Liberman blasts conservative religious-Zionism as ‘idolatry’
Hardline wing of movement comprises 15% of religious-Zionist community
Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman has issued another broadside against the conservative wing of the religious-Zionist community, branding it “idolatry” taken over by “Messianics.”
Last week, Liberman stirred up a storm after he said that religious pre-military academies, which prepare young religious men for life in the army, were generating “religious private militias,” and branded the right-wing religious-Zionist parties as “extremist.”
Speaking on Channel 12’s Meet the Press program on Saturday night, Liberman said that the conservative religious-Zionist parties and the haredi parties have taken public policy on religion and state to previously unheard extremes. “What has happened with religious-Zionism is that a group of Messianics with [National Union leader and Transportation Minister Betzalel] Smotrich took control of them and dictates everything that happens,” said Liberman.
“On the one hand you have [dean of Eli Bnei David pre-military academy] Rabbi [Yigal] Levenstein and on the other [dean of Ateret Yerushalayim yeshiva] Rabbi [Shlomo] Aviner, and on the other you have all types of Babot [mystic Sephardi rabbis]. It’s all idolatry, it’s not Judaism, it is truly idol worship,” continued the former defense minister.
Levenstein has become infamous for several highly controversial statements regarding gays and women, while Aviner is also renowned for his hardline positions, notably stating earlier this week that women should not be involved in politics.
The conservative or hardline wing of the religious-Zionist community is thought to comprise about 15% of the total community, and is characterized by a more stringent attitude to religion and state issues, a strong aversion to progressive Jewish groups, and strong ideological support for maintaining Israeli control and annexing the Judea and Samaria regions and their settlements. Although the conservative wing of the religious-Zionist community is only a small component of the overall religious-Zionist public, the leaders of both Bayit Yehudi and National Union, Rabbi Rafi Peretz and Smotrich, both hail from this sector.
The representatives from the far-right Otzmah Yehudit, the third party in the Union of Right-Wing Parties, under the leadership of Rabbi Meir Kahana are equally as stringent on religion and state, and generally even more extreme in their approach to Judea and Samaria and its Palestinian inhabitants.
Several political commentators have stated that the mainstream religious-Zionist community, about 70% of the whole sector, lacks real representation in the current Knesset following the April elections.
During his Saturday night interview, Liberman went on to say that should the former New Right No. 2 Ayelet Shaked express an interest in joining his party he would be willing to listen. “I don’t force myself on anyone, if Ayelet Shaked gives me a telephone call we will speak. At the moment I don’t need [her], I have an excellent list of good people,” said Liberman.