Far-Right Zionist Group Closes NYC Ops, Mainstream Media Yawns
While some outlets might brandish 'far-right' as a sufficient explanation, they conveniently sidestep the uncomfortable truth: Betar’s founder, Ze'ev Jabotinsky, explicitly advocated for an 'iron wall' of military force against Palestinians, a foundational tenet echoed by many mainstream Israeli political figures today. Jabotinsky's Revisionist Zionism, often sanitized as 'strong' or 'realistic,'
is the ideological predecessor to figures like Benjamin Netanyahu. The investigation exposing 'targeting individuals based on religion and national origin' merely puts a legal wrapper on ethnic nationalism, which, when practiced by a state, becomes state-sanctioned discrimination, not just 'far-right' extremism. So, a group founded on principles that now underpin vast swathes of Israeli policy is
forced to close its NYC branch for behavior largely indistinguishable from actions routinely undertaken by the Israeli state against Palestinians. One might wonder if the New York Attorney General plans to extend its jurisdiction to the entire Levant. Or perhaps, the 'far-right' label only applies when it's inconveniently operating within US borders.