Murder of Controversial Rabbi Kahane

A great Jewish leader was murdered. Meir Kahane was a man who was not afraid of the truth, unlike most of our Jewish leaders today. My recollections of him go back to childhood and teen-age years in the Soviet Union. We, the Soviet Jews, persecuted, hounded and discriminated against, had heard scant and hushed-up stories about a brave rabbi, who stood up and fought for our liberation, who had no fear of the KGB, who did not play “diplomatic” games. The Soviets hated and feared him.

Kahane was a realist, never a coward, and he was completely devoid of the ghetto mentality, a prevalent trait of American Jewish leaders. Had there been a leader like him during World War II among the American Jews, he would, I am certain, speak up against the Holocaust, and actually do something to stop the Nazis, and the American government’s unwillingness to help Jewish refugees.

Such perceptive leaders as Kahane was are but a handful, and once again American Jewry has many cowardly leaders. These “leaders” would rather embrace PLO leader Yasser Arafat and his terrorists than to face the simple and clear facts of life in the Middle East: The Arabs hate all non-Arab peoples there, be they the Jews, the Kurds, the Assyrians, the Druzes or the Copts. The Arabs prefer to kill and gas and bomb those of other faiths and blood. The Arabs worship leaders like Saddam Hussein, and sooner or later will stab their new American allies in the back. Today, Hussein; tomorrow, Syrian President Hafez Assad, no matter, as long as there is some strong man who will unite them and lead them to destroy Israel, to rob, pillage and loot. This is easier than building a democracy, than trying to coexist with the non-Arabs. To survive in the Middle East, Israel must be strong and devoid of illusions.

Meir Kahane knew the realities of the Middle East, and Jews all over the world began listening to his warnings in greater and greater numbers. That is why the Arabs murdered him. That is why some cowards, who claim to be American Jewish leaders, covertly and overtly rejoice. But for many others his death was another tragedy in the continuous war waged against the Jewish people and Israel.

PAUL STONEHILL, Los Angeles