Israeli Left-Wing Party Targets Kohelet Forum With Calls to Ban and Expel Members

The Israeli left-wing party "The Democrats," led by Yair Golan and dozens of party members, has announced a charter listing individuals to be erased, persecuted, and expelled from Knesset committees. They urge ignoring, rejecting, or refusing to engage with the views of the Kohelet Forum or any researcher or organization affiliated with it.

Dr. Naama Avidan, a policy researcher at the Kohelet Forum, Israel's leading right-wing think tank, explained that the Forum focuses solely on research, policy papers, and presenting positions to government decision-makers. It does not engage in legislation, education, or business. The left's campaign against Kohelet stems from its significant influence and the power of its research, which unsettles left-wing circles.

This campaign escalated months before the Iron Swords war, including protests, forced office closures by the "Brothers in Arms" organization, and repeated harassment of Kohelet employees. The Democrats’ chairman described Kohelet as a "dark and anti-democratic institute" and vowed it would not operate freely in the Knesset.

Dr. Avidan draws parallels to Marxist philosopher Herbert Marcuse’s 1960s call for "discriminatory tolerance," advocating tolerance only for leftist views and silencing the right. She notes that the "woke" ideology imported from the US employs a strategy of cancellation rather than debate, seeking to erase opposing voices by labeling them as "crazy."

Kohelet was established to diversify Israeli public discourse after years of ideological uniformity, addressing taxation, education reform, security, and judicial issues. Dr. Avidan warns that attempts to silence Kohelet threaten democratic pluralism and free speech, urging all principled individuals, regardless of political affiliation, to oppose this aggressive censorship and avoid returning to the hostile discourse seen before October 2023.