Regarding the extremism
of R. Meir Kahane

Dale Baranowski

 

Kenneth wrote:

Excerpts from mail: 24-Aug-99
> >From Time Immemorial by Joan Peters, 1984. Distributed by
> Jonathan David Publishers, N.Y.
>

Hi Dale:

This sounds like a good book.  I'll try to hunt it down through the
university library here.

It was also interesting to read Meir Kahane's comments.  I always
considered him a bit too extreme but now that I read this piece I can at least understand why he said some of the things he did.
 

I had the same attitude toward him until I heard him speak.  Now I didn't go to hear him willingly.  Years ago our Moshav was of a semi collective nature -- a moshav shitufi, where we had the basis of a kibbutz but received a real salary, lived in a real house did with our money what we wanted.  Yet the work was collective like a kibbutz, and we had a catering operation.  It seemed that the Kahane organization hired us to cater a speaking affair by R. Kahane for a group of his most devoted supporters.  I worked that job and that's when I heard him speak.   Before he opened his mouth I expected to hear were Nazi-like streams of vitriolic hate and xenophobia against Arabs or any other gentile -- because that's the way the leftist mediia portrayed him here. What he actually spoke about was an honest assessment of the Jewish-Arab conflict that wasn't restricted by the self-effacing or even self-hating attitudes that I still see to be all too common among Jews.  He also wasn't concerned about what was politically correct by the rest of the population.  What he dealt with was logic and reason, and he was brave enough to consider possibilities that few other politicians would dare.  I developed a great respect for him from that time on -- despite my gut reaction which then based itself on previous predjuices.  (Heck, predjuices don't die easily, we both know that.)

Sometime after that I read a newspaper article here written by a female journalist who unabashedly identified with the one-world New Age political left here.  She attended a speaking engagement by R. Kahane to a group of Moroccan Jews and he used emotional appeals, appeals to their safety and appeals to their sense of nationalism.  There was a good bit of logic to his speech, too, but the other things were predominant. The journalist had arranged to have a personal interview with the Rabbi and he gave it to her while  driving her home.  While in the car she said he dropped the emotional & nationalistic appeals and spoke to her using logical syllogisms and facts.  This journalist asked him why he changed his approach when speaking to her compared to those Moroccan Jews, and he responded saying that he didn't compromise his position or ideas in the least but recognized that one has to speak to an audience in a manner in which they are most receptive.  He said that if he spoke to them with logic and statistics they'd turn off really quickly, so too, if he spoke to her with Jewish nationalism as a virtue she wouldn't be the least interested.  He then added that that those with the higher education in Israel have allowed their emotional predjuices to get in the way of thinking this problem in a rational way.  So he had no choice to turn to the less educated sectors of the society.   The media here demonized R. Kahane and one of the things that they harped on was that his was supposedly not a rationally thought-out position owing to the under educated audiences he spoke in front of.  (Hah!)  Yet R. Kahane was always offering to publicly debate anyone of any persuasion on this topic using reason and logic only.  The few times that anyone took up his offer they learned that R. Kahane was a master debater and had well-known facts and statistics at his fingertips and ran rings around anyone who debated with him.  After a few times the politicians who debated him lost hands down.  It was too dangerous to debate facts with R. Meir because he didn't mind admitting failure if he was wrong and used reason and logic.  Most politicians have enormous egos and those who lost debates with him hands-down took it very very personally.  Since they couldn't overcome him through reason and logic they attacked  his character viciously, rather than debate issues in search of the truth and real solutions to the problem.  In formal debate at the university level, lying is permitted -- so long as one can get away with it!  But R. Meir Kahane would not lie out of principle, and in fact, didn't need to lie, because the facts and reason were overwhelmingly on his side.  Yet most refused to listen to him.   Once R. Meir was in Knesset and went to the podium to address the council.  He was shouted down with continuous catcalls by everyone except the Haredim.  No one could possibly hear what he had to say.  Afterwards he said to the effect: 'Boy, I'm relieved!  I thought it was the Jewish ideas that the membership of the Knesset was against, but I simply read the Declaration of the State of Israel and everyone drowned me out because they thought those were MY thoughts!  They didn't listen to a word of what I actually said, because if they had they wouldn't have drowned me out.  So there's hope yet because they just hate ME and not necessarily what I say or think. Boy, I'm relieved!'

