The Knesset Law Committee approved a bill that declares any gather of “racist or Nazi” groups illegal, subject to imprisonment. The bill is superfluous for punishing Israeli Nazis, as ample body of laws is available to that end. The bill targets Jewish conservative activists.
The Knesset introduced the concept of racism in 1980s to ban the meteoric rise of Rabbi Meir Kahane’s Kach Party which campaigned on a commonsense platform that Arabs will never be loyal citizens of a Jewish state. The Knesset defined racism as “advocating against a group” - which, as R. Kahane pointed out, allows for arbitrary banning of every political party in Israel.
In the wake of negotiations with Palestinians over the division of Jerusalem, Olmert’s government expects mass protests orders of magnitude larger than those that took place in support of Gush Katif. It is imperative, therefore, to ban such gatherings. Olmert lacks the political power of Sharon who was able to straightforwardly criminalize the dissent with his policies (that’s true, peaceful opposition to disengagement from Gaza is a criminal offense in Israel). The Knesset, therefore, lumps Jewish conservatives (”the racists”) together with Nazis and bans them both.



