                                                           B"sd

                      A Voice from Hebron
                     by Gary M. Cooperberg
          The Bullet that Murdered Jewish Self-Respect
           A Tribute to Rabbi Meir Kahane, Z"tl, H"yd
                        November 5, 1998
                                
     Parshat Chayay Sarah marks the eighth anniversary of the murder of Rabbi Meir Kahane,
of blessed memory, may G-d avenge his blood.  There are few men who were defamed as much as
he was during his life, and fewer who were even more so after his death.  It defies belief that the
Rabbi became a "terrorist," and Kach a terrorist organization after he was murdered!  I have
heard of the concept of reversal of roles between the victim and the aggressor, but this is
ridiculous.  To this day, even from the grave, Rabbi Kahane is feared by a Jewish leadership which
instinctively knows it has failed its people.  The only way to justify their failure is to prove, first
and foremost to themselves, that the banner of truth waved so proudly by the martyred rabbi, is
really falsehood.  

     I remember thinking that the Rabbi engaged in a bit of overstatement when he stood up in
the Knesset and warned the people of Israel, "You have a choice.  You can choose Arafat, or you
can choose Kahane."  Who could have imagined how on the mark he was to have been?  We
rejected Kahane and we got Arafat, under the Likud, no less, including Ariel Sharon!

     Politicians hated the Rabbi because he was not a politician.  He spoke brutal truth which
no one wanted to hear.  Like the ostrich which buries its head in the sand, pretending that
unpleasantness will go away if we simply close our eyes, the entire political spectrum in this
country decided that we have no choice but to live with the Arab enemy which is committed to
our destruction.  The more Rabbi Kahane insisted that we had no choice but to remove the Arabs
out of our country, the more he was defamed.  Kahanism was a new word which redefined racism
as speaking out against the enemies of the Jewish people.  How is it possible that an entire nation
could be brainwashed into really thinking that it is wrong to remove our enemies from our midst?
How many explosions and murders will it take before we understand that there is no chance of
living in peace with religious fanatics who are prepared to commit suicide rather than live with an
Israel of any size?  Why is it that we still insist on believing the preposterous notion that we are
making peace with the PLO even as they continue to prepare for war?  Why can we not admit that
Rabbi Kahane was right?  It is still possible to turn things around, but who has the courage to
admit they were wrong?   Can we not see that the survival of our nation, not to mention countless
Jewish lives,  is at stake?

     How did we get to Wye?  How is it that an Ariel Sharon can declare what he knows to be
bad as good?  How can polls show that 75% of the Israeli population think that the latest suicide
pact with Arafat is good?  How can an alleged right wing cabinet approve such a disaster?  The
answer is really not so complicated.  So many of our leaders, right and left, worked so hard to
prove that Rabbi Kahane was wrong, that they even convinced themselves.  We are now reaping
the benefit of that success. 