Rav Meir was truly a saint.  When he lived he was given money to distribute as tzedakah, sometime a million dollars would go through his hands a month and he distributed it all to the needy.  Those were the days when we had hyperinflation and everybody was financially in the red.  Under halachah he could have legitimately taken a tiny proportion of what he received for his own and been out of the red, but he refused and he preferred having to pay interest on overdrafts to the bank.

When Rav Meir was murdered by that Arab terrorist the members of the Knesset, except for the Haredim, were unabashedly jubilant at his death.  The left proclaimed that they would literally dance on his grave. Even the right wing was deliriously happy.  It one of  the most shameful acts I had ever seen.  After his death the Knesset voted overwhelmingly voted into law here that the Kach Party of R. Meir is a racist organization and is illegal thereby.  This is Israeli law.  R. Meir had always challenged those who called his platform racist, asking them to simply define "racism".   Not to surprisingly, no one has yet attempted to define this.  The Knesset never defined what it means and that the most they say is that Kach is just plain racist, and that's it. Period.  Shulimit Aloni, former Minister in the Government, a lawyer, said on the national news here that, in her opinion, any differentiation at all on the basis of  ethnic, religious & color between peoples is "racist", and so Rav Meir and Kach were racist organizations.  The media avoided the obvious when they brought this up.  For according to Shulimit Aloni's definition the State of Israel is racist because we have the Law of Return which gives advantages to Jews over non-Jews. The Israeli army is racist under this definition between So if Rav Meir & Kach is racist then the whole State of Israel, then R. Kahane is no better than the State of Israel.  Actually, Shulimit Aloni agrees with this position and actively seeks to destroy any an all Jewish character to the State of Israel.  She's part of the moderate political left.  In the end, the Knesset never dared to define what is racist, but they claimed were certain beyond a shadow of a doubt that R. Meir was it!!
 

Of course, I doubt that Israel could get away with the kind of "ethnic
cleansing" Kahane was talking about.  Maybe that's a job best left for
the Messianic age.  :^)

Actually, I have read  works by R. Meir and he never talked about anything like ethnic cleansing. I can't claim to be an authority in his ideas and writings but in his day he had a 3 point practical plan in deal with the Arab problem.

First, we have a population that has been hostile toward us for centuries, and mentalities don't change over night. All advantages should be removed from the Arab population.  No Child Allowance moines should be given to Arabs, no subsidized health care, no possibility of getting into government. Arabs should not be given the vote.  He said that all Arabs should be forced to sign a piece of paper affirming that Jews have sole ownership of Israel and that they promise not deliberately harm Jews in any way.  Those who refuse to affirm that we are in charge of the land will inevitably work to undermine it.  For those who accept these terms they may live in Israel and carry on their lives.  For those who honestly admit that they can't live under this situation and want to leave  R. Meir advanced that we should understand this and not hold it against them,  and that the Israeli government should pay a lump sum for all who want to leave.  He wasn't specific about the amount but suggested a possible lump sum of $10,000 per head to leave, after they sell their property at market prices and have a reasonable time to wrap up their affairs.  He suggested that they be shuttled to the border, shake hands and basically wish them well and have them sign a piece of paper waiving all claims to return.

Second, for those non-Jews who initially affirm that they agree on Jewish sovereignty and then decide that they changed their mind, they should be given time to wrap up their affairs, sell their property within a certain period of time.  The difference here is that they should not be given the lump sum as above, but allowed a reasonable amount of time to leave. They should be taken to the border, sign a statement waiving all right to return, let them leave Israel and that's that.

Third, for those non Jews who initially proclaim to accept Jewish sovereignty but then start engaging in subversive or terrorist actions his plan was to take those who commit such crimes to be taken to the border and kicked out bodily, ASAP.  In addition, the entire extended family of those related to the terrorist should be kicked out ASAP and all property confiscated.  He was against punishing these people with jail sentences.  But he felt the property of terrorists should be confiscated and given to Jews.

