The Tea Party Spreads to the Likud in Israel?

On Sunday night, right wing Israelis will launch its own Tea Party movement. With 'Saying no to Obama' as its organizing slogan, its main goals appear to be the destruction of the peace process, more building on the West Bank, and a more muscular response to Iran.

You say the Tea Party is a purely American phenomenon? You say it wouldn't translate well to other countries? Well think again my friends. If a group of right wingers have their way, a homegrown version of America's Tea Party movement will be taking root in Israel; hitching itself to the slogan, "Saying no to Obama." After all, how can you have a tea party without slamming President Obama!

But "saying no to Obama," appears to be merely an entrée point for Israeli Tea Party organizers. The nascent movement appears to be all about protesting the continuation of a moratorium on construction in the West Bank, thoroughly destroying the severely wounded peace process, and angling for a more muscular response to Iran.

In a story headlined "Israel to get its own 'Tea Party' movement," the Jerusalem Post reported that "A new grassroots effort ... that is modeled after the American conservative social movement ... . promises to be just as patriotic, just as provocative and just as antagonistic to US President Barack Obama."

Although there are very few details as to who is behind this Israeli Tea Party lift off, one thing is certain: This coming Sunday night, the movement will hold its coming out party at the Zionist Organization of America House in Tel Aviv "under the banner 'Saying no to Obama.'"

The Jerusalem Post pointed out that "The immediate goal of the movement will be to pressure Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu not to give in to Obama's demand that Israel renew the construction moratorium in Judea and Samaria."
Israeli Tea Party spokeswoman Sarah Tiktinsky "predicted that Obama would renew efforts to push Israel following next Tuesday's midterm elections in the US, and said Obama's leverage on Netanyahu must be countered with equal force by the Right," the Post pointed out.

Tiktinsky said that "Netanyahu has been under intense pressure from Washington. History has proven that Bibi caves in to pressure, so something must be done to stop him. No one in the Likud faction is taking the serious steps to stop him, so it must come from the grassroots."

The Post also reported that a host of "Current and former politicians will take part in the event, including Likud MKs Ayoub Kara, Danny Danon and Yariv Levin, as well as former Likud MK Michael Kleiner, who is one of the rally's organizers."

There's a good chance that the rhetoric Sunday night will be pretty hot and heavy as "Settler leaders will also be welcomed, led by Shomron Regional Council Chairman Gershon Mesika, who has publicly compared Obama to Haman and Antiochus."

(According to JewishEncyclopedia.com, "Haman [whose dastardly deeds are remembered at the Jewish Feast of Purim] was a descendant of Agag, the king of the Amalekites. On account of his attempt to exterminate the Jews in the kingdom of Ahasuerus, he is frequently called 'the persecutor of the Jews.'" Antiochus, known variously as "the Illustrious" and/or "the King of Syria," is known in Jewish circles as Antiochus "the wicked." According to JewishEncyclopedia.com, Antiochus, who reigned from 175 B.C. to 163 B.C., "exercised great influence upon Jewish history and the development of the Jewish religion," and was responsible for attacking Jerusalem and executing many Jews. Wikipedia points out that "Notable events during the reign of Antiochus IV include his near-conquest of Egypt, which led to a confrontation that became an origin of the metaphorical phrase, 'line in the sand,' and the rebellion of the Jewish Maccabees.)

Haaretz.com reported that the new movement is made up of "Likud activists who oppose the settlement freeze ... [and are] set[ting] up a protest movement against the peace process and the continued construction moratorium in the West Bank." The Israeli daily pointed out that Likud activists said "that their Tea Party will be the opening shot in their efforts to stop the peace process entirely. They said Israel's commitment to negotiations stems only from inertia and habit, rather than a real need or interest on Israel's part."

On the group's Facebook page an activist wrote that "We believe there is no buffer on the political map separating leaders from making decisions on the peace process that are disastrous and dangerous to Israel."

The Facebook page also notes that "The Iranian nuclear issue is also only a guise to weakness and allows us to be dragged into making 'gestures,' and enacting conciliatory policy and concessions in negotiations with someone who, apart from promising terror, cannot give us a thing."

The Telegraph.co.uk, which headlined its story "Israel's right wing starts its own Tea Party," reported that "According to Michael Kleiner, a former Likud legislator who is one of the driving forces behind the movement, Mr Obama's policies towards Israel resemble the British attitudes in eighteenth century America that caused the original Boston Tea Party.

"We believe President Obama is trying to force us to do things that most Israelis believe are very dangerous," Mr Kleiner said. "We are being blackmailed to sacrifice our security and vital interests by another country, which is unprecedented."

"We also believe Netanyahu is crumbling and is going to give in on the [settlement] freeze."

As of now, it is unclear whether the new Israeli Tea Party Movement is receiving any financial, strategic or organizational support from right wing forces and funders in the U.S. And, while it is unclear just how rowdy the Israeli Tea Party might actually get on Sunday night, there are at least three things routinely seen at U.S. tea parties that will probably not be in evidence: tea bags hanging off hats (yarmulkes); signs claiming that "It's all the fault of the Rothschilds"; and the use of Holocaust images (although I'm not so certain about the latter!)

Berkowitz is a freelance writer and longtime observer of the conservative movement who documents the strategies, players, institutions, victories and defeats of the U.S. Right. In addition to BuzzFlash, his work -- which has been cited in a number of books -- has appeared in Alternet, Inter Press Service, The Nation, Religion Dispatches, Z Magazine, and numerous other online and print publications.

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