How Putin unintentionally proved Kahane's point

• Author: Richard Levy
• Date: 15 March 2021
• Published date: 15 March 2021

No person or community was immune from his biting commentary on their shortcomings and hypocrisies including right wing secular nationalists, the modern orthodox and the haredim. No Jewish leader that comes to mind had the ability to get under the skin of so many of the establishment Jewish leadership figures across the spectrum.

He was a man with many enemies and few allies because he was outspoken, had unconventional views and could not care less as to how he was perceived by the world. He was also the most misunderstood political thinker in modern times specifically in that he was believed to be a violent racist who hated Arabs. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Kahane's ideology was based on the belief that Israel, in its entirety, belonged to the Jews as per the Torah. This belief was not based on race theory or nationalism, but on simple religious belief. Eretz Yisrael is the land promised by G-d to the Jewish people. He also completely understood and sympathized with the fact that Palestinian Arabs believed that Israel, in its entirety, belonged to them. He saw this conflict as being irreconcilable due to the fact that it was not simply a real estate or monetary dispute where both sides could just meet somewhere down the middle.

For the Torah Jew or the devout Muslim to compromise on even an inch of land, would be to forsake the most intrinsic aspects of their identity including their religion and their national pride. In this regard, Jews and Arabs were equal. Asking either one of them to compromise on a land that they love and feel is exclusively theirs is like asking a parent to compromise and give away a child for the sake of peace with a neighbor. Kahane realized that it takes maturity to acknowledge that not every problem has a solution, and not every sacrifice is worthwhile.

Understanding the deep and intrinsic connection that both Palestinian and Israeli Arabs have with the land, he felt that Israel would not be able to maintain its sovereignty as a Jewish state in the long term, with a large and hostile minority population that is ideologically aligned with its enemies. No one wants to be a minority in a country that they feel has been robbed from them, regardless of how generous or prosperous the new owners are. Most significantly, in a time of crisis, a hostile minority will inevitably join forces with the enemy if they feel that they have a realistic chance of taking "their country" back. This is simple common sense. Even Pharaoh...