I know for a fact that Rav Meir was of the opinion that non Jews should be able to live quite peacefully here if they accept Jewish sovereignty in Israel.  It's a fact that two Arabs who were born and raised in one of the villages near Hebron had converted to Judaism.  They went through a really tough conversion by the Rabbinate because they were afraid that those Arabs wanted to use it against us.  In the end, the Rabbinate was convinced that they were sincere and they were converted to Judaism. They have proven to be sincere, observant Jews and a real honor to have them join us.  Many opponents of R. Meir claimed that he was a racist and that he simply hated Arabs.  Not so.  In a public speaking engagement on the streets of Jerusalem, R. Meir invited politicians to hear him publicly proclaim, in a public square in Jerusalem, that those 2 Arabs who  sincerely converted to Judaism "are better Jews than I am!"   After he said that Kachniks who who were obvious supporters of R. Meir gave him an ovation which showed their agreement.  R. Meir never disliked Arabs for racist reasons.  He loved all Jews and especially sincere converts to Judaism no matter what ethnic group they came from.  He repeatedly said that the sincere and observant convert to Judaism was a better Jew than a home born.  He also had a great deal of respect for those non Jews who were Bnai-Noach.

Now granted, there have been Kahanists who have advocated violence against Arabs.  It's impossible to control those who distort anyone's teachings. Also, the media here has this hate for his position that they happily distort what he and his supporters advocated and have done.

One last point: the US has a law stating that anyone who affirms the position that the USG should be overthrown and replaced with another system supports criminal treason. The US has every justification to imprison and/or expel from the US if the individual is not a US citizen.  What we have here in Israel is the very same situation with a significant proportion that want to overthrow the State.  The Arabs who live in this area, the "Occupied Territories", are not citizens of Israel.  An overwhelming majority hold Jordanian passports, and are citizens of that country.  Moving them across the Jordan River is a move of not more than 30 miles. They have the same climate in Jordan as we have here.  They have the same ethnic population in Jordan as Palestinians here, the same mentality.  The Arabs in Jordan speak the same dialect of Arabic, with the same accent, as the Arabs in here.  They have the same branch of Suni Islam as the Arabs in Jordan.  The Arabs in Jordan call themselves Palestinians, but Jordan is run by the Hashemite clan of Bedouin, the Bedouin are a minority of maybe 20%.  The monarchy in Jordan was set up by the British for their own self interests but Arabs were actually smarter than the Brits and turned it to their advantage.  The monarchy in Jordan is an artificial creation by the Brits, and that Palestinian Arabs should be in control there, not Bedouin.   The Jordanian flag is identical with the Palestinian flag of the PLO, except that the Jordanian flag has a star on it, and the Jordanians say that this star represents the Jordanian monarchy.  The PLO has always had the position that the Jordanian government is not legitimate.  They have always maintained that both Israel are all Palestine, all of it owned by the Palestinians and their flag represents this.  It's on this basis that I personally have no qualms about kicking Arabs over the border into Jordan because they would be moved into the country of their citizenship and with minimal discomfort. Jordan is, in fact, Palestine according to the Arabs themselves, so in practical as well as technical reasons, we wouldn't be kicking them out.

In contrast, I decided to move to Israel and leave a country which I felt very out of place in.  I moved to Israel, had to learn a new language, had to get used to a different cultural mentality, even though I converted to Judaism and agreed in principle getting used to living an observant life had been a challenge and a severe adjustment.  I still find it difficult to deal with the language after more than 20 years of living in Israel.  I still regard my beloved state of Pennsylvania with very warm feelings but I wouldn't willingly live anywhere other than Israel, but if I had to move back it wouldn't be cruel or traumatic.  The adjustment that I would force Arabs to endure in moving Jordan -- and I'm talking about  those who pose a  threat to Jews and the State Of Israel -- is nothing to compared to the adjustment I made in making Aliya. This wouldn't be a cruel act as the leftists claim.  I've never been in favor of ethnic cleansing and the Kachniks I have met are against it as well.  The issue here is security and that we shouldn't have to live with those who advocate and work to overthrow Israel.  US law takes a similar rational position for the United States. We shouldn't be afraid of taking a similar position with our country, too.  Arafat and the PLO  is STILL advocating that all of Israel is "Palestine" and  rightfully belongs to them and not to Jews. We should not tolerate this attitude from anyone.  Period.

You should know that actually taking up arms or bombs against Arabs was foreign to Kahane's point of view.  He basically said that ultimately HaShem will overcome all this, the messiah will deal with it in it's own time.  So there's no need or reason to act violently against against Arabs, unless in the case of obvious, immediate & direct self-defense.  A number of years ago the Jewish Underground started up and that group carried out attacks against Arabs. Bassam Shachar, mayor of Shechem, had his legs blown off by that Underground.   It turned out that out of the 12-15 members of this Underground, not one of them was a Kachnik.  They were all from the more "center and moderate political right"  parties like the Likud, the National Religious Party. The reason is simple, those Jews who participated in the Underground had lost faith in their own political philosophies, lost faith in their Creator, and out of despair decided to take things into their own hands.   Kahane was always against such behavior, because in the end Divine Intervention will make everything work out all right.  But in the short run we could could save ourselves a lot of suffering, a lot of trouble, a lot of terrorism, and save a lot of Jewish lives if we used our rational facilities and Jewish law to deal with this conflict.  In the end, R Meir affirmed, the messiah will come, but we could speed up this process ourselves by thinking and acting like proud, observant Jews in OUR land.

