Wikipedia

Lehava

Lehava (להב"ה‎ "Flame," Hebrew: למניעת התבוללות בארץ הקודש LiMniat Hitbolelut B'eretz HaKodesh; Prevention of Assimilation in the Holy Land) is a far-right and Jewish supremacist[1] organization based in Israel that strictly opposes Jewish assimilation, objecting to most personal relationships between Jews and non-Jews.[2][3][4] It is opposed to the Christian presence in Israel.[5] It has an anti-intermarriage focus, denouncing marriages between Jews and non-Jews forbidden by Orthodox Jewish law.[6] The group has over 10,000 members.[7] In 2024, the United States placed Lehava and its leader, Bentzi Gopstein, on a sanctions list for their role in fomenting Israeli settler violence against Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, labeling Lehava "the largest violent extremist organization in Israel."[8]

Prevention of Assimilation in the Holy Land
למניעת התבוללות בארץ הקודש‎
AbbreviationLehava
Formation2005
FounderBentzi Gopstein
PurposeAnti-intermarriage
HeadquartersJerusalem
Membership10,000
LeaderBentzi Gopstein
Key people
Michael Ben-Ari
Bentzi Gopstein
Baruch Marzel
Itamar Ben-Gvir
AffiliationsOtzma Yehudit
Hemla
Websitewww.lehava-us.com

Etymology

Lehava (להב"ה‎) is an acronym for the Hebrew phrase LiMniat Hitbolelut B'eretz HaKodesh (For the Prevention of Assimilation in the Holy Land). It is also the Hebrew word for "flame",[9] implying a keeping of the flame or faith, giving the phrase a double meaning.

Prominent members and supporters

Lehava's CEO is Bentzi Gopstein, a disciple of Meir Kahane, a U.S.-born rabbi who promoted the forced expulsion of most Palestinians and Arab Israelis from Israel and the Palestinian territories.[10][11][12] Gopstein had run-ins with the police for disorderly conduct while active with Kahane's movement Kach, which was banned from Israeli politics as racist in 1988.[13] The U.S. State Department identified Kach as a terrorist organization in 1994. Its splinter group, Kahane Chai, also "condones violence as a viable method for establishing a religiously homogenous [sic] state." In 2006 decision, a U.S. Federal Court determined on appeal that Kach was correctly listed as a terrorist organization.[14][original research?] Lehava employs a number of Kahanist figures, including politician Baruch Marzel, formerly of the outlawed Kach movement.[15][16][17] Michael Ben-Ari, a former Israeli Member of Knesset who still views himself as Meir Kahane's follower, is Lehava's spokesman.[18][19][20] The lawyer defending Lehava members arrested in December 2014, attorney Itamar Ben-Gvir, is another one of the most prominent Kahanists in Israel.[16]

A closely associated NPO called Hemla (Mercy), which for many years focused on "saving the daughters of Israel" from mixed marriages with Arab men, has received up to $175,000 per year from the state between 2005 and 2013. In 2011, an investigation by Haaretz first brought the issue to light. Part of the amount went as a salary to Bentzi Gopstein, Hemla's public relations director.[15][21]

Lehava is closely associated with the political party Otzma Yehudit, which is led by Itamar Ben-Gvir; the party shares its headquarters with Lehava in Jerusalem, and in 2014, police raided their headquarters.[22][23]

In January 2015, the Israeli TV channel Channel 2 reported that Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon might be preparing to categorize Lehava as a terrorist organization. Ya'alon was reported to have ordered the Shin Bet and the Defense Ministry to assemble evidence required for the classification, although ultimately no such classification occurred. Three members of Lehava were arrested and indicted in 2014 for committing arson and spray-painting anti-Arab graffiti at the Max Rayne Hand in Hand: Center for Jewish Arab Education in Israel (Yad B'Yad) Bilingual School in Jerusalem, and Lehava's leader, Bentzi Gopstein, along with other group members, was arrested shortly thereafter for incitement.[24] The arson incident received international attention. Reuters reports that government action against Lehava has only come following months of petitioning by "left-leaning Israelis and media commentators".[25] In response, Gopstein issued a statement harshly critical of Ya'alon: "I suggest that [Ya'alon] aim to outlaw the Islamist Movement and then preoccupy itself with an anti-assimilation group... Instead of taking care of an enemy of Israel, the defense minister is trying to win over votes from the Left [by] taking on Lehava. The group acts to save the daughters of Israel [Jewish women] and deserves the Israel Prize."[26] The group has over 10,000 members, with chapters in every city.[7]

Activities

See also: Silent Holocaust (Judaism)
 
Lehava activist. The inscription on the flag reads "The Jewish Honor Guard / Fighting assimilation / With devotion and love we will protect every Jewish woman." Jerusalem 2023

