Knesset speaker cancels delegation trip to US after MK refused visa
In 2009 and again last month, I reported that the United States refused to grant an entry visa to MK Michael Ben Ari (National Union), who was a follower of Rabbi Meir Kahane HY"D (May God avenge his blood). Now, as a result of the American refusal to grant Ben Ari a visa, Knesset speaker Ruby Rivlin (Likud) has canceled the entire Knesset delegation, of which Ben Ari was supposed to be a part, which was supposed to visit Congress.
MKs Einat Wilf (Independence), Tzipi Hotovely (Likud) and Zehava Gal-On (Meretz) were supposed to attend a female empowerment conference in Washington DC at the end of the month. The conference includes a panel with female members of Congress at the Israeli embassy.
Rivlin decided to cancel the delegation, because the State Department will not allow Ben-Ari to visit the US because the MK is connected to a terrorist organization.
Ben-Ari was a student of Rabbi Meir Kahane, and still refers to himself as a disciple of the controversial rabbi. Kahane’s Kach political party was banned from the Knesset for being racist in 1988 and declared a terrorist organization by the State Department in 1994.
“The US claim that an MK is a terrorist is unacceptable and disrespects the entire Knesset,” Rivlin said.
I wonder whether the State Department would have any problem granting a visa to MK Hanin Zoabi (Balad), who was aboard the Mavi Marmara. I suspect not.
It's funny how the State Department has no problems granting a visa to Abu Mazen, the financier of the Munich Olympics massacre.
The United States has refused to grant a visa to Jewish Israeli MK Michael Ben Ari (National Union) due to his past affiliation with Meir Kahane's Kach movement. Kahane emigrated from the US to Israel in the 1970's, and was eventually murdered by a 'Palestinian' terrorist outside the midtown Manhattan Marriott Hotel in 1990. Kach is a designated terror organization in the United States.
Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin has sent a letter to the US Ambassador in Israel, Daniel Shapiro, urging that the U.S. reconsider a decision not to let MK Michael Ben Ari enter it.
The text of the letter follows:
Your Excellency,
MK Michael Ben Ari has informed me that the United States Consulate has notified him that they are unable to grant him a visitor's visa on the basis of a section of the US Immigration and Nationality Act that allows the refusal to grant a visa to anyone who has been involved in a terrorist action or who serves as the representative or member of an organization defined as a foreign terrorist organization by the American Secretary of State.
I wish to express to you my protest at this decision and to ask that this decision be reconsidered.
Mr. Ben Ari is a Member of Knesset representing the National Union Faction, a faction that has fully legitimate status in the Israel parliament. As an elected public representative in the State of Israel, a close friend of the United States, he should neither be considered a member of any terrorist organization nor should be prevented from visiting the United States.
We take a very serious view of this decision to disqualify an elected public representative of the State of Israel, that is governed by the rule of law and democratic principles.
I await your prompt response.
Yours sincerely,
Reuven (Ruby) Rivlin
Speaker of Knesset.
Ben Ari summed it up best:
"The US administration that welcomes with open arms Ahmadinejad, who calls for the destruction of Israel; Abu Mazen, who planned the murder of children at Maalot; and Ahmed Tibi, who excitedly encourages shaheeds, has chosen to block my path in meeting Jewish communities in the US and encouraging aliyah to Israel, in the claim that I am a terrorist. Now one can understand that the American blindness that does not perceive who the terrorists are, is what brought upon them the terrible terror attacks of September 11."
If you happen to be a Jew who believes in Maimonides' 13 principles of faith, one of which is a belief in the future coming of the Messiah, then Jeffrey Goldberg is really, really scared of you.
Jeffrey Goldberg, respected Jewish-American journalist, felt it was his duty to broadcast to humanity that Jews who believe in the coming of a Messiah - thus earning the "messianic" adjective - are a clear and present danger to world peace. That belief in the coming of a Messiah constitutes one of the 13 Principles of the Jewish Faith, adhered to by all observant Jews throughout history, without a single resultant incident of bloodshed or violence, is irrelevant. For Jeffrey, the important point was to draw a false equivalence between Islamist fanaticism and Jewish virtue; to ensure that civilized people learn to be frightened of Jews, particularly Jews who lovingly adhere to the statutes of their faith, no less than they are of Islamists, and preferably more so. Mission accomplished, indeed.
But wait, there's more! Who are these "messianic" Jewish terrorists, and where are they hiding?
"A few months ago," Jeffrey helpfully directs us, "I visited a building in the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City owned by a radical yeshiva." Aha! So that's where the "messianic" Jewish terrorists are encamped, biding their time to strike the blow that ends the world. Camped illegitimately, Goldberg likely wishes to add, it being the Muslim Quarter, and thus the dreaded and preferably Judenrein "West Bank".
