In December 2016, just before Donald Trump was sworn in as president of the US, Dr. Yoram Hazony and his associate, political theorist and historian Ofir Haivry, organized a conference in New York aimed at promoting the idea of national conservatism. "We tried to understand the Trump phenomenon," Hazony explains. "Contrary to some people in the Republican Party who said that he was crazy and mentally ill, we claimed that he had a nationalist outlook that was a positive counter-reaction to the liberalism overtaking the US political parties."
Please explain.
"Up until Trump, the prevailing wisdom was that it would be better not to have countries, that all borders should be erased, that what was needed was one global world. We recognized in Trump a person who understood that this was not good - not for the US, not for democracy, and not for the world. From that point, we decided to organize, and established a movement that deals with ideas that you could call a kind of rebellion against the rule of liberalism. It's not just an American thing. We saw it with Brexit, with Viktor Orban in Hungary, with the previous ruling party in Poland, and more."
Today, Hazony is dedicating his life to this idea. He serves as president of the Herzl Institute in Jerusalem, which is also his city of residence, and as chairman of the Edmund Burke Foundation, a public affairs institute in Washington that produces international conferences about national conservatism. The conferences, which were launched in 2019 in Washington, London, Rome and Brussels, gave birth to an ideological movement that has gained considerable political momentum within five years. Prominent political candidates in the West are identified with the movement and its values, including Trump's candidate for US Vice President James David "JD" Vance. "He has been with us since the first big conference we held in Washington in July 2019, and to this day he appears at almost every conference. Moreover, he personifies the concept of national conservatism."
What is national conservatism?
"The movement emphasizes three key elements that are essential for a properly run country to exist. These are national independence, national interests, and also national and religious traditions. This is in contrast to the phenomenon of globalization, and the attempt to internationalize these aspects. Vance is among the three most important national conservatism speakers in the US, and his selection opens the path for him to be elected president in four years. It represents a big leap forward for the movement, and the ideas we’re promoting."
The call that came while writing a book about God
To better understand Dr. Hazony's thesis, we must take a dive into his life history. He began his academic career at Princeton University, and wrote his PhD thesis in political philosophy at Rutgers University. Since then, he has worked as a philosopher, biblical scholar, and political theorist, but eight years ago came a turning point. "In February 2016, with Brexit in the background in the UK, I was immersed in writing a book about God in the Bible, and I received a call from a professor friend whose field is nationalism. He was upset and said to me: ‘Yoram, put everything aside. You must sit down and write a book about nationalism. That is the main issue right now.’ I don't usually take advice on what to do professionally, but in this case, I realized he was right, and wrote my first article on nationalism versus liberalism.
"Since World War II, liberalism has been the dominant approach in the West. When we talk about liberalism, we mean two basic things. First: human beings are absolutely free and equal. Second: liberalism believes that every person who makes the effort and thinks about things will reach similar conclusions and become a liberal. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, we’ve seen a world where significant forces, mainly in the US, but also in Europe, have made an effort not only to make liberalism a kind of public religion in their country, but also to turn Afghanistan, for example, into a liberal country."
And you see this as a problem.
"Yes, because human beings are not built as the liberals claim. The conservative will say that man is not an atomistic creature, he does not stand as a mere individual, but as part of a group, a family, a community, a tribe, a people. This has far-reaching consequences. A state is a nation-state, it is not just a collection of individuals. The language, values, identification with history and the present, the constitutional tradition, religious tradition - all are part of the essence of the state."
When you speak about the importance of religious tradition and family values, I’m reminded of Jordan Peterson, one of today's most influential conservative thinkers. Do you two talk to each other?
"Certainly, Peterson's views are greatly aligned with conservative-nationalist thought. Two years ago, he was a guest at our home in Jerusalem, and he’ll even participate in our next conference. Peterson is fighting to re-educate young people on how to be a single person who gets married, stays in a lifelong marital relationship, and builds stable and long-term relationships with children, family and with broad circles like the community. This in contrast to liberalism, which encourages us to believe that individual freedom of choice is the most important thing. As a movement, at every conference, we dedicate to the breakdown of the family unit."
After October 7, many people in the liberal West did not understand how those who committed the massacre did not share their values, that not all cultures are the same.