Opposition to interfaith marriages

The organization gained notoriety in 2010 after sending an open letter to Israeli Jewish supermodel Bar Refaeli urging her to break off her relationship with American actor Leonardo DiCaprio, who is Roman Catholic.[16][17][27]

Multiple rebbetzins, acting on behalf of Lehava, issued an open letter urging Israeli women not to associate with "non-Jews". Haaretz quoted the letter as saying, "Don't date non-Jews, don't work at places that non-Jews frequent, and don't do national service with non-Jews;" the letter implied that if they did so, they would be cut off from their "holy race".[28] The letter caused a controversy and was denounced by other rabbis.[29][30] When a poll was conducted of Jewish Israelis' reaction to the letters denouncing those who rent or sell homes to non-Jews, 44 per cent of Israeli Jews supported the rabbis' call, while 48 per cent were opposed.[31]

The organization has also spoken out against Mark Zuckerberg's marriage to Priscilla Chan.[32]

In 2014, it organized hostile protests against a mixed couple from Jaffa, objecting to the marriage of Mahmoud Mansour, an Israeli Arab, and his bride-to-be, Morel Malka, who converted from Judaism to Islam ahead of the wedding. The group was reported as saying, "Please come with positive energy and bring loudspeakers and horns. We will ask our sister to return home with us to the Jewish people who are waiting for her", by the Israeli news site Arutz Sheva. When the couple appealed to a court to ban the demonstration, a judgement was handed down allowing the protest to proceed, but no closer than 200 metres away from the site of the ceremony in the Israeli town of Rishon Letzion.[33] Haaretz reported that the protesters chanted "death to leftists" and "death to Arabs", despite one of the organizers trying to calm them down.[34]

In 2013, it started a Facebook page with the purpose of identifying mixed Arab–Jewish couples. Still, the page was shut down in 2014 after there were numerous complaints. It had become a repository of racist comments. Liat Bar-Stav, a journalist who went undercover in the Lehava organization, described how their members looked for Jewish females who might be dating Arabs. If members thought they had discovered any, they would follow Gopstein's instructions: approach the woman, and forward her phone number to the organization for further action. "You approach the girl and say, 'Excuse me, I don't have a phone. May I make a call?' You call your phone, and that's how you get the number", Gopstein explained to the activists he coached.[35]

Calls for segregation

 
Knesset member Itamar Ben-Gvir and radical right political activist Bentzi Gopstein in Sheikh Jarrah. February 2022

In addition to opposing interfaith marriages, Lehava has encouraged Israelis to report to the organization the names of Jews who rent to Arabs, so that they can be "named and shamed" publicly.[36] In 2012, the group distributed flyers in east Jerusalem warning Arabs not to visit the mostly Jewish western side of the city. It also campaigned against Jews and Arabs mixing on beaches.[37]

In November 2014, four activists in the group were arrested in Petah Tikva after they distributed propaganda material, then attacked and wounded police.[38] Liat Bar-Stav described a meeting that Gopstein led for his followers, in which he said to them, "Some 45 years ago, Rabbi Kahane said, shouted, and cried out that the enemies within us are a cancer, and that if we don't take this cancer and get rid of it, we won't continue to exist. Unfortunately, this dangerous cancer of co-existence has metastasized everywhere. There are various ministers in the government who are encouraging co-existence, who are giving them jobs, allowing them into the hi-tech world, allowing them to become doctors." As the crowd responded with booing and cheering, Gopstein continued: "The cancer we spoke about in the beginning has offshoots in the Knesset of Israel too. Thirty years ago, Rabbi Kahane stood up in the Knesset and took out a hangman's noose for traitors, a noose for the Arab MK who was there. It's not a threat, it's a promise, the rabbi said when attacked for doing so. So this is what I want to wish (former MK Azmi) Bishara on behalf of all of you." At this point, Gopstein waved a noose. "Your day will come, Azmi! We are waiting for the Israeli government to come and hang you from the tallest tree! Azmi, only thanks to Rabbi Kahane will we make sure you are hanged one day."[35]

In December 2014, three members of Lehava were arrested and charged with the 29 November arson at an integrated Arab-Jewish school. The suspects, Yitzhak Gabbai, and brothers Nahman Twito and Shlomo Twito, attacked the school, according to Shin Bet, "because Jews and Arabs learn together at the school, and the goal was to put opposition to co-existence and assimilation in the public eye".[39] In courtroom photos, the three members of the radical group are shown smiling and smirking as they faced charges.[40] Within days of their arrest, police completed a raid on the homes of several Lehava members. Lehava's chairman, Bentzi Gopstein, was among those arrested.[41]

