Opponents of the government's contentious judicial reform have posted a video on X that compares far-right Cabinet members – Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir – to members of the violent, white supremacist Ku Klux Klan.
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Uploaded by UnXeptable - Saving the Israeli Democracy, a protest movement comprised of Israeli expatriates who oppose the government's push to overhaul the judiciary, the video, running just under three minutes, offers a narrative of the protest movement and outlines the reasons behind it, including the radical views of the two government ministers.
"Imagine if the US Department of Defense and the Department of the Treasury were run by members of the Ku Klux Klan. That's the equivalent of what's going on in Israel right now, with two of the most extreme right-wing fascists from the radical fringe, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, in key government positions," the narrator says in English.
According to Offir Gutelzon, a leading figure in the global UnXeptable movement who resides in San Francisco, the movement "operates in over 170 locations in the U.S., North Africa, Canada and Australia" and is "not related to the protest organizations in Israel, but our goal is the same."
The creator of the video Galia Moors, an Israeli living in New York, told Ynet she "anxiously" watches the events in Israel. She said she got the idea to make the video from Netanyahu’s recent blitz in the American media.
“In those interviews, he was trying to reassure and say that there is no danger to Israeli democracy and there is nothing to worry about,” she said.
“Americans who watched the interviews asked me, 'What are the protests about?' After several conversations with American friends, when I raise the point and the composition of the government and who is sitting in it, that is something that shocks them and speaks to them, and they are concerned about it.
Then they ask how we got to this situation. How did extremists get into such positions? So, I started to explain without delving into judicial reform, which is complex. I wanted to explain the simplest thing: how we got to a point in the State of Israel where two people, sitting in the most important offices, I don’t know what to call them other than fascists."
Moors explained that she initially attempted to educate her American friends about the legislation, but found that they struggled to understand the complexities involved.
“I try to explain it to my friends. Initially, I would chit-chat with them over the reasonableness clause and the composition of the judges. Those things would go over their heads. The moment I draw an analogy, comparing those who sit in the government to the extremism of the KKK, they suddenly understand,” she said.
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UnXeptable protesters rally against judicial reform in Cupertino, CA
(Photo: Offir Gutelzon, UnXeptable)
Gutelzon said that the Jewish community in the United States is also waking up to the effects of the legislation on their own lives across the ocean.
"For years, American Jews have been accustomed to not taking a stance that opposes what is happening in Israel. They don't say anything against Israel. In recent months, there has been a realization that the situation in Israel is affecting their lives here. They are concerned that Israel is becoming more radical and another thing that worries them is the (countries’) shared values," he said.
"If we’re heading toward a dictatorship, there needs to be a way to help them understand the situation in Israel and how it is connected to them. They are becoming increasingly aware, and they have given a chance for discussions at the President’s Residence and we saw what happened there.
When the reasonableness standard law was enacted, they realized that it was passed with a 64-0 vote despite promises made to them. I must add that the issue of raising awareness is especially critical, and the more creators that participate in that, the easier it will be to clarify the situation in the country. We need more creators."
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UnXeptable protesters rally outside the White House during President Isaac Herzog's visit in July
(Photo: UnXeptable)
Meanwhile, Nadav Galon, a prominent figure in the protest movement in Israel, refused to condemn the video, saying that, while he hasn't watched the video, he believes that "there are similarities between the American far-right and Israel."
"I don't condemn [the video]; even if it was made in poor taste, the truth needs to be told. The far right in Israel is leading us to disaster. They support and endorse Jewish terrorism," he told Ynet Live.
"These people are a mix of patriotic Israelis who love their country and will mostly return in the future, along with Jews who love Israel, and they are pointing to a real problem created by these two extremists, Ben-Gvir and Smotrich. That is what the video shows, and we should address the actual problem rather than focusing on such comparisons," Galon said.
Last month, former Mossad head Tamir Pardo said in an interview that "we are undergoing processes that resemble the Ku Klux Klan." According to him, Prime Minister Netanyahu "allies with terribly racist parties, and his positions are not far from theirs," adding that if some of the government's laws were enacted anywhere else in the world, "we would say that they are blatantly antisemitic laws'."