NAZARETH, ISRAEL // A plan by right-wing legislators in Israel to
commemorate the anniversary this month of the death of Meir Kahane, whose banned
anti-Arab movement is classified as a terrorist organisation, risks further
damaging the prospects for talks between Israel and the Palestinians, US
officials have warned.
A move to stage the commemoration in Israel’s parliament, the
Knesset, is being led by Michael Ben-Ari, who was elected this year and is the
first self-declared former member of Kahane’s party, Kach, to become a
legislator since the movement was banned 15 years ago.
The US Embassy, in Tel Aviv, has sent a series of e-mails to
Reuven Rivlin, the parliamentary speaker, asking that he intervene to block the
event.
According to US officials, pressure is being exerted on behalf of
George Mitchell, the US president Barack Obama’s envoy to the region, who is
concerned that it will add to his troubles as Israeli and Palestinian leaders
clash over a possible move by the Palestinians to issue a unilateral declaration
of statehood.
Some Israeli legislators have warned that Mr Ben-Ari and his
supporters are gaining a stronger foothold in parliament, in an indication of
the country’s increasing lurch rightwards.
“Ben-Ari and the advisers he has brought with him are unabashed
representatives for Kach and Kahane’s ideas,” said Ahmed Tibi, an Arab
legislator and the deputy speaker. “What we have is in effect a terrorist cell
in the parliament.”
Kahane, a US rabbi who emigrated to Israel
in the early 1970s, advocated the expulsion of all Arabs from “Greater Israel”,
an area that the far right believes encompasses not only Israel but also the
occupied Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and parts of
neighbouring Arab states.
Kahane was elected to parliament in 1984
but was barred from standing again four years later. He was assassinated by an
Egyptian-American in New York in November 1990.
In 1994 Kach was declared a terrorist organisation by Israel and
the United States after Baruch Goldstein, a supporter, went on an armed rampage
through the Ibrahimi mosque in the Palestinian city of Hebron, killing 29
worshippers and injuring 150.
Despite the ban, Kach is still active in many West Bank
settlements, especially in and around Hebron, where shrines to Kahane and
Goldstein regularly attract large numbers of devotees.
Mr Ben-Ari, one of four members of the National Union elected to
the 120-seat parliament, has included as his parliamentary advisers two former
Kach activists, Baruch Marzel and Itimar Ben Gvir, who are leaders of the
far-right Jewish National Front. Mr Ben-Ari has never disavowed his support for
Kahane, telling the Jerusalem Post newspaper this month that Kahane “dedicated
his whole life to Israel … He was a great man and a great leader.”
This month Mr Ben-Ari was the voice on an advertisement on the
Israeli radio station Reshet Bet to promote a public memorial service for Kahane
held by his family. It was also reported that for the first time posters had
been placed in many central areas of Jerusalem publicising the event and
declaring “We all know now – Meir Kahane was right”.
The United States has expressed more concern, however, at a
commemoration being planned in parliament.
Michael Perlstein, the second secretary at the US Embassy, is
reported to have e-mailed Mr Rivlin several times, asking whether the
commemoration was likely to be approved. According to e-mails leaked to the
Israeli media, he added: “This is something Senator Mitchell and his team are
following with some concern.”
An embassy spokesman reiterated those concerns last week: “To
stir up controversy at the same time that we are trying to get people back to
the [negotiating] table, is not productive of that effort. It is only natural
that Senator Mitchell would be paying attention to that – and the US government
as well.”
Mr Rivlin has reassured the United States that he has refused Mr
Ben-Ari permission to stage a commemoration but has also admitted that it would
be difficult for him to stop a “stunt” by Kahane supporters in the chamber.
“We are talking about a provocation,” Mr Rivlin told the Haaretz
newspaper. “The man [Kahane] and his outlawed movement cannot be separated. This
is an attempt to bring the Kach movement into the Knesset through the back
door.”
Last week, Mr Ben-Ari appealed against the speaker’s decision to
the House Committee, which rules on issues of parliamentary procedure. Mr Rivlin
has said he will abide by the committee’s decision.
Its chairman, Yariv Levine of the ruling Likud Party, said he was
not happy with Mr Rivlin’s refusal and is reported to be working with the
speaker and Mr Ben-Ari to find a solution.
Mr Ben-Ari responded angrily to the US concern: “I was elected to
the Knesset by citizens of the independent state of Israel. The flagrant
involvement of Mitchell has crossed a red line and it testifies to the bowed
head of the Knesset speaker that is turning the Knesset into a dish rag.”
Mr Ben-Ari is probably not the only former member of Kach in
parliament. Avigdor Lieberman, the foreign minister and leader of the far-right
Yisrael Beitenu party, the third largest in parliament, is believed to have
joined Kach when he first arrived in Israel in the 1970s. His membership was
revealed in February by Yossi Dayan, the movement’s former secretary general.
Last week Mr Ben-Ari had to cancel a trip to the United States,
his first overseas visit, after he was refused a US visa. He had intended to
speak to American Jewish groups to encourage emigration to Israel.
To date, the only authorised parliamentary commemorations are for
Yitzhak Rabin, the prime minister assassinated by a right-wing Jew in 1995, and
for Rehavam Zeevi, a former general and leader of a far-right anti-Arab party,
who was assassinated by Palestinian gunmen in 2001.
Share this Article
Here is your
chance to help this article to be read by thousands more people by sharing it on your favourite social networking site. You can also email the
article from here.
