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world news Diabierna 14 Mei 2021

Radical rabbi's followers rise in Israel amid new violence

(AP) — In the 1980s, Rabbi Meir sassinated by an Egyptian-American
Kahane's violent anti-Arab ideol- in New York. But his hate-filled ide-
ogy was considered so repugnant ology has remained influential in Is-
that Israel banned him from par- rael.
liament and the U.S. listed his
party as a terrorist group. In 1994, Kahane follower Baruch
Goldstein opened fire in a holy site
Today, his disciples march through in the occupied West Bank city of
the streets by the hundreds, chanting Hebron, killing 29 Muslim worship-
"Death to Arabs" and assaulting any pers and wounding over 100. That
they come across. This week, they led both Israel and the U.S. to label
took part in a wave of communal vio- his Kach movement and an offshoot,
lence in Jerusalem and mixed cities Kahane Lives, as terrorist groups.
across Israel in which Arabs and Jews
viciously attacked people and torched In March, another admirer of the late
cars. rabbi, who for years had hung a pic-
ture of Goldstein on his living room
On Thursday evening, there was wall, was elected to Israel's parlia-
more ethnic strife. In Tel Aviv, two ment.
Jewish men attacked a journalist cov-
ering a gathering of ultranationalists. Itamar Ben-Gvir joined the Knesset
In the central Israeli city of Lod, a as part of Religious Zionism, a bloc of
Jewish man was shot and seriously far-right parties that came together at
wounded by an Arab man. In Jaffa, an Netanyahu's prodding so none would
Israeli soldier was attacked by a group fall below the electoral threshold.
of Arabs and was hospitalized in seri-
ous condition. Since then, Ben-Gvir has made fre-
quent media appearances, displaying
Israelis shocked by the violence have a cheerful demeanor and a knack for
cast the right-wing extremism as a deflecting criticism as he banters with
nasty aberration or a reaction to Pal- TV and radio hosts.
estinian violence. But to Arab citi-
zens, who make up 20% of Israel's It's working: Ifat, a research firm,
population, the heirs of Kahane are says Ben-Gvir is the third most inter-
a natural outgrowth of a discrimina- viewed politician on Israeli TV and
tory system — normalized by some radio, behind Netanyahu and Naftali
mainstream leaders who largely share Bennett, another right-wing politi- bers to more than 6,000. Netanyahu hoped to tap into that by
their views. cian. assembling a far-right bloc with Ben-
It was used to organize a crowd in Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, another
Admirers of Kahane were elected "He's a good speaker and he knows the Tel Aviv suburb of Bat Yam on ultranationalist. Ironically, they foiled
to parliament in March as allies of how to play the game," said Shuki Wednesday that pulled an Arab from Netanyahu's plan by blocking his
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanya- Friedman, an expert on Israel's far his car and beat him severely. The at- outreach to a small Arab party needed
hu's Likud party, and one of the most right at the Israel Democracy Insti- tack horrified Israelis and was widely to secure a parliamentary majority.
prominent has become a fixture on tute. "On one hand, he is addressing condemned, including by far-right
Israeli TV. his supporters. ... On the other hand, politicians. Israeli media reported the Dan Meridor, a former justice min-
he knows not to make mainstream Is- country's police chief blamed Ben- ister and Likud heavyweight who
Their resurgence has injected anoth- raelis too angry." Gvir for inciting a Jewish "intifada," helped lead efforts to ban Kahane
er element of volatility to the conflict. the Arabic term used to refer to two from parliament in 1988, believes
It's also part of a broader shift to the He has staged provocative visits to Palestinian uprisings. Netanyahu made a grave error in re-
right in Israel, where Kahane's dis- Arab areas and been a near-constant habilitating his followers.
ciples are hardly alone in adopting a presence on the sidelines of recent As a lawyer with a long history of
hard line toward the Palestinians and clashes, rallying ultranationalist sup- defending Jewish extremists accused "You can just see the dramatic and
trafficking in anti-Arab rhetoric. porters to confront Palestinians and of attacking Arabs, Ben-Gvir has very harmful change the Likud went
assert "Jewish Power" — the name of been careful not to run afoul of laws through when they legitimized the
Right-wing parties that support Jew- his party. against incitement. He calls Kahane Kahanists," he said. "It changed very
ish settlements and oppose Palestin- "righteous and holy," but has tried to tragically to me."
ian independence won a large major- Last week, he set up an outdoor par- distance himself by saying he doesn't
ity of seats in March, and Netanyahu liamentary "office" in an Arab neigh- agree with everything the rabbi said. Palestinian citizens of Israel, on the
and other right-wing leaders have borhood of east Jerusalem where other hand, view Ben-Gvir as the lat-
often cast Israel's Arab minority as a Jewish settlers are trying to expel Ben-Gvir first became a national fig- est in a long line of Israeli politicians
fifth column — unless they needed Palestinians from their homes, set- ure when he famously broke a hood — including Netanyahu — who have
their votes. ting off a melee. He later called for ornament off then-Prime Minister treated them as second-class citizens,
police to use live fire against Palestin- Yitzhak Rabin's car in 1995. if not enemies of the state. It's one
During his lone term in parliament in ian protesters at the Al-Aqsa Mosque of many grievances they point to in
the mid-1980s, before he was banned, compound, a site sacred to Jews and "We got to his car, and we'll get to him explaining the recent protests and
Kahane was shunned by colleagues, Muslims. too," he said, just weeks before Rabin clashes with police.
including the Likud, and frequently was assassinated by a Jewish extremist
gave speeches to an empty chamber. A long-range Hamas rocket, fired at opposed to his peace efforts with the Diana Buttu, a lawyer and analyst
His racist agenda called for banning Jerusalem on Monday, disrupted the Palestinians. who is a Palestinian citizen of Israel,
intermarriage between Arabs and Jerusalem Day parade, which cel- says it's easy for Israelis to dismiss the
Jews, stripping Arabs of their Israeli ebrates Israel's annexation of east Je- Israel has shifted even more to the Kahanists as a fringe group.
citizenship, and the mass expulsions rusalem. right since then, driven by the fail-
of Palestinians. At one point, he was ure of peace efforts, repeated rounds "But if you step back and look at this
suspended for waving a noose at an The mob violence erupted the next of violence and demographic shifts. country through the eyes of a Pal-
Arab lawmaker. day. A Telegram channel displaying Ben-Gvir's supporters are largely estinian, you see that at every single
the Kahanist emblem — a yellow religious and ultra-Orthodox Jews, political level, in every single political
Kahane was banned from running in fist inside a black Star of David — who tend to have large families. party, there's been some form of anti-
1988, and two years later, he was as- swelled from a few hundred mem- Palestinian racism."