Friends,
I’m Israeli, so excuse me for speaking bluntly, but Itamar Ben-Gvir -- an extreme-right politician whose ‘Jewish Power’ party could be a key player in the next Israeli government -- disgusts me.
I’m working toward a future of equality, respect and self-determination for both Israelis and Palestinians. He is working to pour fuel on the fire -- promoting Jewish supremacist policies, advocating for the expulsion of Palestinians en masse from Israel and the occupied territory, and doing everything possible to block Palestinian statehood.
Ben-Gvir has dedicated his life and career to incitement against Palestinians and liberal Israeli Jews. He has defended the worst Jewish extremist criminals with blood on their hands, praising and advocating for the use of violence.
Just last week, he brandished a handgun while calling on police to shoot Palestinians in East Jerusalem. His latest incitement comes at a time when, according to Israeli security officials, Jewish ultranationalist settlers have committed over 100 acts of violence and vandalism against Palestinians in the West Bank in the last ten days alone.
Ben-Gvir is one of the greatest threats to Israel’s future as a democracy. Yet he’s now described as a possible future ‘kingmaker’ ahead of Israel’s November 1 election, with a frightening chance that his ‘Jewish Power’ party could form part of a Netanyahu-led coalition of right-wing extremists.
Friends -- This is something that Jewish and pro-Israel groups around the world may soon be forced to reckon with, and they cannot fall silent. Unfortunately, some are doing just that.
In 2019, both AIPAC and the American Jewish Committee condemned ‘Jewish Power’ as “reprehensible” and “racist.” But now that the party might enter the next Israeli government, these groups -- and several other prominent Jewish establishment organizations -- are declining to stand up to them. That’s simply unacceptable.
American Jewish Leaders: We Must Speak Out Against Far-Right Extremism in Israel
Click to sign if you agree ✍️
J Street is far from alone in sounding the alarm.
One Democratic lawmaker warned that “These extremists undermine Israel’s interests and the US-Israel relationship.” Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, has implored Jewish leaders to speak out against racist extremism: “I think that Jewish leaders… must not forget core commitments of what it means to be Jewish.”
Yet despite these warnings, too few have spoken out against the threat Ben-Gvir and his allies pose to the values of democracy, justice and equality enshrined in Israel’s own Declaration of Independence.
As a leading Jewish community newspaper in Great Britain asked on their front page this week: “Where is the Outrage?”
I firmly believe that Ben-Gvir’s vision for Israel is not a vision shared by the majority of Israelis, and certainly not by the overwhelming majority of mainstream American Jews. No mainstream Jewish group is truly representing their membership unless they’re drawing a line in the sand against this ideology.
We cannot be afraid to take a clear position. We cannot let this become our future. We cannot shy from our duty to call this out. Read, sign and share our petition now.
American Jewish Leaders: We Must Speak Out Against Far-Right Extremism in Israel
Click to sign if you agree ✍️
Friends, I’m so grateful to stand alongside you as we say no to hatred and press for a better future of peace, justice and equality.
Thank you,
Adina Vogel Ayalon
Chief of Staff, J Street
