The Far Right in Israel
The presentation will discuss three unique characteristics of the Israeli far-right. First, while settlers constitute a minority whose goals are not shared by the majority of Israelis, their settlements’ project in the West Bank thrives. Three complementary explanations for this paradox will be discussed and how they helped overcome limited representation within the political system, as well as changes in Israel’s political and strategic environment. Second, the presentation will explain how the Israeli far-right was able both to mainstream its ideological principles as well as effectively delegitimize center-left traditional political concepts. Thus, while the far-right electoral appeal is still limited, it was able to pressure its political rivals to adopt many of its basic ideological rationales. Lastly, how the fact that orthodox religious streams dominate the Israeli far-right impacts its electoral appeal and on church-state relations will be discussed.
Dr. Arie Perliger is a Professor and the director of the graduate program in security studies at the School of Criminology and Justice Studies, University of Massachusetts Lowell. In the past 20 years, Dr. Perliger was engaged in an extensive study of issues related to terrorism and political violence, security policy and politics, politics and extremism of the Far Right in Israel, Europe, and the US, Middle Eastern Politics, and the applicability of Social Network Analysis to the study of political violence. His studies appeared in nine books and monographs, and in numerous articles and book chapters and were cited in more than 1700 academic texts. His recent book, “American Zealots – Inside Right-Wing Domestic Terrorism,” which was published by Columbia University Press, provides an in-depth analysis of the history and contemporary trends of the violent American far-right. Dr. Perliger was also engaged in training practitioners from various agencies such as the FBI, CIA, and ICE. Additionally, he provided professional briefings to high-rank officials from the government and military, such as The Secretary of the Army, Army Chief of Staff, and SOCOM, AFRICOM, NORTHCOM, and JSOC commanders. Dr. Perliger is also engaged in informing the public via contributions to various media platforms. His articles/interviews appeared, among others, in the NY Times, BBC, and Newsweek.
The webinar will have one short presentation followed by a Q&A session, moderated by Eviane Leidig.
The Global Perspectives on the Far Right webinar series
The webinar series Global perspectives on the Far Right is co-hosted by C-REX and ICCT (International Centre for Counter-Terrorism - The Hague), and takes place every first Wednesday of the month in the period August 2021-January 2022. The webinars last for one hour from 15:00-16:00 CET, unless indicated otherwise due to speakers’ time zone differences. This webinar series is a continuation of the C-REX hosted webinars that took place from February-July 2021.
The regions covered are largely inspired by the new Manchester University Press book series, ‘Global Studies of the Far Right’, co-founded and co-edited by C-REX affiliate scholar Eviane Leidig.
The webinar will have one short presentation followed by a Q&A session, moderated by Professor Cas Mudde or Eviane Leidig.
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