To my knowledge, which I admit is limited (where's Yaacov when you need him), the only yeshiva of any prominence in the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City is Yeshiva Ateres Cohanim. Here it is on Google Maps, in relation to the Temple Mount. Here's a brief video (click the link, I command you) about the yeshiva, encompassing the history of the place, which has been a center of Jewish learning since 1886, when it was known as Yeshiva Torath Chaim (pictured on the right, 1920s).
That's right, the building now home to Ateres Cohanim housed a yeshiva long before the international community decided that Jews should not be allowed to live in "East" Jerusalem, and longer still before Jeffrey Goldberg decided that any Jew who lives in "East" Jerusalem is a "radical". What's more, the building is the sole survivor of the Jordanian occupation, during which time the other 80 yeshivas and synagogues in the Arab controlled portions of the city were destroyed. The building laid empty after the Arab pogroms of 1936, entrusted to an Arab caretaker, until Israel reunified Jerusalem in 1967.
That wasn't the only effort by Goldberg this week to 'protect' the World from 'messianic Jews.' Earlier in the week, he went after David HaIvri (pictured above), executive director of the Shomron Liaison Office, and an occasional source of news for this blog.
I would only note that the person Rep. Gohmert is standing next to, David Halvri, is someone I met in the 90s when he still called himself David Axelrod (no relation, as far as I can tell, to the other David Axelrod), and when he was a leader of the Kach movement, founded by the late Rabbi Meir Kahane, and of Kahane Chai, the successor organization to Kach. Kach men, of course, are fascist fundamentalists. HaIvri was arrested in Israel for celebrating the death of Yitzhak Rabin; he was also jailed for six months for desecrating a mosque. He has also been associated with groups that have been included on the State Department list of terrorist organizations. Just noting this for the record.
In the paranoia of the 1990's, lots of people were arrested for 'celebrating the death of Rabin' (something that absent a threat to someone else would probably constitute free speech in the US by the way). In one apocryphal story I recall from that time, a Jerusalem barber asked "who is next in line" and someone responded "Shimon Peres." Someone called the police and the person was promptly arrested. So I don't put much stock in saying that someone was arrested for 'celebrating the death of Rabin.' Most of them weren't.
As to Kach/Kahane Chai, one of the deep, dark secrets of this country is that many Jews believe Kahane was right about a lot of things (although most of us - including me - would not support the use of violence to induce Arabs to leave). Consider our national anthem, the possibility of Israel having to choose between being a democracy or being a Jewish state (something about which Goldberg himself has expressed concern), and the fact that three years ago, 76% of Israeli Jews surveyed said they favored transferring 'Israeli Arabs' to a 'Palestinian state' if one is ever - God forbid - established. Kahane never envisioned a 'Palestinian state,' but he did favor transferring 'Israeli Arabs' to Arab countries. If you think that's unreasonable, go here and see what the very mainstream Daniel Gordis has to say about it.
As to Goldberg's claims about Kach/Kahane Chai being 'terrorist organizations,' they were in fact so designated, but at the request of an ally of the United States: The Government of Israel. The Israeli government feared that - given the opportunity - many Jews would vote for Kahane, and that just didn't fit in with the branja's plans. So they excluded Kahane from the 1988 elections (something which has never been done to any anti-Zionist Arab parties) and went around the world asking that his organizations be declared terrorist organizations.
By the way, the MEK in Iran and the PKK in Kurdistan were also both designated as terror organizations at the request of then-US allies Iran (under the Shah) and Turkey, respectively. Today, James Jones, formerly President Obama's National Security Adviser, favors removing the terrorist designation from the MEK. Sometimes designation as a terrorist organization is politically influenced.
For those who know little or nothing about Kahane (who was murdered in 1990 a few blocks from my office at the time), here's a video of a 1984 debate between Kahane and Ehud Olmert on ABC's Nightline. Who do you think won?
Let's go to the videotape. More after the video.
But for the record, I am told by mutual friends that David has been squeaky clean since he got married - no arrests, no Kach/Kahane Chai activities and no more youthful indiscretion. And there's a good chance that Congressman Gohmert (R-Tx) had no idea who David is or what his background is, before during or after that photo shoot.
And in another cheap shot, the normally pro-Israel Harry's Place asked why HaIvri was allowed into the US. As it happens, unless he's given it up, David is a US citizen (who has dual citizenship with Israel, just like I do).
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
In 2009 and again last month, I reported that the United States refused to grant an entry visa to MK Michael Ben Ari (National Union), who was a follower of Rabbi Meir Kahane HY"D (May God avenge his blood). Now, as a result of the American refusal to grant Ben Ari a visa, Knesset speaker Ruby Rivlin (Likud) has canceled the entire Knesset delegation, of which Ben Ari was supposed to be a part, which was supposed to visit Congress. 
