The Hebrew Movement התנועה העברית | |
|---|---|
 "Man in Arava" (1952), by Yechiel Shemi | |
| Phoenician name | התנעת העברת "Ha'Tnua Ha'Ivrit" |
| Moabite name | התנעת העברת "Ha'Tnuat Ha'Ivrit" |
| Founder | Binyamin Barca |
| Newspaper | Shem (Hebrew: שם) |
| Ideology | Canaanism Ethnic Zionism Unified Israel Third Position Economic Liberalism |
| Religion | Secularism officially Canaanism or Atheism majority members Judaism minority members |
| Colors | White, Blue and Olive |
| Slogan | אספי מלחמות. נסכי שלום. הרבי אהבה. (English:Collect wars. Crown peace. Fill with love.) |
| Number of MK's | 0 / 120
|
The Hebrew Movement is a right-wing, Canaanist and a third position political movement. It is based on the theory that the Jewish people are descendants of Canaanites, unlike the biblical story of Abraham, that tells about Abraham's arrival in Canaan after leaving Ur, in southern Mesopotamia. Many members of the movement practice Canaanite religious reconstructionism, as well ass a large group of atheists.
The party calls for Israel to be a nation built on the basis of ethnic nationalism instead of the religious-oriented ideal of Jewish nationalism and membership of the Jewish nation.
Ideology edit
The ideology of the Hebrew movement is derived from the early-Israeli ideology of Canaanism, which called for the Jews of Israel to differentiate between them and the Jews of the diaspora, and unite in a pan-Near East identity. The Hebrew Movement does not follow the same line. The party calls for the adoption of Hebrew-Canaanite ethnic identity instead of a religious-motivated national identity. The movement calls for the unified kinship between Israeli Jews and diaspora Jews as one people. It sees the goal of all the ethnic Hebrews as moving to, and living in, Israel.
According to the ideology, the state of Israel needs to be recognized as a Hebrew state, a modern Canaanite state.
The party advocates separation of church of state, which does not exist in Israel. It advocates, as well, civil marriages, gay marriage, liberal economy mixed with Ze'ev Jabotinsky's "5 Memim". Because of that mixed-approach for the economic system of the state, the party is defined as "third-position", in respect to economy.
The party sees the Hebrew identity as the continuation of the Canaanite people in ancient Israel, and emphasize the distinction that is needed between the term "Hebrew" and the term "Jew". In regard to the Canaanite identity, the party urges to look at the Tanakh as a source of Hebrew literature and poetic sagas, instead of a book of rules or of religious significance, as well as using Canaanite lore and stories as a basis to this "rejuvenated" national identity - lore including the legend of Aqhat, the Legend of Keret, the Baal Cycle and the Hurrian songs. This usage of Canaanite legends can be seen in the party's slogan: "Collect wars, crown peace, add love" - which is the rough translation of a sentence in the Baal Cycle story of Ugarit, in which Baal tells Anat to cease her rampage against his enemies and bring back the peace to the land - which symbolizes the end of the first days of the winter, which are characteristically known by the strong winds and powerful rain. In Canaanite and Hebrew culture, the first rain of the winter is known as "Ha'Yoreh" - [the one] that shoots.
As a part of the implementation of Canaanite identity, the movement calls for the use of the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet as an official script that should be taught in schools.
In the cultural sense, the movement promotes the Israeli artistic "Canaanite" style, which draws inspiration from ancient Near East and Canaanite art.
The movement sees the Arab states outside of Arabia as a foreign, imperialist power that rules over indigenous land of the native populations of the Middle East. The natives defined by the movement are the Hebrews, which are native to Canaan; the Assyrians, which are native to Mesopotamia; the Arameans, who are native to Syria; the Maronites, who are native to Phoenicia; the Copts, who are native to Egypt; the Nubians, who are native to Nubia; and the Berbers, who are native to North Africa. The movement aims to establish a union of these peoples against the "Arab occupation movement" and found indigenous sovereignty to all the indigenous people states above.
It calls for the revival of the Phoenician language as a spoken language in the world-wide Maronite community, who are believed by genealogists to be the descendants of the Phoenicians.
Who is a Hebrew? edit
The Jews have dealt with the question of Who is a Jew?, which got complicated with entering the definition of a "Jew" as both an ethnic group and a religious group. The movement sees the term "Hebrew" as a term that needs to be used for an ethnic Jew and the term "Jew" for someone who practices the Jewish faith.
According to the movement, a Hebrew is one who is descendant of Hebrews and who is at least 24% of Hebrew genetic make-up - which means a person with a half-Hebrew parent and a non-Hebrew parent, will be recognized, if willing to, as a Hebrew.
The movement states that one of the categories to recognize Hebrews is by their ancestors of Jewish faith, which acts, until the full implementation of the Hebrew identity, as a core identification of Hebrews. This method works unless the person is the son or the grandchild of a covert - meaning that the movement recognizes Hebrew identity if the person is the descendant of a covert from 4 generations earlier - correlating with the Holocaust. Headed by this idea is the notion that "if he was bad enough for the Nazis, he is good enough for us".
The party sees all Jews living in Israel as Hebrews, as well as 300,000 Soviet immigrants who are not recognized as Jews by Israel, are seen by the party as Hebrews and members of the Hebrew nation. It sees the Samaritans as part of the Hebrew nation.
External links edit
- The Hebrew Movement on Facebook
- Personal page of Binyamin Barca on Facebook