Dark forces are rising in Israel. Sinister currents are gaining confidence. For years, they grew strong in the West Bank, shielded by the so-called "moderate settler leadership", that pooh-poohed the chronic extremist violence. (They're only a "few bad seeds", we were reminded, time after time.) Now their influence is seeping over the Green Line into sovereign Israel.

Here are only the latest warning signs:

Last week, the Likud party elected a list of candidates for Knesset that is as close to the party's virulently right-wing component, "Jewish Leadership" ("Manhigut Yehudit"), as it is to party leader, Binyamin Netanyahu.

Here's just a sample of what "Jewish Leadership", led by Moshe Feiglin, a Likud candidate for Knesset, stands for:
- Stage one: Israel's annexation of the West Bank and the denial of all civil rights to its Palestinian population (while maintaining Palestinian "human rights", we are told!).
- Stage two: State-sponsored "encouragement" of Palestinian emigration.
- Stage three: The eventual expulsion of all Palestinians from Israel/Palestine when this becomes "feasible".

But "Jewish Leadership" is not the only manifestation of Jewish racism in Israel. Earlier this week, Israel was thankfully spared the sight of Jewish extremists marching through the country's largest Muslim city, Umm el-Fahm, proclaiming, "the land of Israel is ours. And Umm el-Fahm is ours...".

Unfortunately, the decision by Israel Police to postpone the march sponsored by the "National Jewish Front" marks a temporary reprieve, not a victory: In a cynical attempt to exploit democracy's tools in order to subvert its principles, the Front has already announced that it will appeal to Israel's High Court of Justice, crying freedom of speech.

The National Jewish Front is another black mark on Israel's body politic. Its platform calls for annexation, war, ethnic cleansing and expulsion, and it refers threateningly to Israeli leaders who seek peaceful compromise as "criminals" to be "pursue[d] until our dying day". In the wake of the increasing right-wing violence in the West Bank, and the recent assassination attempt on pro-peace Prof. Ze'ev Sternhell, such words can simply not be dismissed as "idle talk".

But not all is lost. Had the National Front's march not been postponed, hundreds of brave Jewish and Arab men and women would have linked arms at the Umm el-Fahm city limits to deny entry to the provocateurs. More importantly, suggests Mike Prashker, the director of Merchavim: The Institute for the Advancement of Shared Citizenship in Israel, the specter of racism might just be the wake-up call that Israel's Arab and Jewish citizens need to develop tools for cooperation and civic solidarity.

As Thomas Jefferson famously said, "the price of freedom is eternal vigilance", and Israeli citizens must indeed be alert to the dangers within. But American Jews can do their share: By denying the representatives of Israeli racism any succor or sustenance within our community, we will be sending a message to them that democracy and equality in Israel are just as much a concern of ours as the country's physical existence.

Ron Skolnik
Executive Director