1,000 gather to mark Kahane yahrtzeit
1,000 people gathered on Tuesday night at the Ramada Renaissance hotel here in Jerusalem to mark the 20th yahrtzeit (anniversary of the death) of Rabbi Meir Kahane HY"D (may God avenge his blood). The Israeli media makes it sound like Kahane's group was only ostracized after one of its members murdered 29 Arabs in the Machpeila Cave in 1994, but the reality is that Kahane was shunned by the branja long before that: His party was barred from running for the Knesset in 1988 after surveys showed it would have gotten 10% of the popular vote.Kahane was the founder of the Kach Party, and served in the Knesset from 1984 until his party was declared racist and barred from running in 1988.I'd like to show you one of the most famous videos of Kahane. I've shown it before, but that was some time ago. This was Rabbi Kahane on Nightline debating a young member of Knesset named Ehud Olmert. Who do you think was right?
Kach was declared a terrorist organization in 1994 when one of Kahane’s supporters, Baruch Goldstein, went on a shooting rampage at the Cave of the Patriarchs and killed 30 Muslim worshipers. Kahane was assassinated in New York in 1990 by an Egyptian-American terrorist who had ties to al- Qaida.
“We’ve gone mainstream,” event organizer and prominent right-wing activist Itamar Ben-Gvir told the Post.
“You can even see this in the Knesset, Kadima and even the Labor Party are adopting the beliefs of Kahane. People used to be against Rav Kahane in the Knesset, treating him the same way they’re treating Hanin Zoabi, saying he was disgusting, he’s dangerous. And today they understand that all those things he said, he was right.”
The crowd chanted “The nation of Kahane lives” and “Kahane was right” and cheered wildly at videos of Kahane’s old speeches when he made statements like “Send the Arabs away!”
Ben Gvir and Marzel are set to lead a march on Wednesday in Umm el-Fahm to mark the anniversary of Kahane’s assassination. Police were initially hesitant to grant permission for the march, fearing a repeat of last year’s march on the outskirts of the city when local youth clashed with riot police. Thousands of police will secure the event and locals have said they will prevent the marchers from entering their city.
Let's go to the videotape.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:12 PM
3 Comments:
Sorry Carl, he wasn't the answer of first resort. I saw him two times the first time he was very engaging at Tel Aviv University in 1973, the second time in the mid to late 70's in a local Maryland shul and he was wrapped very tight and there were ominous vibes. As I recall his starting point was a rejection of democracy per se, a passionate theocratic ideology, isolation of Arab populations, and projection of his own cult of personality. If the presumed axiom is that the next war of populations against Arabs (by transfer) within Israel or without (further transfer) is going to be exalting and self-affirming and axiomatically victorious, well, no, it will be a gamble and the outcome will not be assured. The notion that precisely the most radical strategies are precisely the easiest to implement should be skeptically viewed.
Rabbi Kahane was a person of integrity - unlike Ehud K. Olmert who proved to be both a fool and corrupt. He was right then and he is right today. Every one can see it now.
May G-d avenge him and may his memory be for a blessing!
There is evidence that Goldstein was set up in Hevron.
I will leave it to curious readers to do the legwork and track it down.
Considering the efforts made to destroy Kach, such a set-up was not beyond the pale.
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