Israeli police attack on Al Aqsa Mosque
Here in the United States, we are witnessing rising tides of racial, ethnic, religious and gender discrimination, often punctuated with violence. Those injustices combine with very specific red state statutes that press for increasing punishments for undocumented immigrants, including DACA children who have never really lived anywhere else, with additional laws and platforms that embrace antiabortion extremism, pro-gun absolutism, anti-LGBTQ activism, book banning, limiting public school lesson plans that deal with subjects like slavery, voter suppression and election denialism.
We have ultra-rightwing members of a Supreme Court leaning heavily toward protecting and elevating fundamentalist Christian values, even as one of their members – who draws no wrath from GOP members in Congress – has enjoyed a mega-luxurious lifestyle provided by and who sold real estate to another ultra-rightwing GOP donor… who has an amazing collection of Nazi memorabilia. Stuff like linens from Hitler’s dining room and a signed copy of Mein Kampf. Ethics? GOP response: not relevant as long as you support our extremism.
If you want to see what a country that was founded on a principal of tolerance, equality and democracy looks like when a rightwing fundamentalist zealot takes charge, you only have to look at Israeli PM Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu and his ultra-rightwing Zionist coalition that currently runs Israel. It is a nation without a constitution with a unicameral legislative body (the Knesset). Just as a sizeable group of extremists in the United States argue that the First Amendment does not prevent a formal declaration that we are a Christian country… with a subtext that suggests only White Christian nationalists have the traditional legitimacy to govern… Netanyahu’s narrow majority coalition is pushing for a severely anti-local-Arab policy plus the allowing the Knesset to reverse any judicial decision, even by Israel’s Supreme Court, by a simple majority vote.
That Bibi is being tried for corruption – a “witch hunt” as he describes it – suggests that a secondary (primary?) reason to allow the Knesset to overturn judicial decisions is less about their ability to protect human rights as it is an ability to keep Netanyahu out of jail. But under all of this is a wave of religious extremism against any non-Jewish faith in Israel. This is particularly horrendous when you consider that Jerusalem is a very holy city to three major religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. And notwithstanding the pro-Israel fundamentalist Christian factions in the United States, Christians aren’t really doing that well in the Israeli-controlled Holy Land. And as the police attack against worshipers at the Al Aqsa Mosque (pictured above), neither are Muslims.
As Isabel Debre points out in the April 14th Associated Press, anyone who is not Jewish in Israel is open game: “The head of the Roman Catholic Church in the Holy Land has warned in an interview that the rise of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government has made life worse for Christians in the birthplace of Christianity.
“The influential Vatican-appointed Latin Patriarch, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, told the Associated Press that the region’s 2,000-year-old Christian community has come under increasing attack, with the most right-wing government in Israel’s history emboldening extremists, who are harassing clergy and vandalizing religious property at a quickening pace.
“The uptick in anti-Christian incidents comes as the Israeli settler movement, galvanized by its allies in government, appears to have seized the moment to expand its enterprise in the contested capital… ‘The frequency of these attacks, the aggressions, has become something new,’ Pizzaballa said during Easter week from his office, tucked in the limestone passageways of the Old City’s Christian Quarter. ‘These people feel they are protected … that the cultural and political atmosphere now can justify, or tolerate, actions against Christians.’
“Pizzaballa’s concerns appear to undercut Israel’s stated commitment to freedom of worship, enshrined in the declaration that marked its founding 75 years ago. The Israeli government has stressed that it prioritizes religious freedom and relations with Christian churches, which have powerful links abroad.
“‘Israel’s commitment to freedom of religion has been important to us forever,’ said Tania Berg-Rafaeli, the director of the world religions department at the Israeli Foreign Ministry. ‘It’s the case for all religions and all minorities that have free access to holy sites.’…But Christians say they feel authorities don’t protect their sites from targeted attacks. And tensions have surged since an Israeli police raid on the holy Al Aqsa Mosque compound earlier this month set off outrage among Muslims, followed by a regional confrontation last week.
“For Christians, Jerusalem is where Jesus was crucified and resurrected. For Jews, it’s the ancient capital, home to two biblical Jewish temples. For Muslims, it’s where the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven… In March, two Israelis burst into the basilica beside the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus’ mother, Mary, is said to have been buried. They reportedly used a metal rod as they pounced on a priest before being arrested.
“In February, a Jewish American yanked a 10-foot rendering of Christ from its pedestal and smashed it to the floor, striking its face with a hammer a dozen times, at the Church of the Flagellation on the Via Dolorosa, along which Christians believe Jesus hauled his cross to his crucifixion. ‘No idols in the holy city of Jerusalem!’ the man yelled.
“Armenians found hateful graffiti on the walls of their convent. Clergy of all denominations say they’ve been stalked, spat on and beaten while out walking. In January, 30 graves marked with stone crosses were knocked over and vandalized at a historic Christian cemetery. Two Jewish teenagers were arrested and charged with causing damage and insulting religion.” With the new regime in power, this kind of behavior is now culturally tolerated.
Jerusalem has always been an open city to the relevant worshipers. But the ultra-Orthodox members of Netanyahu’s coalition were given new powers in exchange for their willingness to back Bibi’s reelection as prime minister. It seems pretty obvious that non-Jews are now viewed as interlopers by these coalition extremists. But as even hordes of local Israeli Jews are squirming at their Prime Minister’s efforts to void the check and balance that the Israeli judiciary provides against excessive executive or legislative power (also pictured above), Netanyahu is still pressing for his new autocracy. A minority of rightwing religious zealots shoving democratic principles aside to take control? Yeah… just like in the United States.
I’m Peter Dekom, and that “we’re better than you and should control everything” is just about as un-American and undemocratic as it can be… but it is happening in too many countries where rightwing minorities believe that they have a mandate from God to rule.
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