How do we combat all extremism and hate speech in Israel? - opinion

The decision by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to pause his coalition’s aggressive and rapid judicial reform should be cause for much elation but watching the news until late that night quickly gave way to a familiar unease watching the right-wing rallies exhibit the increasingly usual violence in language and action directed toward Arab Israeli citizens and residents of our democratic nation.

Israel faces an extremism problem. This is not new. One only needs to visit the right schools and mosques in some but, of course, not all Palestinian areas or follow Arabic language social media channels to see hatred expressed out in the open. All too frequently this anti-Israeli extremism leads to violence, most recently, in the form of lone-wolf attacks across Israel and the West Bank.

This complex process is tragically ubiquitous and cyclical, where the Palestinian leadership expresses violent and extremist views, the street echoes and violence ensues. As violent ideology becomes more commonplace, the street expects these views to be exposed more and more by their leaders, leading to a downward spiral of increasingly extremist thoughts that, of course, inspire more and more extremist violence.

While the above processes are well recognized, there is an elephant in the room that seems to be growing larger and larger and I fear that soon this same elephant will rip the roof right off our tent. The recent counter-protest rallies saw documented instances of some but, of course, not all right-wing protesters engaging in acts of violence, such as assaulting Arab residents of Jerusalem, as well as chanting “death to Arabs” and “burn the village.”

These chants are not new

While these chants are not new, their echoes in government are. Today’s coalition members have repeatedly called for the destruction of villages via social media post endorsements and even direct public statements. The above are extremist-inspired acts of hate speech and violence.

Some of these statements are later clarified or redacted, sometimes days later but their impact is already felt and that is the point: Extremism targeting Arabs and Palestinians is endorsed and the street is listening. Violent attacks on Palestinians by settlers in the West Bank are on the rise and with increased tensions domestically this violence may manifest more regularly within Israel proper, as well.

This government must not just rein in its extremist and hateful voices within its ranks but actively condemn and prosecute those who implement extremist actions in the streets. If they do not, they will erode Israel’s moral standing and help turn us into the very enemies they claim to be fighting.

The writer is a geopolitical consultant mostly working in the Middle East-North Africa region and periodically writes about Israeli issues.