BICOM

American Jewish and pro-Israel organisations have strongly condemned the merger of the Jewish Home party and the Jewish Power (Otzma Yehudit) party in Israel.

The American Jewish Committee (AJC) said: “The views of Jewish Power are reprehensible. They do not reflect the core values that are the very foundation of the State of Israel. Historically, the views of extremist parties, reflecting the extreme Left or the extreme Right, have been firmly rejected by mainstream parties, even if the electoral process of Israel’s robust democracy has enabled their presence, however small, in the Knesset”.

The statement was retweeted and endorsed by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), who said: “AIPAC has a longstanding policy not to meet with members of this racist and reprehensible party”.

In response Michael Ben-Ari from Jewish Power said: “They don’t live here, and they criticise us, as if they are on Mount Olympus. We call on AIPAC members to do the right thing and return home to Israel before they involve themselves in elections … when they arrive here, they will be able to be partners in the crucial and existential decisions of those living in Israel, and we will be happy for them to make decisions together with Israel’s citizens.”

Last week Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cancelled a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in order to oversee the merger between Jewish Home and Jewish Power. He said the criticism about the merger was marked by “hypocrisy and a double standard by the left-wing”. He added: “They condemn a blocking majority of the right wing with right wing parties, while the left wing took steps to bring in extremist Islamists to create a blocking majority.” Netanyahu will speak at AIPAC’s annual conference in Washington at the end of March.

Benny Gantz, who’s Israel Resilience party announced it would run on a joint list with Yesh Atid last week, said: “The exceptional response by AIPAC, an organisation that does not usually address Israeli domestic politics, proves that Benjamin Netanyahu once again crossed ethical lines just to hold onto his seat, badly hurting Israel’s image, Jewish morality and our important relations with the American Jewish community.”

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in response to a question about the right wing merger on CNN: “We’re not about to … interfere in an election of a democracy. Election campaigns are tough. We’ll allow the Israeli people to sort this out.”