Halachic State vs Caliphate: How do Jewish extremists differ from Islamist extremists? - opinion

The normalization of the Jewish messianism and the legitimization of its followers's methods of action in the coalition and outside threatens to change the nature of the State of Israel and even bring about its end.

If the democratic-liberal majority does not stem the murky wave, we will be dragged into abysses known only from the stories of the Bible.

In the summer of 1985, I was invited to Tel-Mond Prison to visit an imprisoned friend, one of the founders and leaders of the Golan settler movement, who was convicted of aiding terrorism as a member of the Jewish Underground (an extreme right terrorist group declared illegal in the 1980s). Our friendship was established during the battles of containment in the Golan in October 1973.

Years later, I was amazed to find out that a man of values like him was a partner in a group that assassinated Palestinian mayors and planned to plant bombs in civilian buses in east Jerusalem.

The meeting was designed to allow those who were convicted and expressed remorse for their actions to apologize and renounce their fundamentalist Messianic ideology.

The political pressure to release lawbreakers with public status who were convicted of acts of terrorism took its toll, and President Herzog (senior) cut short the sentences of all members of the underground, including prisoners with "blood on their hands."

The Jewish Underground Affair shocked the mainstream of Religious Zionism at the time.

In retrospect, it becomes clear that the shock did not remove from Messianic-Orthodox Hasidism's agenda its vision of redemption: turning the State of Israel into a Jewish Halachic State that the Torah established.

Infiltrating the security system

In the late 1980s, a network of pre-military preparatory schools and Torah centers were established under the direction and leadership of rabbis such as Zvi Israel Thau, Dov Lior, Eli Sadan, and Yigal Levinstein.

These prep schools and centers are intended to instill in the consciousness of the masses the belief in redemption through the building of the Third Temple while gradually infiltrating the systems of government.

The strategy of shaping consciousness and taking over national centers of power was more successful than expected.

On January 4, 2023, the ruling coalition launched an attack on government institutions and the values of the Declaration of Independence.

An attack that is a clear expression of the increasing influence of Messianist-nationalist forces on democratic statehood through repeated attempts to subdue the judiciary and the security system.

By taking responsibility for the failures of October 7, the senior command has accelerated the Messianic takeover of the IDF.

In the words of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, "It's good that Haliva, the head of Military Intelligence, resigned and took responsibility; this is an opportunity for real change." Smotrich states, "A new command is needed from among the commanders who have proven themselves under fire to establish a large, offensive, and deadly army."

Desperate for allies and fleeing judgment, Netanyahu brought about in practice the softening of the extreme fringes of the Religious Zionist camp and the transformation of the Messianic vision of redemption into a national policy by adding Smotrich and Ben Gvir.

The latter, a convicted felon, took over law enforcement, and the former, a target of the Shin Bet, was appointed a cabinet member with enormous influence on Israeli government policy.

Thus, a terrorist act, such as the burning of the Dawabshe family's house in the town of Duma in July 2015, became a policy in February 2023 with the call of the cabinet ministers to "erase Hawara."

These days, the actions of the government and the laxity of the police forces in enforcing the law also normalize the violence of the "hilltop youths," work to validate the illegal outposts, and ignore the defamation against the Commander of the Central Command.

The religious fundamentalism, which denies the possibility of the existence of a democratic-liberal regime, is shared by both the Islamic fundamentalist movements and the Messianic-Jewish Redemption movement.

Each fundamentalist movement presents to its followers a vision of a state of religious law between the river Jordan and the sea - a Halachic State or an Islamic Caliphate.

Both see terrorist militias as a tool for the realization of their vision. Instead of integration into regional political and security arrangements, they promise division and an eternal war that threatens the existence of the Jewish public in Israel and the Palestinian public in Gaza and the West Bank.

The normalization of the Jewish Underground's vision and the legitimization of its methods of operation are some of the symptoms of the autoimmune disease called the "Jewish State," as opposed to a Jewish-Democratic State that is the home of the Jewish people.

Now, the disease threatens to change the nature and values of the State of Israel and even lead to its destruction.

If the democratic-liberal Israeli majority (68% of the Israeli public supports the separation of religion and state) does not stand up to stop the governmental coup by re-ratifying the values of the Declaration of Independence, we will be dragged into abysses that we only knew in the Bible - tribal wars and never-ending circles of blood feuds.

Dr. Boaz Tamir, the writer of the column, is a technological and social entrepreneur.