Israel, Politics

Israel Cracks Down on Kahanists, Yeshivat HaKotel Pulls Out of "Judean Initiative" Conference

The Jerusalem Post reports,

Jerusalem police on Sunday shut down a city internet cafe where the illicit far-right Jewish Legion group allegedly carried out some of its activity, police said.
The cafe, located near the city’s central bus station, was raided and subsequently closed for 15 days by order of the chief of police.
Four people operating the shop were detained for questioning.
The police also carried out a search of a city apartment where the far-right activists allegedly live.
Police confiscated four computers and various documents during the late morning raids.

A similar raid was held on the group’s headquarters in Kfar Tapuach.
The incident must have raised some memories for Yekutiel Ben-Ya’acov, née Mike Guzofsky, owner of the café and the central figure of Israel’s Kahanist movement. In 2001, Guzofsky’s Brooklyn-based operation, the Hatikva Center, was raided by federal authorities and their computer equipment seized.
The Hatikva Center was largely a fundraising front for Kahane Chai and related groups such as The Jewish Legion, The Voice of Judea and Kfar Tapuach, a West Bank settlement known to be a Kahanist stronghold. Kahane Chai has been designated a foreign terrorist organization by The US State Department and The Council on Foreign Relations, and American citizens are prohibited from financing the group. Several members of this faction, including Gozofsky, were featured prominently in PBS’s Frontline documentary Israel’s Next War, as well as a 2004 profile in The New Yorker.
Guzofsky’s latest mission is to declare a Judean state in the occupied territories, granting hardline settlers autonomy from Israel. Called “The Judean Initiative,” a feature in today’s Jerusalem Post outlines the plan:

“Our proposition, called the Judean Initiative, is a rejection of the Geneva initiative,” said Ben-Ya’acov. “We want to be granted Jewish autonomy in all areas in Judea and Samaria populated by Jews.
“Instead of handing control over to Arab terrorists we propose something identical to the present situation in the Gaza Strip – autonomy without statehood – except we want it for Jews. We would be a vital buffer zone for the State of Israel.”
[…] “We are going to do everything in our power to stop the road map to Auschwitz,” Ben-Ya’acov said.

A conference discussing the initiative, featuring Dov Shurin, Ari Ben Yam and Moshe Feiglin (leader of the so-called “Likud rebels”), was scheduled to be held at Yeshivat HaKotel tomorrow, however the yeshiva backed out at the last minute.

Yeshivat Hakotel, which is headed by Rabbi Mordechai Elon, the popular and relatively moderate religious Zionist leader, tried to renege on its contract with the Judean Initiative to rent out its hall this Wednesday.
Yeshivat Hakotel’s backtracking was seen as an attempt to distance itself from the Judean Initiative.

Guzofsky responded today with an e-mail requesting financial assistance from his American supporters (ie., asking them to endanger themselves by contravening federal law*), with determination that the event will go according to plan:

THE KENES IS ON REGARDLESS..IF NOT IN YESHIVAT HAKOTEL THEN IN A NEARBY HALL – SO EVERYTHING IS UNDER CONTROL..JUST GET THERE AND TELL EVERYONE ABOUT THE KAHANE TRIBUTE AND THE JUDEAN CONFERENCE AT 4:00 PM ON 11 TEVET TOMORROW..IF IT IS NOT AT THE YESHIVA HAKOTEL ON MISGAV LADACH STREET ATOP THE STAIRS IN THE ROVA, overlooking the Kotel THEN THERE WILL BE USHERS AND SIGNS TO SHOW YOU THE NEW LOCATION.
[…] It is urgent that we show the authorities that we will not be broken and that there are good people out there who will help us implement the prophecy “Kasher Yanu oto ken yirbeh VKen Yiphrotz” – The more they oppress us the more we will grow and the more we will expand..circulate this email everywhere and anywhere..
[…] There is an alterantive to The Geneva Initiative and to Palestinian Terrorist Autonomy and it is the Judean Initiative and Jewish Autonomy…They will not silence us. The presence of thousands of people at our conference tomorrow and the receipt of thousands of checks to help sponsor these legal initiatives that are the only alternatives that can save Judea and Samaria and all of Israel is absolutely urgent..
[…] THE AUTHORITIES REALIZE THAT WE ARE THE ONLY ONES OFFERING THE REAL ALTERNATIVES THAT CAN SAVE ISRAEL..

*Under HR 2934, which may have slipped into law by now, an American who provides financial assistance to Kahane Chai may be liable for the death penalty if a known Kahanist commits an act of murder.
The ACLU illustrates:

Joshua attends a function at a local community center in which he views a graphic film about suicide bombings in Israel. The film praises unofficial “armed resistance” by Jewish militants to Islamic terrorist groups. At the function, Joshua gives money for the “Kahane Chai Relief Fund” for widows of Palestinian attacks. Joshua suspects the charity may be a front, but is angry enough after seeing the film that he does not care. Joshua does not know that Kahane Chai has been designated by the State Department as a foreign terrorist organization. Under this legislation, Joshua’s actions are not only a crime, but he could now be facing the death penalty.

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