Anti-LGBT

In 2017, Lehava protested the Jerusalem gay pride parade.[42][43] Prior to the 2018 march, Gopstein called LGBT activists "terrorists" and urged supporters to counterdemonstrate with banners saying "Jerusalem is not Sodom". Four Lehava supporters were arrested during the parade.[44] In 2020, Lehava urged its supporters to infiltrate the parade.[45]

 
Lehava protest against Jerusalem gay pride parade 2023. Signs: "Don't give them children" and "Jerusalem is not Sedom"

Opposition to Christianity in Israel

Main article: Anti-Christian sentiment

Lehava had organized demonstrations protesting the presence of Christians in Israel, and in late 2015 demonstrated before the Jerusalem International YMCA, with the crowd shouting: "The Arabs won't defeat us with knives, and the Christians won't buy us with presents!"[5] Gopstein wrote an article for a local website, Kooker, in which he declared: "Missionary work must not be given a foothold... Let's throw the vampires out of our land before they drink our blood again."[5] He also called for a ban on the Christmas holiday.[citation needed]

Opposition to Lehava

Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC), the Israeli liberal Judaism primary advocacy organization, asserts that Lehava is racist, and maintains a public relations campaign against Lehava and Gopstein. In May 2016, IRAC stepped up the campaign, releasing statistics showing that Lehava's social media efforts were generating approximately 200,000 anti-Arab hate postings per year to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, about a quarter of which call for physical violence against Arabs. Facebook deleted seven Lehava accounts because of improper conduct, but Lehava continues to generate Facebook postings via other accounts.[46]

In May 2016, the Anti-Defamation League sent a letter to Israel's Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit, encouraging action to be taken to curb Lehava and Gopstein. In the letter, the ADL says that Gopstein calls Christians "bloodsucking vampires", condoned burning Christian churches, and that his Facebook page includes anti-LGBT posts, as well as ones the ADL calls "extremely abusive, racist, inflammatory, and violent". The ADL protested Israel's ongoing acceptance of Lehava's "hateful discourse" as detrimental to the country, and that it gives "a weapon [to] Israel's enemies, who use it as a basis for their rushed conclusions and generalizations about Israeli society".[47]

In 2024, the US imposed sanctions on the organization and its leader Bentzi Gopstein, according to this announcement Lehva is "the largest violent extremist organization in Israel ... LEHAVA’s members have engaged in acts of violence against Palestinians, affecting the West Bank".[48]

