Beyond Ben-Gvir: A look into Israeli far-right groups fuelling occupation

Israel's brutal war on Gaza is supported and championed by its prominent far-right politicians, alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

While many attribute the rise of the far-right to Netanyahu, this emergence of the far-right is not a recent phenomenon, but has been in the works for a long time in which civil society organisations have played a significant role.

Far-right Israeli politicians Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich have emerged from these groups.

Ben Gvir, Minister of National Security, and Finance Minister Smotrich, leaders of the Otzma Yehudit and Religious Zionism parties respectively, have moved from marginal positions to become central figures on the current political landscape.

To understand the influence these far-right politicians, who also belong to far-right social groups, have on Israel’s policy, judiciary reform, and its larger political arena, a report has been published by the academic branch of Türkiye’s National Intelligence Organisation (MIT).

Events such as the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, Camp David Accord in 1978, Oslo Peace Accord in 1994 and the 2005 Israel’s Gaza withdrawal have radicalised the far-right in Israel, the report indicates.

The report delves deeply into the relationship between the radical right groups in Israel and Netanyahu's government, highlighting the significant influence these groups have on government policy.

The study extensively examines the far-right's NGO network, and emphasises on the extensive network that has enabled the far-right to influence Israel's policies against Palestinians by enforcing settler colonialism: which seeks to forcibly steal Palestinian land.

"Another function of civil society organisations and think tanks for radical right-wing groups in Israel is the dissemination of their agenda, which may initially be perceived as radical, through the voices of civil actors in the media and public sphere," says the report.

In this context, it is essential to examine some of these far-right organisations and their ideological sameness and differences.

Mercaz Harav Yeshiva

After the Arab-Israeli war in 1967, the far-right in Israel became more politically prominent. But the institutions that ideologically support the idea of Israel date back many decades - even before the Zionist was state carved out Palestine. Chief among these, and perhaps religiously the most significant, is the Mercaz Harav yeshiva (Jewish traditional school).

Mercaz Harav (The Rabbi's Centre) is a yeshiva founded in 1924 by Rabbi Avraham Kook, one of the founders of Religious Zionism, during the British Mandate in Jerusalem.

Kook's teaching of Religious Zionism, which assigns a messianic role to the Israeli state, was incorporated into the curriculum of this yeshiva. Over time, Mercaz Harav became one of Israel's largest and most central higher religious education institutions.

In the 1970s and 1980s, the Gush Emunim (Bloc of the Faithful) movement, which spearheaded the emergence and spread of Jewish settlements in the West Bank after the Israeli occupation, was founded by students of Rabbi Kook from Mercaz Harav. Some members of the group became further radicalised, carrying out several terror attacks and plotting to blow up the Dome of the Rock.

The school also serves as a "cloak of legitimacy" that the far-right use for electoral gains.

During a May 2023 speech in the institution on the occasion of marking so-called Jerusalem Day, in reference to Israel's occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, upon invitation along with prominent members of his Likud party, signalled that the far-right could not find a better ally than him.

Yesha Council

The Yesha Council, the umbrella organisation that represents illegal settlers, was established in 1980 as a successor to Gush Emunim (Block of the Faithful).

Gush Emunim worked to promote illegal Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, which they regarded as the return of Jews to their Biblical homeland. The Yesha Council provides the settlers with a platform to participate in politics.

The Council has played a significant role in the recent policies to entrench the Israeli occupation in the West Bank and hinder the establishment of a Palestinian state. For instance, the council lobbied for the establishment of the road network that divides the West Bank and is used exclusively by Israelis in the territory.

It also pressured the Netanyahu government to apply Israeli domestic law directly to illegal settlements like Maale Adumim and terminate the UN-led Hebron International Presence which was established after the 1994 Hebron massacre. The motion was passed in 2019.

David Elhayani, the chairman of Yesha Council, opposed the formation of the Palestinian state proposed in Trump’s Mideast peace plan.

Elad

Another institution of the far-right political network is Ir David Foundation (Amutat Elad). The organisation is based in the tourist site City of David/Ir David in occupied East Jerusalem.

It promotes a narrative of Jerusalem’s history that relies on controversial excavations in order to solely celebrate the Jewish history of the area, erasing much of the site’s history. The organisation established a political theme park in Silwan, in which excavations led to the damage of Palestinian homes.

Since the 1980s, the Jewish National Fund has reportedly financed the group to pursue settlement actions. Another report states that donations were made through the Bahamas, the Virgin Islands and the Seychelles or the "tax haven" to avoid recording them, and Israeli tax authorities ignored Elad's budget.

Considered one of the wealthiest NGOs, the group supervises about 70 settlement outposts in Silwan, and has reportedly received around $7.9 million to support Judaisation projects in the Wadi Rababah neighbourhood in the area.

Elad’s method of harnessing not only the land, but what lies beneath it, in order to bring about historical revisionism, which has always been central to Israeli nation-building. But it has, under increasingly right-wing governments over the past few decades, become ever-more brazen in its scope.

Kohelet Policy Forum

The Kohelet Policy Forum is an influential right-wing think tank actively shaping Israel’s legislative agenda. It played a crucial role in drafting the contentious 2018 Nation-State Law and the judicial reforms proposed in January 2023.

