Magshimey Herut
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Magshimey Herut (Hebrew: מגשימי חרות; "achievers of liberty") is a Zionist movement founded in 1999 by a group of Jewish activists who felt the need for a young adult movement dedicated to ideals of Revisionist Zionism, being aliyah, social justice and the territorial integrity of the land of Israel. Its members are both observant and non-observant Jews. The movement supports the idea of a Greater Israel.
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[edit] History
Magshimey Herut was founded in 1999 by a number of Betar activists who were disappointed with what they viewed as a lack of ideological integrity within their movement. When a Likud government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu relinquished parts of Hebron to Yasser Arafat in 1998, Ze'ev Benyamin Begin and Michael Kleiner led the Herut faction out of the Likud. As the youth movement most associated with the ruling party, Betar members were uncertain on how to view a Likud Prime Minister betraying one of their most sacred principles. While the Betar leadership passively supported Netanyahu's policies, the organization's director of overseas activities, Karma Feinstein-Cohen, along with a group of ideological purists and veteran activists from chapters throughout the world, left Betar in order to establish Magshimey Herut.
Discarding Betar’s militaristic image, Magshimey Herut focused on packaging the ideals of Zev Jabotinsky and Revisionist Zionism in a way that would be more current and appealing to young Jews. Led by a blend of secular and religious right-wing activists, the new movement made an effort to be more sympathetic than Betar to the needs and values of religious members. In the years that followed its establishment, a number of graduates from the Bnei Akiva religious Zionist youth movement joined Magshimey Herut, seeing it as a young adult movement most committed to the values that Bnei Akiva instilled in them as youth.
Possibly as a result of its focus on social issues in addition to right-wing Zionist causes, Magshimey Herut attracted many Jews who, although actively left-wing on societal issues, believe strongly in Israel’s right to the entire land of Israel.
Magshimey Herut is the youngest movement within the World Zionist Organization’s hagshama department.
[edit] Ideology
Magshimey Herut views itself as loyal to the basic Zionist teachings of Zev Jabotinsky. There is, however, evidence that the movement takes great liberty in interpreting Jabotinsky’s views. Due to Magshimey Herut's involvement in social causes and semi-religious orientation, some critics argue that the group's ideological leanings are closer to those of Uri Zvi Greenberg and Avraham Stern’s Lehi organization than to Jabotinsky and the Irgun underground (with whom Betar closely identifies).
It has been noted that some Magshimey Herut chapters are more religious than others and are therefore not ideologically homogeneous. The Jerusalem branch, for example, is led by religious activists influenced by the teachings of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook while some other branches project a much less religious image. While some chapters may base their claims on traditional Jewish texts and others on history and international law, all agree that the Jewish people have a moral right to the entire land of Israel.
Although opposed to many policies of recent Israeli governments, Magshimey Herut views the State of Israel as being of great historical significance and deserving of their loyalty independant of the current leadership. The movement places unity amongst Jews of all persuasions on equal footing with the territorial integrity of the land of Israel and therefore works to build dialogue and strengthen the bond between Jews with opposing political and religious opinions.
[edit] Objectives
Although each branch enjoys a degree of autonomy, all chapters of Magshimey Herut adhere to fourteen basic movement objectives:
1. To develop young leadership in Israel and abroad, working together to impart Jewish and Zionist values.
2. To initiate educational activities designed to imbue Jewish youth with a love for the nation, homeland and tradition of Israel.
3. To foster Zionist education abroad in order to promote and encourage aliyah.
4. To train young leaders dedicated to social justice and the territorial integrity of Eretz Yisrael.
5. To inculcate the importance of national solidarity and the responsibility of all Jews for one another.
6. To further cultural activities which foster Jewish nationalism.
7. To arouse the next generation to honor the memory of Holocaust victims and continue the struggle against anti-Semitism.
8. To establish absorption communities throughout Israel in order to improve the aliyah experience.
9. To inculcate the value of Hebrew settlement in all of Eretz Yisrael.
10. To train cadres of young leaders dedicated to promoting dialogue, understanding and tolerance between Orthodox and non-Orthodox Jews.
11. To promote an understanding of the necessity for preserving the Jewish character of the State of Israel.
12. To provide supplemental educational activities in Israel’s disadvantaged communities and development towns.
13. To further cultural activities that preserve the traditions of communities from around the world.
14. To educate on the importance of increasing the Hebrew birthrate.
[edit] Activities
Magshimey Herut is active in several countries with the primary objective of bringing young Jewish adults on aliyah (immigration) to Israel. Each year, the movement organizes experiential trips for Jewish students to Israel, often for the purpose of leadership training.
As an educational activist movement, many chapters take a leading role in numerous political causes. In addition to promoting Jewish settlement and fighting for the ideal of Greater Israel, Magshimey Herut has been a force in the struggle to free Jonathan Pollard. In some countries the movement has been active against globalization, claiming that it creates unjust working conditions and violates the notion of national sovereignty.
In the United States of America, England and Canada, Magshimey Herut trains activists on college campus to advocate Israel's claim to full borders. In the field of advocacy, the movement is unique as it speaks of Israel's moral right to the land rather than the country's security needs.
In Israel, Magshimey Herut is active in social initiatives to help the country's poor and has devoted substantial effort to bridging gaps within society by creating workshops for dialogue with left-wing movements. Magshimey Herut organizes weekly programs for young immigrants to Israel and works with youth-at-risk in order to redirect their energies towards Zionist fulfillment.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
Categories: Activism | Anti-corporate activism | Anti-globalization | Anti-globalization activists | Civil rights activists | Zionist youth movements | Israeli activists | Organizations based in Israel | Jewish organizations | Jewish youth organizations | National liberation movements | Politics of Israel | Political movements by issue | Social movements