"There is a predicament of the liberal view. People who go to a liberal school, a liberal university and then a liberal profession -- live in a bubble where all human beings are equal and similar. One may ask: is it true that all human beings are equal? Conservatives will say that human beings come from a certain place, with a certain history, a certain religion, certain values, and therefore are not all equal. The liberals get angry when they hear that."
In your opinion, what is a healthy society and what needs to be done to achieve it?
"Conservative societies try to think about how to achieve social cohesion. It's not a simple matter. It's not as though if you pay someone money, they will feel part of society. The left often says: there are disparities in income, and if you pay money, there will be social cohesion. It's not like that. You can't buy people who want respect. You can't buy respect with money. Sometimes you have to give them money, but the main thing is respect."
"We’ll promote our values like the progressives do."
One of the things that marks the significant change that has taken place in the US, according to Hazony, is the decline of the Protestant elite. "Until World War II, the US was an explicitly Christian country. But after the war, the elites decided they didn’t want to continue maintaining a predominantly Protestant country. They were convinced that liberalism should become a kind of public religion instead of Christianity, and this opened the door for the introduction of the Catholic and Jewish elites into the leadership. We, as Jews, view this as finally having won a respectable standing, but since that time, the US has not been able to build something stable in its place."
According to Hazony, the effort to turn the US into a liberal country bulldozed things along the way. "Take, for example, the ban on studying the Bible or prayer in public schools. Within a few years, they made the US schools atheist. A child can spend hours with their teachers, and they will not mention God, or the Bible. They simply built a box completely devoid of tradition.
"The first question is, can this thing even last. You can ask if it is good, desirable, or worthwhile, but first of all you have to ask if, technically, it can exist at all. I think the answer is no, because this vacuum drawn in other things and brings us to woke culture and progressivism, which is essentially the neo-Marxism that is conquering the younger generation."
What’s the solution?
"We don’t seek a neutral state. That can’t work. Tradition is criticalת because you receive from previous generations the outlines of what is good and what is less good. For example, getting married is better than not marrying; serving in the army is better than not serving. You cannot say that every choice is equal. As national conservatives, we’re going to promote our values just as the progressives promote theirs."
"They look at Israel and say: If only we could be like that."
One topic preoccupying the US -- and US Jews in particular -- is rising antisemitism, especially after October 7. "It has always existed, and it always will," says Hazony. "We shouldn’t expect to reach a time in which there’s no antisemitism at all. But one should note the difference between the antisemites on the right, and the antisemites on the left.
"During the 2020 George Floyd protests, the US underwent a cultural revolutionwith the slogan 'institutional racism'. Then, they thought their target was the white Christian elite. But in 2023, the US went through a second revolutionary wave with the slogan 'Gaza genocide.' I'm talking about the major campuses, cultural institutions, politics -- all of the important institutions were infected. These are the same people who took over the Democratic Party and the liberal establishment. They continue to push, encourage, finance, and promote radical Islamic movements whose goal is to turn the US and Europe into Muslim countries.
"There is an alliance between the left and radical Islamic movements. This alliance targets the entire West. They treat the State of Israel as part of the white world's rule which must be destroyed. When they talk about genocide in Gaza, their target is not really Gaza. The target is American Jewry. The neo-Marxist goal is to destroy the rule of the elites, the elite groups that rule the country. They view the Zionists as a target, and when they talk about the Zionists, they’re talking about all Jews. So, it's true, you can easily point out antisemitic figures on the right in the US, but their degree of influence on the right is smaller than the influence of antisemitism on the left."
What about support for Israel among the national conservatives? After all, they are isolationists, and may not be so keen to support giving aid to Israel.
"The old-school Republicans have always been on our side, in one way or another. The old-school Republican Party was pro-Jewish and pro-Israel. It's no coincidence that Donald Trump has been the strongest supporter of Israel ever in the White House. Part of that is because he has strong ties to Jews -- he has Jewish grandchildren -- but the main thing is that Trump, Vance, and national conservatism in general have a very different perception of the State of Israel.
"The old-school Republicans were liberal, and their worldview was that liberalism is the best thing in the world, and Israel is a liberal country. That's why they loved Israel. With national conservatism, it’s a completely different story. They’re not interested in exporting an American worldview. They believe they have enough problems at home, and the question of whether Israel will be a liberal country isn’t important. Their viewpoint is: we want our friends to be strong, we don't want them to depend on us for protection. This could be bad for Israel, but it could also be wonderful."
