Rabbi Kahane making a comeback on social media

 

A decades-old argument over the views of right-wing politician and activist Rabbi Meir Kahane was reignited on social media over the past few days.

The uproar began after Lizzy Savetsky, a popular pro-Israel influencer and activist, published a clip in which the late rabbi explains that the Arabs would only respect Israel if it is tough with them. In the video, Kahane states: "I'm not the kind of Jew who walks around who walks around begging people to love him. You know when people love us? After every Holocaust."

With the video, which received nearly 8,800 likes and was shared over 4,000 times, Savetsky wrote: "Rabbi Meir Kahane, of blessed memory, was labeled as a violent extremist, but he was right. This is the truth right here. The only language the Arabs understand is force and fear. We are tired of Kaddish and tired of yahrtzeits. Get the hostages home and get all of the terrorists out of Gaza for good!!"

Savetsky later clarified that she does not agree with everything that Rabbi Kahane ever did and said and that "many of his followers have taken his message to the extreme, which I do not support." This being said, she noted that "on this specific point that force being the only language that terrorists understand, it's just the truth."

The post comes as many ideas similar to those that Rabbi Kahane proposed become mainstream, including the idea of relocating the residents of the Gaza Strip proposed by US President Donald Trump.

Savetsky's post was met with both support and opposition on the internet. Many influencers expressed disgust and fury over the very fact that she mentioned the controversial figure, whose movement is considered a terror organization in many questions, in a positive light, regardless of the video's content.

Many shared the post and expressed support for Savetsky.

Israeli Christian influencer Lily Dayton explained that the current "resurgence" of Kahanism "has nothing to do with Meir Kahane's controversial ideology; it reflects a seismic shift in Jewish opinion toward the Palestinians. People sharing Kahane memes have zero interest in "Kahanism," and the liberal critics know it.

According to her, "People talking about Kahane have simply concluded that he was correct in assessing that the Palestinians want to annihilate the Jewish people and that their presence in the land of Israel is incompatible with Jewish safety. In other words, 'transfer' has become an accepted part of mainstream Zionist discourse after 16 months of war with the Palestinians and their supporters abroad."

She explained: "This puts liberal Zionists in a particularly tough spot. They position themselves as the reasonable middle ground against the 'religious messianism' of the settlers, long using 'Kahanism' as a foil to boost their leftist bona fides. Now that their preferred two-state solution is utterly discredited, and with voices rising for decisive action against terrorism, liberal Zionists find themselves without a real ideology, still yammering about the day Palestinians finally want peace."

Dayton suggests that "instead of decrying those who shifted their views in the wake of the recent Hamas hostage parades, perhaps liberal Zionists should take a hard look at where their own thinking went off course. Maybe it's time they admit that the settlers were absolutely right in their security arguments - and that we'd be facing a dire security predicament had they not fragmented Palestinian society and increased Tel Aviv's strategic depth - at great personal cost."

She insists that "no, Kahane's ideology isn't making a comeback -nobody sharing Kahane knows the first thing about "Kahanism", and that isn't about to change. Millions of American Jews who rarely attend their Reform synagogue aren't suddenly embracing Orthodoxy with a mission to impose it on everyone."

Dayton concluded her post by noting: "What really infuriates me about this hysteria, though, is the underlying comparison to Palestinians. 'We would be no better than them,' you argue? Well, f*** you too because I resent any attempt to equate us with those who want to annihilate the Jewish people. After 16 months of being labeled genocidaire, I don't need a Zionist version of that accusation. So do me a favor and please chill."