References

  1. ^ Multiple sources:
  2. ^ Lev, David (9 September 2013). "Lehava 'Hotline' to Help Prevent Intermarriage, Assimilation". Arutz Sheva.
  3. ^ Kaye, Yasmin (22 September 2014). "Meet Lehava, the Israeli Fascists Mounting a Vicious Crusade to Keep their Women Away from Arabs". International Business Times.
  4. ^ "Grinning Jewish Extremists Charged in Jerusalem School Arson". The Forward. Reuters. 15 December 2014.
  5. ^ a b c Shira Rubin (24 December 2015). "Good Will and Peace Towards Men Elusive This Year in Nazareth". The Forward.
  6. ^ "halacha - What is the prohibition of intermarriage?". Mi Yodeya. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  7. ^ a b Schwartz, Yardena (7 March 2018). "Israel's alt-right is now mainstream—are lawmakers doing enough to stop it?". Newsweek. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  8. ^ Elia-Shalev, Asaf (11 July 2024). "U.S. sanctions extremist Israeli group Lehava and several West Bank outposts". JTA. Retrieved 17 July 2024.
  9. ^ Kershner, Isabel (16 December 2014). "Israel Cracks Down on Lehava, a Group Tied to Anti-Arab Acts". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  10. ^ "Israel charges extremist Jewish leader with incitement". AP NEWS. 26 November 2019. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
  11. ^ Pileggi, Tamar (26 November 2019). "Jewish extremist hit with terror charges after years of anti-Arab rhetoric". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
  12. ^ Freidson, Yael (26 November 2019). "Israel charges leader of extreme Jewish group with incitement". ynetnews. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
  13. ^ Williams, Dan (28 December 2014). "Racist Jewish Group Offers Dilemma to Israel as Anti-Arab Violence Rises". The Forward.
  14. ^ "Kach, Kahane Chai (Israel, extremists)". cfr.org. Council on Foreign Relations. 20 March 2008. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  15. ^ a b Blau, Uri; Greenberg, Shai (27 May 2011). "A strange kind of mercy". Haaretz. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  16. ^ a b c Ettinger, Yair (21 December 2014). "Israel Police arrests four more anti-Arab activists from rightist group Lehava". Haaretz. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  17. ^ a b Kay, Felicity (15 March 2010). "Marzel urges super model Refaeli not to marry DiCaprio". The Jerusalem Post.
  18. ^ Fisher-Ilan, Allyn (18 August 2014). "Israeli wedding of Jew, Muslim draws protesters amid war tensions". Reuters. Archived from the original on 23 June 2016.
  19. ^ Kobi Nachshoni (2 February 2009). "מספר 4 באיחוד הלאומי: כולם מבינים שכהנא צדק" [Number 4 in the National Union: Everyone Understands that Kahane was Right] (in Hebrew). Ynet.
  20. ^ Lior Averbach (9 March 2009). "הח"כ "הכהניסט" התלונן על אריה גולן: הוא קטע איתי ראיון באמצע" [The 'Kahanist' MK complained about Arie Golan: He Cut me Short in an Interview] (in Hebrew). nrg Maariv.
  21. ^ Vered Lee (25 April 2013). "Love in the time of racism: The new, dangerous low in the campaign to stop interracial relationships". Haaretz. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  22. ^ "Police Raid the Offices of Otzma Yehudit". Arutz Sheva. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  23. ^ Winer, Stuart (18 December 2014). "Police raid offices of anti-assimilation group Lehava". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  24. ^ Lappin, Yaakov (4 January 2015). "Report: Ya'alon moves to name anti-assimilation group Lehava a terrorist organization". The Jerusalem Post.
  25. ^ Tharoor, Ishaan (5 January 2015). "Why Israel may list this hard-line Jewish group as a terrorist organization". The Washington Post. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  26. ^ Jalil, Justin (4 January 2015). "Anti-assimilation group could be classified as terrorist". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  27. ^ Dana Makover (16 March 2010). "Jewish Organization Lehava Defends Call for Bar Refaeli / Leo DiCaprio Breakup". Heeb.
  28. ^ Levinson, Chaim (28 December 2010). "Rabbis' wives urge Israeli women: Stay away from Arab men". Haaretz. Retrieved 15 July 2024.
  29. ^ Altman, Yair (28 December 2010). "Rabbis' wives: Don't date Arabs". Ynetnews.
  30. ^ "Rebbetzins: Women, stay away from Arab men". The Jerusalem Post. 28 December 2010.
  31. ^ Weiss, Mark (29 December 2010). "Rabbis' wives call on Jews not to date Arabs". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
  32. ^ "Head of Israeli anti-assimilation group objects to Zuckerberg marrying non-Jew". Al Arabiya. 27 December 2012. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
  33. ^ Sobelman, Batsheva (16 August 2014). "Right-wing extremists can't break the love of a Muslim man and Jewish woman in Israel". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
  34. ^ Roy Arad (19 August 2014). "Extremists' hatred poisons Mahmoud and Morel's wedding". Haaretz.
  35. ^ a b Liat Bar-Stav (3 January 2015). "Inside radical right-wing group Lehava". Ynetnews.
  36. ^ Yair Altman (12 December 2010). "Public invited to inform on those renting to Arabs". Ynetnews.
  37. ^ Orlando Crowcroft (17 August 2014). "Israeli court allows protesters to picket Palestinian-Jewish wedding". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  38. ^ Ahia Raved (21 November 2014). "Three suspected hate crimes in one night". Ynetnews.
  39. ^ Cohen, Gili (11 December 2014). "Shin Bet: Anti-Arab activists admit to J'lem school arson: Suspects reportedly members of extremist group Lehava, which is fighting Jewish assimilation". Haaretz.
  40. ^ "Smirking Right-Wing Extremists Confess To Torching Jerusalem School". The Forward. Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 12 December 2014.
  41. ^ Levinson, Chaim (16 December 2014). "Police raid homes of right-wing Lehava activists, arrest chairman Gopstein". Haaretz.
  42. ^ Baruch, Hezki (3 August 2017). "You would never hold a gay parade in an Arab town". Arutz Sheva. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
  43. ^ Gilenson, Daniel. "Jerusalem pride parade: Suspect arrested with knife". JerusalemOnline. Archived from the original on 4 August 2017. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
  44. ^ "Thousands participated in Jerusalem's LGBT Pride Parade, hundreds protested". i24NEWS. 2 August 2020. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
  45. ^ "Jewish extremist group Lehava said planning to disrupt LGBTQ rally in Jerusalem". The Times of Israel. 27 June 2020. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
  46. ^ Tal Ariel-Amir (20 May 2016). "המרכז שנלחם בארגון להב"ה: "כסות יהודית שנועדה להסתיר גזענות"" [Center fighting organization Lehava: 'Using Judaism as a cloak to conceal racism']. Maariv (in Hebrew).
  47. ^ Maltz, Judy (26 May 2015). "In First, ADL Urges Clampdown on Extremist Israeli Group Lehava". Haaretz. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  48. ^ "Designation of Individuals and Entities Contributing to Violence and Instability in the West Bank". US Department of state.
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