Israel’s election results were called on Nov. 3 with victory going to a political bloc led by the Likud Party, representing what could grow to be essentially the most right-wing and spiritual government the country has ever seen.
Former Nazareth city council member Dr. Rana Zaher-Karayanni called the election results “catastrophic for a lot of segments of Israeli society,” including women, the L.G.B.T. community, immigrants and asylum seekers.
Mere “survival shouldn’t be the utmost ambition for a people in democratic countries. I think that Israel goes to be more Jewish and far less democratic, and we’ll all pay the value for that.”
Politically, Palestinians inside Israel and within the Palestinian territories can pay the heaviest price, she said, noting that settler violence and intimidation in Palestinian communities has already increased following the election results.
“I’m afraid that the nation-state bill [asserting Israel as the Jewish national state], which is a basic law, might be implemented on a much larger scale than expected and can probably prepare the bottom for more aggressive bills against the Palestinian minority in Israel,” she said.
The brand new government
Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu was tasked on Nov. 11 with forming a recent government by Israeli President Isaac Herzog, but the previous prime minister has yet to tug his winning coalition together.
In line with Israel’s parliamentary system, Mr. Netanyahu has until mid-December to complete the job. The Netanyahu-led government is predicted to incorporate only nine women out of its 64 parliament members, a pointy drop from the 30 women members within the outgoing government.
But a matter of greater apprehension for a lot of is that along with his own conservative Likud party, Mr. Netanyahu’s bloc includes ultra-Orthodox religious parties and the Otzma Yehudit and Religious Zionist parties of far-right politicians Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, respectively. Each men espouse a far-right form of spiritual nationalism that has raised concerns in Israel and internationally due to their extremist, racist and homophobic views.
Palestinians can pay the heaviest price—settler violence and intimidation in Palestinian communities has already increased following the election results.
Their parties are likewise hostile to more liberal streams of Judaism and left-wing political expression. The 2 men joined forces for the elections but have split into separate factions as Mr. Netanyahu builds his coalition government.
Prior to now Mr. Ben Gvir has been convicted on charges of incitement of racism and support of a terrorist organization, and Mr. Smotrich spent six weeks in detention on similar charges. He has been outspoken against L.G.B.T. people and Reform Judaism and has said his first order of business as a member of the ruling coalition might be to pass a controversial “override bill” that might enable the Knesset to put aside rulings by Israel’s High Court. That might include the ability to void convictions on offenses of fraud and breach of trust—charges which Mr. Netanyahu is currently facing in three legal cases.
Mr. Smotrich recently condemned human rights organizations as “existential enemies” of Israel, that needs to be countered through legal and security measures.
Mr. Netanyahu is grappling with demands from each men for appointments to steer the powerful Public Security and Defense ministries, amongst other internal political squabbles breaking out as members of his fractious coalition jostle for coveted positions. In line with reports within the Israeli press, Mr. Smotrich has accepted the leadership of the Finance Ministry but to date no official declaration has been made, meaning Israelis are still waiting for his or her fifth government in 4 years to be formally put into place.
Despite broad apprehension about what this recent political formation might be able to doing—whether in the inner Israeli arena by way of civil and spiritual liberties or in its treatment of Palestinians—remains to be unclear.
Following weeks of each Israeli and Palestinian violence within the West Bank and two bombings in Jerusalem near the central bus station wherein one Israeli was killed and 19 others injured, many fear increased tensions and an escalation in violent confrontations with a recent government soon expected to be on the helm.
Former red-lines the Netanyahu government could be willing to cross include a change within the status on the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
“People are actually of two opinions,” said Wadie Abunassar, a distinguished Catholic political analyst from the Israeli northern city of Haifa. Some consider that despite the acute rhetoric the likely recent government will “dare to do only minor things due to international pressure” and protections offered by Israeli civil law. Others in Israeli society, he said, are fearful about what the Netanyahu government could mean over the long run because so lots of the Knesset members that comprise it represent radical right-wing ideologies that appear intent on fanning the flames of future Israeli-Palestininan conflict.
Crossing red-lines
Israeli society is already fraught with many political and social divisions. Yet former red-lines the presumptive Netanyahu government could be willing to cross, in accordance with Mr. Abunassar, include a change within the status on the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem—for instance, allowing Jewish prayer on the compound, the positioning of the 2 Biblical Jewish temples that is taken into account sacred by Muslims and Jews alike. That call would surely result in potentially violent protests from Palestinians and Israeli Arabs.
And any changes in legal rights previously granted to members of Israel’s L.G.B.T. community would likely also result in street demonstrations, in accordance with Mr. Abunassar. He added that some Arab and leftist activists would also take to the streets if the override bill were pushed through the Knesset. From the activists’ perspective, the bill would go away no separation of powers amongst Israel’s three government branches, an unacceptable risk to Israeli democracy.
Still, Mr. Abunassar said, for now he sees more “fear and concern” relatively than outright panic amongst opponents to the still cohering Netanyahu government.
“My concern is that when tensions are high the probabilities for clashes will be high,” he said. “They are usually not only frightening Palestinians and Arabs, also they are frightening many Israeli Jews…These guys are troublemakers and things can end in a vicious circle, not that I fear they may kick the Arabs out—that won’t occur—but I fear a hostile environment which can snowball and get uncontrolled.”
While many are concerned concerning the far right moving into the Defense, Public Security or Finance ministries, what’s of a more immediate concern to Palestinian educators in East Jerusalem, including at Catholic educational institutions, is what might occur if extremists gain control of the Ministry of Education portfolio. That’s in accordance with Joseph Hazboun, regional director on the Pontifical Mission Jerusalem Field Office.
Members of the coalition “are usually not only frightening Palestinians and Arabs, also they are frightening many Israeli Jews.”
