3. Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel

Three main trends in Israeli Judaism have been characterized as fundamentalists: the militant religious Zionism, the ultra-Orthodoxy of the Ashkenazim (Jews of eastern European origin, from hebrew “Ashkenaz” Germany), and the ultra-Orthodoxy of the Sephardim as represented by the Shas party (Jews of Middle East from Spanish descendants -Sephardim from hebrew “Sefarad” Spain-). All three groups stress the need for strict conformity to religious laws and moral precepts contained in sacred Jewish texts, the Torah and the Talmud.

Fundamentalism is rooted in events before establishing of the State of Israel in 1948. Since the destruction of Jerusalem’s Second Temple by the Romans in 70ad, most Jews had lived in the Diaspora, that is, dispersed far from the land of Israel promised by God to the Jewish people according to the Hebrew Bible. During their prolonged “exile”, Jews all over the world prayed daily for the coming of the messiah, who would lead them back to Israel and deliver them from oppressors. In the late 19th century, some Jews, primarily secular intellectuals such as Theodor Herzl (1860–1904), a Viennese journalist and playwright, concluded that the ancient problem of anti-Semitism could be solved only by the creation of a Jewish state. Zionism, the movement to establish a Jewish state in Palestine, thus represented a secularization of the traditional messianic theme. Instead of waiting for God and the messiah to lead the Jews back to the land of Israel, Zionists argued, Jews should take it upon themselves to return there. Most Orthodox Jews, including Orthodox rabbis, were opposed to Zionism because it called upon humans to do what only God and the messiah could do. In traditional Judaism, the return to the land of Israel was inseparable from the messianic redemption of the people of Israel. Orthodox Jews also objected to the fact that Herzl and most other early Zionist leaders did not advocate a state based on strict conformity to Jewish religious law. However, it disappeared among the former with the coming of the Holocaust, which appeared to confirm the Zionist argument that Jews could be safe only in their own state.
Zionism aroused considerable enthusiasm among many Orthodox Jews who saw in it the promise of the long-awaited messianic redemption. Some Orthodox rabbis, therefore, sought to legitimate Orthodox participation in the Zionist movement. Rabbi Yitzḥaq Yaʿaqov Reines (1839–1915), founder of the Mizraḥi, Religious Zionist movement in 1902, argued that the Zionist settlement of the land of Israel had nothing to do with the future messianic redemption of the Jews and thus did not constitute a heretical defiance of God’s will. The Religious Zionism movement is characterized by Orthodoxy and Nationalism. In fact religious Zionists cooperated with secular Zionists who were primarily responsible for creating the State of Israel. Indeed, from 1948 to 1992, religious-Zionist parties participated in every Israeli government. Until 1977 there was a close relationship between these parties and the Israel Labour Party, which dominated Israeli politics during this period. In 1956 the Mizraḥi movement and the Mizraḥi Worker Party joined to form the National Religious Party (NRP).

The Six-Day War of 1967 awakened the dormant messianic dimension of religious Zionism.

East Jerusalem, the Temple Mount, and Judaea were once again in Jewish hands. To return any of this land to the Arabs would be to defy God’s plan for the redemption of the Jewish people. Some of Religious Zionists who felt this way began to settle in territories occupied in the Six-Day War. Militant religious Zionists in the vanguard of the settlement effort formed a movement called Gush Emunim (Bloc of the Faithful), which clashed with the more traditional religious Zionists who still led the NRP in the 1960s and ’70s. The latter continued to believe that God had given the land of Israel to the Jews, but they felt that making peace was more important than retaining territory. For the militants, settling the land and preventing the government from withdrawing from it took precedence over anything else. They did many terroristic actions because of that. In 1995 Yigal Amir, a militant religious Zionist, murdered Yitzhak Rabin Prime Minister of Israel at the end of a manifestation supporting the Accords of Oslo in Tel Aviv. The motivation was rooted in Rabin's initiatives for peace and the signature of Accords with Yasser Arafat, former Palestinian President of the Munaẓẓamat al-Taḥrīr al-Filasṭīniyya(OLP - Organization for the Liberation of Palestine).
In conclusion, the Jewish Fundamentalism is well represented by Militant religious Zionism. Religious Zionists conform their daily practices to laws of God and will the creation of a society based religious laws. At the same time their political activities are directed toward settling and retaining the land won in 1967. Militant religious Zionists share with other religious and secular Zionists a nationalist sentiment and the conviction that anti-Semitism can be opposed only with force.

Intercultural, interdisciplinary information

(History and Geography)

The Biblical root of Palestine concerns Canaan, an area variously defined in historical and biblical literature. Its original pre-Israelite inhabitants were called Canaanites. “Canaan” refers sometimes to an area encompassing all of Palestine and Syria, sometimes only to the land west of the Jordan River, and sometimes just to a strip of coastal land from Acre ('Akko) northward. The Israelites occupied and conquered Palestine, or Canaan, beginning in the late 2nd millennium BC, or perhaps earlier; and the Bible justifies such occupation by identifying Canaan with the Promised Land, the land that was promised Israelites by God. Biblically, Canaanites are identified in Genesis as descendants of Canaan, a son of Ham and grandson of Noah.

Jerusalem is also considered on one side the cradle of Christianity because of Jesus and on the other side an important city for Islam because of Muhammad's night journey (isrā') and ascension to Heaven (mi'rāj). You can see the image on http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isra'_e_Mi'raj#mediaviewer/File:Miraj_by_Sultan_Muhammad.jpg (11/08/2014) Sultan Muhammad

Use other Digital Modules to better know the Diaspora of minority groups and the importance of  Jerusalem, the city of three monotheistic religions.

Observe the map of the old Palestine
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canaan#mediaviewer/File:CanaanMap.jpg Christian Theological Seminary;

Palestine in 1947
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stato_di_Palestina#mediaviewer/File:UN_Partition_Plan_For_Palestine_1947.png Public domain;
(11/08/2014)

Palestine in 2004
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israele#mediaviewer/File:Israel-CIA_WFB_Map_(2004).png ; Israel-CIA WFB Map (2004) Public domain;
(11/08/2014)