Rightist group Im Tirzu not fascist after all, court rules

The Supreme Court overturns a 2013 ruling by the Jerusalem District Court which held that the right-wing group Im Tirzu draws influence from fascist ideology.

“The court is not the place for such debates,” says Judge Isaac Amit.

The previous verdict came in response to a libel lawsuit filed in 2010 by Im Tirzu against eight founders of a Facebook page that regularly criticized the group and accused it of being fascist.

Back in 2013, a number of high-profile witnesses were called to the stand to attest to Im Tirzu’s alleged fascist undertones, among them historian and writer Zeev Sternhell, who argued that the group displayed traits similar to those of early-stage fascist movements, and religious scholar Tomer Persico, who testified that, during a public debate with Im Tirzu founder Ronen Shoval, the latter confessed that he was influenced by thinkers whose teachings later served as a basis for fascist ideology.

During that trial, Shoval admitted that Im Tirzu had hired private investigators to gather incriminating material on human rights organizations that, he claimed, were engaged in “covert anti-Zionist” activity. Shoval further confessed to sending investigators to the office of one of the defendants’ attorneys, Michael Sfard.