La Familia and Ben-Gvir’s National Guard: the violent underbelly of Israel’s far Right

The pause on judicial overhaul may come at the cost of increased violence and racism, with street attacks by far-Right counterdemonstrators and Ben-Gvir given control over a new National Guard.

Competing protests over Israel’s judicial overhaul sparked several violent incidents this week.

Reporter Yossi Eli suffered a fractured rib and possibly an injury to his spleen after he was hit with a stick by a member of La Familia, the racist far-Right soccer fan club from Jerusalem, during a counterprotest in support of judicial overhaul on Monday.

A group of boys hit an Arab taxi driver, a protester against the judicial overhaul was thrown to the ground and kicked by men in ski masks, and far-Right demonstrators clashed with police at Jerusalem’s Sacher park.

Three other men were arrested for posting a video on social media indicating their intentions to harm pro-democracy demonstrators in Jerusalem. The suspects, from the central Israeli town of Yavneh, recorded themselves with a gun and eggs while travelling to Jerusalem on Monday.

Far-Right demonstrators also waved the clenched fist flag of Kach, the ultra-Right, racist party founded by Meir Kahane, which was banned in 1994.

Fear of increased violence associated with Israel’s civil crisis are mounting now that the Right has taken to the streets in counterdemonstrations to the massive pro-democracy protests which prompted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to pause the judicial overhaul process on Monday.

The counterdemonstration on Monday was the first major demonstration by supporters of the judicial overhauls, after three months of weekly protests by the 66% of Israelis who oppose Netanyahu’s planned judicial overhaul.  

In response to the pause, thousands of Right-wing activists gathered in Tel Aviv on Thursday night amid calls to violently confront journalists and left-wing protesters circulating on WhatsApp.

Police are investigating a WhatsApp message circulated among the protestors which called on pro-overhaul demonstrators to attack democracy protestors. "Take off their heads and break their bones. We need to burn everything there. Beat them if necessary! There is no such thing [as protesting] without violence. Whoever starts [a fight] with us, they're over," the message said.

Other right-wing WhatsApp groups called on members to attack left-wing activists from the group Looking the Occupation in the Eyes who have been regularly protesting outside the Defence Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv. In one group, a protester wrote: "We're going to Sarona to fuck up the occupation protesters." Another answered him: "I'm dying to punch them in the face."

The involvement of La Familia, Beitar Jerusalem supporters known for racist violence, took the civil tensions to a new level.  Last year, then defence minister Benny Gantz proposed designating La Familia and Jewish supremacist group Lehava as terrorist organisations, a call that was reiterated this week by Yesh Atid MK Meirav Cohen.

But perhaps the greatest fear of increased violence came from a political deal. In exchange for his not resigning if the judicial overhaul process were paused, Netanyahu gave his coalition partner, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, control over a new 2000-officer gendarmerie.

Israel's oldest human rights organisation, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, described the proposed national guard as "a private, armed militia that would be directly under Ben-Gvir's control."

Senior members of Israel's police, including Commissioner Kobi Shabtai, strongly oppose the formation of the national guard.

"It could be very dangerous," said a senior police official. “[In the anti-democracy demonstrations on Monday] the minister would have sent companies from the National Guard to deal with the protesters, it looks bad."

The official added that, "He has tried to subject the Commissioner to himself and failed, and now he’s trying to have his own police."

The National Guard is scheduled to be approved by cabinet on Sunday. 

Ben-Gvir said this week that the force would focus on combating “extortion in areas with criminal organisations and ‘mixed’ cities.”

He said the National Guard was not a private army or a militia and was designed to “return personal security to the citizens of Israel”.

“The National Guard will protect our farmers from agricultural terrorism, equipment burning, theft and protectionism.”

The subtext is that he is interested on crime by Arabs against Jewish Israelis.

Critics fear that is a recipe for discrimination against Arab citizens and heightened street tensions.

READ MORE
Ben-Gvir's National Guard to focus on Arab-Israeli crime, mixed cities (Jerusalem Post)

Why Israel's police force is troubled by Ben-Gvir’s shadow militia (Haaretz)
Netanyahu again promised far-Rght minister Itamar Ben-Gvir he would command a newlyestablished National Guard, but Israel's police force is sceptical, if not uneasy, about a separate, competing law enforcement agency

Far-right activists attack, injure Israeli reporter at Jerusalem protest (Haaretz)

Three armed men arrested on suspicion of planning to harm pro-democracy demonstrators (Haaretz)

Journalists, Arab taxi driver attacked by right-wingers (Jerusalem Post)
Journalists and politicians condemned the violence at the protest in Jerusalem on Monday.

When Israel's far-Right politicians call, their racist soccer thugs come running (Haaretz)
Israel's far-Right politicians are no strangers to La Familia, Beitar Jerusalem's racist, violent fan club. But if they believe that the ultra-hooligans support their cause out of political loyalty, they are mistaken.

Photo: Pro reform protestors wave the Israeli flag center and the Yelow flag of the banned racist party Kach beside an Israeli flag (Matan Golan/Sipa USA).