The education ministry and the Jerusalem Municipality have recently attempted to impose an Israeli-based curriculum on the colleges in East Jerusalem, which so far had been following a Palestinian curriculum. The change would mean replacing the Palestinian historical narrative of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with one authored by Israelis and more favorable to the historical perspective of the Israeli side.
The elections and the brand new government will just mean “more of the identical,” similar to continuing discriminatory policies and increasing settlements, Mr. Hazboun said. “Likely we’ll witness the identical pace [of encroachment]—unless the precise wing is persuaded to take the Ministry of Education as a substitute of the Foreign Ministry or the Defense Ministry, then it can be a challenge for us,” Mr. Hazboun said.
Earlier within the week there have been media reports of the opportunity of Mr. Netanyahu abandoning his extreme right colleagues if the coalition negotiations remain unproductive. Under that scenario, he would turn to Israel’s two centrist parties to create a national unity government. That possibility seems distant, but Mr. Hazboun is hanging on to a skinny hope for it.
“What is occurring could be very dangerous,” he said. “If Netanyahu finds himself compelled to form his government with the precise wing, especially Smotrich and Ben Gvir, the situation will escalate and might be harmful for each Palestinians and Israelis themselves.”
Christians face an uncertain future
A recent meeting between the church hierarchy in Jerusalem and members of the diplomatic corps highlighted ongoing concerns amongst Christians in Israel and the West Bank, including difficulties acquiring permits and visas for clergy and volunteers, family reunification in marriages between Palestinians living within the territories and people living in Israel and East Jerusalem, and the continuing lack of respect for Christian clergy amongst some segments of the Jewish population in Jerusalem, Mr. Hazboun said. These are the problems which the Christian community will proceed to boost with the brand new government, he said, whatever its ideological makeup.
“We expect settlement construction, even though it has never stopped, to select up its pace in a faster and broader way” under the emerging Netanyahu government, he said. “But essentially the most difficult aspect for us is [receiving] visas for clergy and [Christian] volunteers, which has grow to be tougher recently.
“This may affect the mission of every congregation here…schools and better education institutions, churches and holy places and shrines, hospitals,” Mr. Hazboun said. “These are institutions that serve local communities and wish volunteers to support their work.”
“We expect settlement construction, even though it has never stopped, to select up its pace in a faster and broader way” under the emerging Netanyahu government.
Within the meantime, Mr. Hazboun said, because the elections only point toward a continuation of an already difficult reality, the challenge for Christian community leaders stays to persuade Christians to stay steadfast within the Holy Land.
Many Christians, especially young people and families, are finding it increasingly difficult to rationalize remaining in a hostile political environment, he said. “It doesn’t look promising for the near future,” Mr. Hazboun said. “To be honest that is our biggest headache and challenge, to assist the Palestinians—especially the Christians—to know the worth of their staying here within the land where Christianity began. That’s where our biggest efforts are by way of programs, not due to the elections, but due to the continuing political and economic hardships.”
Benedictine Father Nikodemus Schnabel, patriarchal vicar for migrants and asylum seekers for the Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem, sees the recent elections in Israel as a part of a broader international trend. He has confronted the phenomenon of maximum nationalism overtaking religion to create a “toxic religion” in his pastoral work, especially with Catholic migrant staff from India and Sri Lanka, where in certain regions nationalist Hindu sentiments have gained traction and the employees have expressed fear about going back to their home countries due to the religious extremism there.
“Israel isn’t unique on this,” Father Schnabel said. “I don’t wish to be in panic mode and for me it is absolutely seeing a general [increase] of the phenomenon of what’s a national religious party.”
The challenge for Israel is to create an Israeli identity that provides its residents a “democracy with equal rights for all but after all is culturally fundamentally Jewish,” he said, comparing it to his native Germany, a secular country but built on Christian foundations which are clear, where Christian holidays are celebrated nationally and cathedrals and churches are distinguished features of a secular landscape, he said.
“I believe the Jewish character of Israel could be very clear, and I’m in favor of that. I’m a fan of that. It is nice that you may taste and feel it, but to say [as right-wing politicians have] that the Jewish character of this country is in peril is just not true,” he said, likening the usage of such a narrative to pictures of persecution utilized by populist regimes to excite their bases.
With the election it has grow to be more apparent that making a separate “Israeli” identity for all residents has grow to be unrealistic, overcome by a more narrow concept of “Israeli Jewishness,” he said. “We will hope we’re no less than tolerated but no more,” he said, of non-Jews living in Israel.
“I’m not a fan of tolerance,” Father Schnabel said. “I’m a fan of acceptance. It is a vital a part of society.”
Mere “survival shouldn’t be the utmost ambition for a people in democratic countries,” Dr. Rana Zaher-Karayanni said, “but relatively prosperity and welfare. I think that Israel goes to be more Jewish and far less democratic, and we’ll all pay the value for that.”
As an individual of religion, Father Schnabel said he resents the increasing worldwide phenomenon of what he called the “religionization of politics.”
“Politicians are actually finding a recent way of claiming that God told me this or that. How will you find an answer [to a conflict] should you are [using God as a pawn]?” Father Schnabel asked. “Saying God is on our side could be very toxic.” Individuals who do this “really frighten me as a spiritual person.”
A member of the Dormition Abbey Monastery just outside of the partitions of the Old City on Mount Zion—a site which has seen its share of vandalism by Jewish extremists—Father Schnabel said he finds hope every morning witnessing the truly devout of all three religions as they arrive to their holy sites to wish.
“Come visit me at 5 a.m. within the morning, and you will notice religious Christians on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, pious Jews on the Western Wall and pious Muslims at Al Aqsa, and Jerusalem is absolutely beautiful then,” he said. “They are usually not the issue; it’s the hooligans of faith” who’re creating conflict.