Kahane was right

For those of you who unfamiliar with Rabbi Meir Kahane’s message and charisma, I recommend that you watch this video where he spoke to the National Press Club. His speech is equally relevant today. As he says you may not like to hear his message or find what he suggests too painful to accept but that doesn’t make it any the less true. While you are at it you can watch videos of his other talks.

Rabbi Meir Kahane, who also has a Master of Law degree, gave a lecture to Yesheva U in 1989 entitled Yoke of Heaven. In it he sets out the orthodox position on Israel and Judaism and acknowledges differences of opinion within that community. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Jewish principles and Talmudic thinking, you will find this lecture of supreme. value.

Jewish Virtual Library Kahane and his family moved to Israel in 1971, where he founded the militantly anti-Arab Kach party. The party’s platform called for the annexation of all conquered territories and the forcible removal of all Palestinians. Under the auspices of Kach, Kahane continued to lobby for his beliefs in violent ways, and was jailed on several occasions. He was the first Jew in Israel to ever be accused of sedition.

Kahane ran for Knesset and lost in 1976 and 1980, and was finally elected in 1984. His movement continued to grow until, prior to the 1988 Knesset elections, the Kach party was banned from running by a Labor-Likud coalition. The ban was based on an amendment added to Israel’s Basic Law that disqualified any candidate whose platform included “incitment to racism.” Two years later, Kahane was assassinated in New York City by an Egyptian murderer, who was acquitted of the crime on a technicality, but later convicted in relation to the World Trade Center bombing.