Amichai Chikli is unapologetic about fomenting discord within the Jewish world. To Israel’s controversial Minister for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism, disagreement can be positive when it forces people to confront difficult questions and sharpen their beliefs.

But even after countless disagreements with Jewish leaders across the world, the former educator is quite confident that his bold, nationalist vision is rooted in authentic Jewish principles, even if they stand in stark opposition to many of the progressive values embraced by the global Jewish communities he is meant to advocate for in Jerusalem’s halls of power.

His confrontational style and willingness to act as a provocateur have made Chikli one of Israel’s most polarizing cabinet ministers, willing to butt heads with authorities on matters of safety and politics.

Ahead of a divisive international conference on combating antisemitism in Jerusalem this week, organized by his ministry, Chikli spoke with The Times of Israel about why he is prepared to go against the wisdom of Jewish community leaders around the world to develop a coalition with far-right-wing European politicians.

“I’m not trying to undermine the policies of those Jewish organizations,” Chikli said. “We just have a disagreement.”

It was last March when Chikli’s first conference on fighting antisemitism attracted the international spotlight. After word got out that the confab would include members of several extremist parties associated with racist ideologies and Nazi sympathizers, numerous high-ranking Jewish community leaders, including Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt and British Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, opted to boycott the event to show their disapproval.

Jewish leaders like European Jewish Congress President Ariel Muzicant said they saw the invitation of figures such as Jordan Bardella, president of the far-right French National Rally Party, as a “stab in the back” to Diaspora Jewish communities, providing a sort of “stamp of kashrut” to parties with deep ideological roots in fascism, Nazism, and xenophobia.

To Chikli, however, the move was part of a strategic decision to fight antisemitism by working with the parties most vocal in confronting radical Islam.

“The real threat to European Jewry is radical Islam, not the political right,” Chikli said. “Our goal is form a broad camp to fight together the lethal antisemitism that is coming from within. That’s not to say we can ignore the far left or far right, but this is the most lethal form of antisemitism that we face.”

The first conference was a “success,” Chikli told The Times of Israel, and the ministry decided to make it an annual event coinciding with International Holocaust Memorial Day on January 27.

The second annual event, entitled “Generation Truth,” is taking place over two days, January 26-27, at Jerusalem’s International Convention Center (Binyanei Hauma), without most of the mainstream Jewish organizational leaders.

While for last year’s conference, several invitees publicly rescinded their participation after the guest list was revealed, the makeup of this year’s lineup was known ahead of time. Jewish Federations of North America President and CEO Eric Fingerhut will speak on a panel, but representatives from the ADL and Yad Vashem are said not to have been invited.

Among the political figures expected to attend are current and former government officials from across the conservative spectrum, including former Australian prime minister Scott Morrison; former Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz; Edi Rama, prime minister of Albania; Argentina’s minister of justice Mariano Cúneo Libarona; Hungarian minister for EU Affairs János Bóka; Brazilian senator and presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro; and US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee.

Influencers and thought leaders set to appear include author and filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza, UK legal advocate Natasha Hausdorf, Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon, and Noa Cochva, a former Miss........

© The Times of Israel