The Ascendance of Israel's Radical Right

This important report provides the fullest picture to date of Israel's extremist right-wing movement and the threat it poses to democratic politics and culture. Sprinzak, who teaches political science at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, argues that the true believers of the Israeli far right, through their penetration of the power structure and their strategic location in the occupied territories, wield considerable political influence disproportionate to their numbers. He looks at various factions: the messianic Gush Emunim, committed to establishing Jewish settlements in the West Bank; recently assassinated Meir Kahane's violent Kach party; the Tehiya party, which articulates an ultra-conservative agenda in parliament; and the Moledet party which demands the ``transfer'' (i.e., deportation) of all the Arabs of the West Bank to the surrounding Arab countries. Sprinzak contends that the radical right may become even more divisive in the future, with a civil war or a major violent conflict a distinct possibility. (Aug.)