How can one criticize MK Esterina Tartman, who was hoping to be appointed minister of tourism, for her extremist views? After all, Avigdor Lieberman, the leader of her party Yisrael Beitenu and the minister for strategic threats, is already notorious for questioning the loyalty and determining conditions for citizenship of the non-Jewish citizens of Israel.

Yet Tartman - even without considering her involvement in recent scandals - succeeds in raising the bar of radicalism even higher. Her remarks concerning now-minister Raleb Majadele (Labor), to the effect that appointing an Arab minister amounts to "assimilation" and is a "lethal blow to Zionism," made even Lieberman look like a symbol of political correctness.

Lieberman and Tartman cultivate a purist ideology, which encourages making Israel as ethnically Jewish as possible, not as large as possible, and increasing the percentage of Jews among the overall Israeli population, even if this results in loss of territory. Unlike the "traditional" extreme right-wing parties in Israel, most notably the National Union, that attempt to push the border as far to the east of the Green Line as possible, Yisrael Beitenu in some cases promotes instead the drawing of the borderline west of the '67 border as part of its effort to denaturalize Arab Israelis. While Yisrael Beitenu's hawkish sentiments make it still reject territorial compromises with the Palestinians, this opposition is not its raison d'etre, as it recognizes, if only half-heartedly, what most Israelis have already acknowledged: that a two-state solution is essential for maintaining a Jewish majority in a democratic Jewish state. Moreover, the focus on demographic purity rather than land size enables Yisrael Beitenu to collaborate effectively in a government that does not disapprove peace negotiations, yet is not actively seeking them.

 

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