Hazony lists more reasons why national conservatives admire Israel. "They look at Israel and say, they have children, they’re building families - if only we were. The children go to school and study the Bible, grow up and go to the army, and are ready to defend their country. They respect tradition and stand up for their independence."
Although Hazony views Israel as a conservative country with healthy tendencies, he nevertheless sees many problems. "Although we’re a conservative country in important respects, our challenges are the same challenges as in other countries. The courts in the State of Israel are liberal, and their goal is a neutral state, our universities are mostly hostile to conservatism and nationalism.
"There is a struggle between elites. As more and more post-Zionist and post-Judaism views enter the mainstream, there is more opposition to Israel being the nation state of the Jewish people. These face a strong majority within the Israeli public who do not want these things, who are proud of the Jewish state, and want it to continue as such. So if right-wing, center-right, religious Zionists, ultra-Orthodox people came to our conferences, they would be surprised to hear people from many other countries talking about the same problems. It's strange how similar the problems are from place to place."
If your challenge is not liberalism, but rather progressivism, why not join forces with the liberals against this threat to Western values?
"The number of liberals willing to join national conservatism is small. They perceive it as a dangerous threat to the constitutional and democratic traditions. They’ve barricaded themselves inside a small, shrinking bubble, and don’t want to get to know us, or try to understand our positions. There is fear and also brainwashing. US Jews have always been told that the next Holocaust will come from the right. And nowadays that’s utter nonsense - the real danger does not come from the right and will not come from the right. Quite the opposite. It's a shame they aren't ready to have a conversation with people like us.
"Even the Israeli right hasn’t yet realized that it is part of a worldwide struggle. It hasn’t yet reached Israel. But there are Israelis who come to our conferences. At the last conference in Brussels, Minister of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Amichai Chikli was among the speakers, and this is the first time an Israeli came as a speaker. I imagine that will increase. There are signs that the Israeli right is beginning to wake up."
"The left blocks conservatives from contending for public opinion."
In the meantime, as mentioned, the movement's conferences are gaining momentum. "The last conference, which was in Washington DC, had 26 sessions over three days, and dealt with a variety of issues that concern the national conservatives. I can tell you about two notable achievements resulting from that conference. One was to do with repositioning India in the international arena and its relations with Western countries, including Israel.
"Israel and the West need an alliance with India as a developing power. As early as the 1950s, India’s nationalist conservatism camp has appreciated Israel as a model of an independent nation-state. They see in us a society loyal to the country, to its religious and historical heritage, that continues to give birth to children, and to grow - in contrast to the tendencies they’ve noted in liberal Western countries. These values are important to the Indians, and are a powerful connection. Given this affinity, the Indian delegation to the conference proposed publicly to hold the next national conservatism conference in their country."
And what’s the second achievement?
"The speech given by the heir to the throne of the deposed Shah of Iran. Reza Kouresh Ali Pahlavi presented a vision of a renewed Iran as an independent national state with a unique tradition and clear borders, and not an Islamic empire that aspires to conquer the world. This achievement is perhaps minor compared to the achievement on the Indian track, because the heir to the throne is still in exile. But these are seeds that we are sowing with him, and they will ripen into a strategic alliance with Israel, and the national conservative states. The Indians and Iranians, as well as conservative and nationalist movements in other countries, only know Israel through its liberal left, which doesn’t particularly resonate with them. Through our movement, an opportunity has been created for them to get to know conservative and nationalist Israel, which is naturally attractive for them."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on August 18, 2024.
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2024.
The conference in Washington was not the only one held over the past year. It was preceded in April by a conference in the capital of the European Union, Brussels, and attended by prominent conservative-nationalist leaders such as Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban, former Prime Minister of Poland Mateusz Morawiecki, former Home Secretary of Great Britain Suella Braverman and others. However, the conference met with resistance from the left-wing authorities who control the city, which even deployed the police in an attempt to stop the discussions.
Nonetheless, Hazony refuses to be moved. "The attempts to harm the conference and silence our voice reflected the reality. In various countries, left-wing governments seek to prevent public figures from the conservative-nationalist side from contending for public opinion democratically."