Militant Pro-Israeli Group Loses Ruling
A Los Angeles Superior Court judge on Thursday refused to force the Jewish Federation Council of Greater Los Angeles to let a militant pro-Israeli group participate in two council-sponsored festivals.
Kach International, a San Fernando Valley nonprofit group with ties to militant Israeli nationalist Rabbi Meir Kahane, sued the council on grounds that rejecting its application for festival booths violated Kach’s right to freedom of speech and religion.
But Judge Miriam Vogel said the federation had the right to exclude whomever it wished from Exodus ‘89, to be held Sunday on the campus of Pierce College, and the Los Angeles Jewish Festival, scheduled June 4 in Rancho Park.
“I do not believe that when an umbrella group has a festival for one day that it is required . . . under any amendment to the Constitution to make space available for any group with which it disagrees,” Vogel said.
In court papers, council attorney David Carson called Kach “a racist organization that endorses violence and programs and practices repugnant to the JFC.”
Kach lawyer Barry Fisher contended that other festival participants have conflicting views and that the events are “a walk-through Yellow Pages” for the Jewish community.
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