Memorial for Rabbi Meir Kahane Used to Be a Fringe Event. Today It's Mainstream - Israel News - Haaretz.com
Benzi Gopstein, a close adviser to National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, has a clever little racist riddle he likes to share at every opportunity. "Why is Ishmael described as pere adam (a "savage person")? In Hebrew, it should really be adam pere, so why is the phrase turned around?" he asks the audience, and then immediately supplies the answer: "Because Ishmael is first of all a savage – pere – who after that looks a little like a person – adam."
On Tuesday, at the annual memorial event for Meir Kahane, he repeated this same material. The audience had apparently heard the joke before, because only a small number laughed. This was just one gem from an evening bursting with crude and unapologetic racism and hatred for the press, the left and liberals, with calls for war crimes and involuntary transfer.
But unlike in the past, this was not a gathering of a small fringe movement, but of people who feel they are really on the brink of an opportunity to realize Rabbi Kahane's dreams. "We were privileged to be born in these generiatons, when great things are happening, with the Messiah and the Redemption approaching," promised Baruch Marzel, a veteran leader of the Kahanist movement, who lately has positioned himself to the right even of Ben-Gvir and Gopstein.
Several hundred supporters of the Kahanist movement gathered in an ultra-Orthodox event hall in Jerusalem's Romema neighborhood. There were haredim, hilltop youth and a fair number of armed soldiers present. A small women's section, set up on the other side of a sanctuary partition, remained pretty empty. This movement is mostly male. Some participants wore shirts reading "Jews: Revenge" or "Transfer Now."
Booths were selling things like a bracelet that said "Blessed is He for not making me a goy," a patch with the Kahanist fist symbol, books by Kahane, posters of Kahane, and a book in praise of mass murderer Baruch Goldstein. There was lively conversation in the hallway about an October 7 conspiracy theory – "They (the traitors from within) didn't mean for 6,000 terrorists to come in. They thought it would just be a small invasion and that Yamam (the police counter-terrorism unit) would quickly take care of it, but things got out of control," one person told the others.
Stickers at the memorial reading "Kahane was right" on Tuesday.Credit: Olivier Fitoussi
Gopstein, whom as Haaretz reported last week, regularly advises Ben-Gvir on security and political matters (contrary to the minister's denials), was the emcee and guiding force behind the annual conference. He kicked off the evening with a confession: "I'm going to let you in on a secret that hasn't been publicized yet. Last week, I was summoned for questioning to Lahav 433, to the special department for computer crimes." He said he was questioned regarding crimes of incitement for things he posted on Telegram.
"They received an order from the chief framer, Gali," he noted, referring to Attorney General Baharav-Miara. "That nasty woman who thinks she runs the country. She decides who will be prime minister, who will be the national security minister, who the judges will be and what the rulings will be," Gopstein ranted. "She doesn't like it that the national security minister changed the status quo on the Temple Mount and that Jews are bowing down there."
The minister's close adviser shared another bit of his worldview, regarding the sanctions many countries, including the United States, England, France and Australia, have imposed on him. "I thought – Why is this happening to us? What do we need these sanctions for?" he asked rhetorically. His answer: They are meant to show the Jews that they can get along fine without the goyim.
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"We're constantly telling Israel – don't trust the goyim, don't put your trust in this weaponry, because in the end, God is the one who will help," he declared. "My wife is upset there's no credit card, I'm bothered that they shut down my Gmail. They shut down whatever they could, but with God's help, we'll continue until victory."
When Moshe Feiglin announced he'd run in the next election and explained his plan for "voluntary emigration," Gopstein scolded him. "Encouraging emigration is good for politics, but it shold be out, out with all of them," he said, using a sweeping gesture with his arm to illustrate his point.
Benzi Gopstein at the memorial event in Jerusalem on Tuesday.Credit: Olivier Fitoussi
Rabbi Dov Lior, the movement's spiritual leader, also has a regular shtick. He deliberately mispronounces the term "Palestinians" and says they are "untrustworthy savages." He also distorts the word for "democracy" and then explains the differences between Jews and non-Jews: "A Jew eats and a goy eats, but a goy lives to eat and a Jew eats to live."
Lior also has a riff on why Jews needn't participate in the Olympics: "For a goy, fun and games is the whole purpose of life. How can Israel send delegations to play in the Olympics? All kinds of games with people running for a ball and then when they get to it, they kick it. I don't get it. He runs after it just to kick it. What is this?" he said, evoking plenty of laughter from the audience.
Afterwards, Ariel Zilber's song, "Kahane was Right," was projected on a big screen. The groove is similar to that of his classic song "Rutzi Shmulik," but the lyrics are much darker: "He saw what was coming; he shouted, he yelled, he warned/ In this land there is only room for the Jewish people. Kahane was right, Kahane was right."
Then excerpts from interviews with Kahane himself were shown, from a 1984 episode of "60 Minutes," after he was elected to the Knesset. "The Arabs are a cancer and there is no coexistence with cancer," Kahane declared there. Throughout the evening, Kahane was praised again and again as a "prophet" who foresaw the war and the peril Jews face. Toward the end of that interview, there was another prophecy: "Their (the leftists') nightmare is that Kahane will be prime minister."
"You don't really believe that you'll become prime minister," interviewer Mike Wallace said.
"I hope so, to save the Jews from the Arabs, and from themselves," Kahane replied with a faint smile.