It also orchestrates media campaigns, preparing speeches and op-eds for ministers and Knesset members to advocate for these divisive legislations. The forum is funded by American Jewish billionaires Arthur Dantchik and Jeffrey Yass and currently led by Moshe Koppel, who received his traditional Jewish education at Yeshivat Har Etzion, which is located at the Alon Shvut settlement.

The Kohelet also established the Shilo Forum following Trump’s proposal of the 2017 relocation of the US Embassy to Jerusalem, which advocates the annexation of Area C in the occupied West Bank.

Regavim and Komemiyut

Regavim (Pieces of land) is an organisation that closely monitors Palestinian construction activities in both Israel and the occupied West Bank, reporting issues related to building permits and other legal loopholes to the Israeli government. Its aim is to minimise Palestinian construction and urbanisation activities.

The organisation was established in 2006 right after the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

Regavim's stated goals include "halting the Palestinian takeover of Area C [of the West Bank]," "strengthening the Kaminitz Law," and "restoring governance to the Negev." Since its inception, Regavim has employed drones and aerial photography to closely monitor construction by Palestinians in occupied territories and Palestinian citizens of Israel.

Regavim’s more extreme sister organisation, Komemiyut (Independence), was established shortly after Regavim.

Both of them have almost identical lists of founders.

Komemiyut's foundation rests on an NGO called "Komemiyut – Jewish Spirit and Heroism". The NGO was established in 2006 with Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich as one of its founding members.

Smotrich, served as operations director for Regavimt. The current Israeli finance minister and defence minister in charge of illegal settlement in the occupied West Bank. David Friedman, the former U.S. Ambassador to Israel under President Trump, also served as the organisation's director from 2011 to 2017.

It is also involved in the Garin Torani movement. The members of the movement have moved to the geographic and social periphery of Israel – especially if you are nonreligious, educated and liberal. It follows a religious nationalist ideology on the far right of Israeli politics.

Unlike Regavim, which presents a more ‘diplomatic’ face of the far-right pro-settler groups, Komemiyut openly declares its mission of “enhancing Jewish uprightness as a central national idea in the State of Israel, reinforcing Jewish settlement and thwarting intentions to expel Jews.” It also supports the establishment of a Halachic (Talmudic law) state, rejecting a Jewish state based on a secular law.

Among the rabbis of this movement is Dov Lior, rabbi of Kiryat Arba (the largest Jewish settlement in Hebron) and Rabbi Haim Yerucham Smotrich, of Beit Yatir (Jewish settlement in the South Hebron Hills), who is the father of Bezalel Smotrich.

Noar Hagvaot and Mered

Noar Hagvaot (Hilltop Youth) is a settler youth organisation that establishes and expands outposts in the occupied West Bank. The organisation is a derivation of the ideology Rabbi Meir Kahane, who, in 1971, founded right-wing Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) Party, advocating Jewish supremacy. The party’s leader, Itamar Ben-Gvir, serves as the Minister of National Security in the 37th government.

Hilltop Youth or Noar Hagvaot is led by Meir Ettinger, a Kahanist activist, that pursues the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and conducts attacks on Palestinian villages.

He has the pedigree. He is the grandson of Meir Kahane, his maternal grandfather, and Mordechai Ettinger, a rabbi at the Ateret Cohanim yeshiva.

Ettinger is also the leader of Mered (Revolt), a group responsible for the 2015 arson on the home of a Palestinian couple, killing them and their 18-month-old child in Dawabsheh in the occupied West Bank.

Following the attack, the Israeli officials uncovered Mered’s activities, revealing Ettinger calls for the “dispossession of gentiles” who inhabit the Holy Land and the replacement of the modern Israeli state with a new “kingdom of Israel” ruled by the laws of the Torah.

Rest of the groups

Other than the aforementioned groups, there are several organisations that aggressively push the far-right agenda in Israel, particularly focusing on occupied East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.

Ateret Cohanim is a yeshiva, located in Muslim quarters in the Old City of Jerusalem, and is notorious for its efforts to displace Palestinian residents by acquiring their properties in the occupied East Jerusalem.

Torat HaMedina founded by Yair Kartman and Yaakov Yakiv, who are also associated with the Movement for Governability and Democracy and Komemiyut, openly embraces its vision of a Halakha state. The group's website states its mission as "engaging in formulating public policy based on the Torah and advancing these policies through study, research, legislation, and public initiatives."

The Temple Mount Faithful movement is the oldest of the groups that demands the removal of the mosques from the Mount and its transformation into a Jewish centre. The Temple Mount Sifting Project and the Temple Institute are dedicated to the controversial and provocative goal of rebuilding the Jewish Temple, driven by a messianic zeal.

Haliba and B’Yadeynu advocate for Israeli sovereignty and Jewish prayer rights over the Al Aqsa Mosque, frequently raiding the area and inciting tensions with the Muslim community.

Lehava, which means "flame" in Hebrew, is the acronym for "Prevention of Assimilation in the Holy Land". Known for its extremist and often violent actions, the group targets Jewish people’s intermarriage and assimilation, promoting an extremist ideology. National Security minister Ben Gvir is a legal representative and a vocal supporter of the group.