Jun 21, 2005

They live, we die

The article was wrote for publication in the Arab American News. However, for some reason it was refused. It was forwarded on to Three Way Fight.
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They live, we dieBy L.B.G. Here’s a good way to sum up last week’s disturbance at the Haram As-Sharif (according to Judaism, the Temple Mount) – “Do as I say, not as I do.”

That is precisely the message Ariel Sharon sent to the far rightists who attempted to assault the Temple Mount in order to protect it. Sharon himself ignited the current intifada by making a provocative visit there while reportedly protected by 1,400 Israeli cops.

Last week, he needed 3,000 cops to seal off the area to prevent the creatures he helped create from doing the same thing. And though Israeli settlers and their allies would deny it now, he is there inspiration: he once told far rightists 1998 to “enlarge the settlements because everything we take now will stay ours... Everything we don’t grab will go to them.”

After getting elected and acclimatizing to certain realities, Sharon decided – like his Labor party predecessors – that to save the body of his precious Jewish state, he will have to cut off a limb; in this case, the Gaza Strip. This has enraged his followers, who act like rebellious teenagers angry that their parents smoke, but won’t let them light up; Hence, the traveling settler circus.

But who are the kids? And what are their aims? A PBS Frontline documentary called, “Israel’s Next War?” attempted to answer that question. The answer? To nobody’s surprise, it’s the Kahanists, followers of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane.

Kahane, who founded the Kach party (outlawed in Israel and in the U.S.) and the Jewish Defense League (responsible for numerous terrorist attacks in the U.S., including attempted murder) was also an FBI informant.

The goals he set down in 1968 (he was murdered in 1990) continue on with his followers in the U.S., Israel and the settlements – expulsion of all Arabs from Israel and the establishment of a Khomeinist-style theocracy in Israel.

His followers continue his legacy, through means both legal and extra-legal; on the one hand, candidates like Baruch Marzel are fielded for Knesset elections while others terrorize Palestinians through shootings, bombings and beatings.

More recently, according to the Michigan Peace Team, Kahanists have poisoned Palestinian livestock in an effort to force Palestinian villagers to leave.

Kahanism as an ideology and as a movement is organized in the Kach and a group called Kahane Chai (Kahane Lives); but, in fact, there are many groups under different names, comprising most of the same people. A list of their names appears on PBS’ website as well as the website for the Office of Foreign Assets Control; these include New Kach Movement, Jewish Legion and the Sword Of David.

One group’s missing from both lists, however, and that’s an organization called Revava (Hebrew for 10,000.) Revava presumably distances itself from terrorism and isn’t mentioned on the either the PBS or the OFAC list as a Kahanist group. But it was they that organized the action in Jerusalem and they may have threatened to destroy the Al-Aqsa mosque.

After all, Palestinians flocked to defend the mosque as well as Muslim governments, ranging from American allies Jordan and Yemen to Axis of Evil all-star Iran, even though the American media either downplayed, or ignored why they would be upset. According to University of Michigan professor Juan Cole’s web log, Informed Comment, “no Western press article appears even to have rounded up the reaction in the Muslim world.”

While no concrete evidence exists, it’s quite possible that either Revava or its allies planned to dynamite the site.

On April 7, the Israeli daily Ha’aretz reported that police arrested 2 right-wingers for planting fake bombs in Jerusalem, while that same issue reported the Shin Bet as saying “extremist Jews are planning to carry out an attack” at the mosques. An editorial the following day confirmed the Shin Bet’s suspicions, “that Jews are planning to carry out a terror attack on the Temple Mount.”

But Ha’aretz, professor Cole and American media – both newspapers andFrontline – failed to examine Revava, its goals, ideology and what other groups they’re connected with.

Revava is a Kahanist group in everything but name. The overlaps are so strong, in fact, that it’s sheer incompetence that Frontline and OFAC somehow missed it.

Revava’s leader is David Ha’Ivri, whose article, “Secure Borders,” appeared in Ideas In Action, a publication from the Kahanist Ha’Meir Foundation, the purpose of which is “to encourage the implementation of the Jewish Idea as espoused by Rabbi Meir Kahane.”

In the article, Ha’Ivri wrote that Israel’s existence is an act of God, and that the Jewish return to Palestine is “to sanctify the name of G-D” and to fulfill the prophecies in the Tanach. Israel’s borders will be “safe” and “secure” after “we establish facts on the grounds with our army” and, presumably, with the help of God; in other words, religiously-inspired ethnic cleansing. Another link to Kahanism can also be seen in the web links section. Two such links includes the before mentioned Ha’Meir Foundation as well as Kahanebooks.com, “the official Ha’Meir L’David bookstore.”

Another Kahanist connection is the P.O. Box – the group’s American address is the same as Ha’Meir’s: P.O.B. 960121, 143 Doughty Blvd., Inwood, NY 11096. The Israeli addresses are different, but the phone number is the same for both: 03-906-0875.

Kahanism is dedicated to removing Palestinians from all of Palestine. One section of Ha’Meir’s site offers one way of doing this through a seemingly innocent activity called “Plant A Tree In Yesha.”

The reasons are two-fold: 1.) Beautify the land “after nearly 2,000 years of desolation,” and 2.) Planting trees “sends a message to our Arab neighbors and the world” that Israel is here to stay.

This way – “when an Arab sees Jews planting trees in Israel, it becomes clear to him that the land is not his and he has no further claim to it.”

Apparently, according to them, the plan is working. “In areas where Jews have planted trees, Arabs have simply stopped coming around.” And where can someone send checks to keep Arabs away? The same American address where you can contact Revava and Ha’Meir.

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