One thing I had noticed about the Israeli mentality after moving here was that there's a substantial number of Jews with a self-hating attitude. I don't know if I mentioned this to you but an excellent example is my wife's uncle, who is a gentle man, a sensitive man, a man who was a second-string cellist in the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra.  Before he retired he used to travel all over the world on tours with the Symphony.  He would inevitably say that he disliked returning to Israel, that he would prefer to be anything other than a Jew, that if he could change that one thing he would.  This is one who who grew up in a Haradi family in Rumania and dropped all observance when he came her and became a leftist.  Today he drips with sympathy to all Arab terrorists, claiming that the reason they murder Jews is OUR fault, because WE kicked them off their land, WE deprived them of their country, WE tore families apart, WE kept them from their natural aspirations, WE murdered innocent Arab women and children.  "Mea culpa! mea culpa! mea maxima culpa!"  Everytime we go over there I hear unparalleled blame heaped on the Jewish people and Arab terrorist murderers are as white as driven snow.  Every time we went there he would always ask the same question:  "How many Arabs did you kick off their land to build your settlement?"  Repeatedly we said that none, that it was all an abandoned & empty field.  Finally, after the same question, my wife asked a good  question:  "You live in an old house here, the walls are 3 feet thick and this was obviously built by Arabs."  He agreed that it was. "What would you say to an Arab if one knocked on your door and said that this house was his house, and that Jews kicked him out of it 50 years ago, and that he should give it back to him right then?"  This man naively replied that this had already happened! "What?!" "Sure," he said, "some old Arab knocked on the door once and said it was his and that I should get out."  I asked what he replied and he said that he "told the Arab that it wasn't my  problem."  "What?!  It wasn't your problem? Why not?!  You should have left immediately!"  He then said that he told the Arab that he was only RENTING and that if the Arab had any complaints he should direct them to his landlord!  I was shocked! This guy could pontificate on what we shouldn't build a community on abandoned land, but when it came to an Arab claiming his house he evaded the issue!  What a two-faced lout!   . Man I've found many many Jews with this this sufficing, self-hating mentality.  It stems from generations of persecution, the mentality having been passed down through the generations.  For some reason there's a psychological glitch which makes some Jews turn the anger and hostility on to themselves that should rightly be directed toward anti-Semites.  It's a psychological illness. The political left here is crawling with this, and even the moderate right suffers to a lesser degree from it.  Many Jews feel great sympathy to any group aspiring toward their homeland.  Fair enough.   I know Jews who get a tear in their eye when hearing the French National Anthem because of it's desire for a homeland and nationalistic aspirations.  This is ok, for we Jews have been denied this very thing for millennia and it's only natural that we should sympathize.  The problem is that many Jews have a knee-jerk support such aspirations -- even when it's meant to displace us!  Even when we suffer from terrorists aspiring to take the Land Of Israel from us many of us support them!  It's an illness, but it's all over here. The first time I heard Rav Kahane speak he touched on this issue and I recognized that he was very right. I saw it myself after a while in Israel.  Jews suffer from this minor to major proportions.  In my American mentality, having grown up in a Catholic family and environment such a thing is unheard of.  If anything, American gentiles surffer from egos that are too big and too expansive.  Jews have the opposite problem, of having low self-esteem and wanting to suck up to non Jews to get reassurance that we are OK.  The problem is that there are enough anti-semites out there who have learned that if they try to fight with us we'll fight back even better, so they learned that our real weakness is to promise to be our friend and attach conditions to that friendship. Missionaries do it, Arafat the terrorist does it.   And in that way they can hurt us even more and we'll go willingly, even fight with one another to get the approval of non Jews.  It's sick, and Rav Meir was right about this.

Well, that's it.  I found a definite difference between what the media claimed that R. Meir advocated and what he really taught.  Mostly, the media and self-effacing Jews have deliberately distorted his ideas because it touches on this very psychological illness.  His ideas were very threatening because of this.

Dale