Critic blasts government move to expand anti-racism unit’s powers
Mair Hesgreen criticizes the government’s decision to expand the powers of the governmental unit coordinating the fight against racism, saying Dudi Amsalem has handed a “surrender gift” to bureaucrats and the attorney general. He argues the move strengthens progressive ideology and entrenches the influence of civil servants and the attorney general.
According to the article, the unit had previously been only advisory and lacked enforcement powers. The author says the new decision will turn it into an enforcement body with oversight and enforcement mechanisms across government ministries and the public sector, meaning officials will no longer be able to ignore it. He says the unit reflects intersectionality and is blind to racism or incitement against Haredim, settlers, and right-wing figures.
The piece cites a 2020 incident in which the unit reportedly sent a reprimand to Channel 7 and demanded changing a headline that mentioned an Arab suspect, asking that the word “Arab” be removed. It also compares the Israeli move to what the writer describes as Britain’s slide into identity politics, citing monitoring units, the arrest of writer Graham Linehan in London after social-media posts against gender ideology, and the case of Henry Nowak, whom the article says police handcuffed while dying after a racist allegation by his attacker.
The article further claims Britain’s authorities ignored Pakistani-origin grooming gangs for years out of fear of racism accusations. It says Israel is now following the same path, and refers to the Supreme Court’s ruling that police investigations into Arab officials who supported the October 7 massacre required prior approval from the attorney general, even though the law does not require it. The writer says Amsalem publicly attacks the “bureaucratic dictatorship” but is empowering it in practice, notes that the prime minister and several coalition ministers backed the move, and says only Bezalel Smotrich opposed it. He calls on Likud members to demand the decision be canceled and says the unit should be closed, not strengthened.
