Israel clears Jewish supremacist party to contest election

Israel clears Jewish supremacist party to contest election

Israel will allow a far-right Kahanist party to contest October’s election after Shin Bet chief David Zini reversed the security agency’s earlier position that it should be barred.

Shin Bet initially found that Kahanist activists Baruch Marzel and Michael Ben Ari effectively controlled the party, whose name translates to "A Whole and Strong Jewish Israel,".

Ben Ari previously chaired the far-right Jewish Power party headed by the Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir.

The agency’s intelligence assessment found that Marzel and Ben Ari intended to use the new party to advance the ideology of Rabbi Meir Kahane’s ultranationalist Kach movement. It also found that the pair deliberately left their names off the party’s list of founders to hide their involvement.

Israel and several other governments designated Kach a terrorist organisation following its involvement in violent extremist attacks.

Kahane founded the movement around an ideology of Jewish supremacy, the annexation of occupied Palestinian territory and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. ...