Dearest State Department . . .

Dear Honorable Secretary Clinton,

I would like to encourage the Department of State to continue to list Kach and Kahane Chai on the list of known terrorist organizations. Furthermore, I encourage you to deny visas to those who are or were associated with these organizations. These groups have been listed as terrorist organizations since 1994 for contending that Arabs should be removed from the biblical lands of Israel by force when necessary. They condone violence against non-Jews in Israel/Palestine as an appropriate means to establish a religiously homogeneous state and are, therefore, rightfully listed as terrorists and deserving of a fitting response.

Although their last major attack was in 1994,* they have continued to incite and encourage “low-level attacks” against Arabs, both Israeli and Palestinian. In 2005, an Israeli solider associated with Kahane Chai opened fire on a bus of Arab-Israelis, killing four,** and there have been reports of others associated with these groups condoning, if not planning, violence against the civilian population. Israel, itself, has banned these two groups and regards them as extremists, despite the groups’ attempts to become more legitimate and allowed into the government.

The recent electoral ascent of Avigdor Lieberman*** and his Yisrael Beiteinu Party in the Knesset may put the State Department in the awkward position of having to deny an elected official a visa. However, due to his pass membership in the Kahane Chai and our position on former terrorists and those associated with terrorist organizations, we must not capitulate. We cannot tolerate extremist groups and their members, regardless of which side of the line their sentiments fall. If we are to deny visas to men like the Swiss scholar Tariq Ramadan for his alleged connections to Hamas or to women like the Nicaraguan historian Dora María Téllez for alleged terrorist activities, then we must remain consistent and deny visas to those associated with Kach and Kahane Chai.

Sincerely,
Meredith Larson

Footnotes:

* This 1994 attack refers to the Cave of the Patriarchs massacre in which Baruch Goldstein opened fire on Muslims visiting a mosque, killing 29 of them. One rabbic commentator noted the irony of Israel's response to this terrorist action. It is common for Israel to punish the families of Arab terrorists by doing such things as bulldozing or sealing their homes. However...

When has Israel destroyed or sealed the home of a Jewish terrorist? After Baruch Goldstein went on his rampage of murder on Purim 1994, gunning down 29 Palestinians in the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, not only was his home not sealed, but the Palestinian population was placed under a 24-hour curfew for more than two weeks - all the while having to watch from their windows the fanatic group of settlers in Hebron dancing freely in the streets in joyous celebration of Goldstein’s heinous crime. While Israel understandably forbids a condolence tent being set up by the family of a terrorist killed in his perverted line of duty, to this day hundreds of Jews still gather undisturbed at the memorial site for Goldstein on the anniversary of his massacre of innocent Palestinians.

** I thought this too was worth more than a just hot link. I vaguely remember this. Back in 2005, an AWOL solider opened fire on a bus load of people, killing 4 wounding 12. As he was reloading, a mob grabbed him and killed him. Totally understandable, in my opinion. However, it would seem that not everyone thought his death was justified. I encourage you to read "Where the Killer is a Victim", an article in which the author lambastes another author for saying (and I quote because the word-choice amazes me in its one-sidedness):

"A mob of Palestinians tonight murdered a Jewish Israeli man in a police uniform after he opened fire on a bus and killed four Arabs, allegedly in protest of the Gaza withdrawal plan."

Oy vey!

**Avigdor Lieberman has inspired a good deal of concern within the Jewish diaspora and Israel itself. More left-leaning Israelis are starting a petition to keep him and his party out of high-level positions. While there may be many reasons for their disdain, I assume that most of the reasons stem from his demand for Loyalty Oaths from all Israelis (though one would guess primarily non-Jews) and his extreme and (at least) mildly racist rhetoric.