<html>
<body>
<tt><br>
Israeli press expose Jewish 'terrorists'<br>
by Khaled Amayreh in the West Bank<br>
Sunday 05 September 2004 2:15 PM GMT <br><br>
<br>
Israeli media have exposed a paramilitary Jewish group that has been
terrorising Palestinian civilians in the West Bank with tacit approval
from the Israeli army.<br><br>
</b>State-run Israeli radio, Reshet Bet, announced on Sunday that members
of the group, known as the Hebrew Brigade" are armed with automatic
rifles and equipped with jeeps and vicious attack dogs.<br><br>
<br><br>
Quoting unidentified security sources, the radio said the group is made
up of dozens of erstwhile cadres of the Kach movement, the
"terrorist group" founded by Rabbi Meir Kahana and dedicated to
the destruction of the Palestinian community in Israel, the West Bank,
Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.<br><br>
<br><br>
Kahana, a one-time member of the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, called
for the "extirpation" or "extermination" of non-Jews
in Israel and the occupied territories, following the example of the
ancient Israelites who ethnically cleansed the Canaanites as narrated in
the Torah.<br><br>
<br><br>
Kahana also advocated that democracy and Judaism were completely
incompatible and that non-Jews could never attain equality in a truly
Jewish state.<br><br>
<br><br>
Kach has been declared a "terrorist group" by both Israel and
the United States. <br><br>
In 1995, a member of Kach named Egal Amir assassinated former Israeli
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin for signing the Oslo Accords with the
Palestine Liberation Organisation.<br><br>
<br>
Ideological affinity<br><br>
</b>However, since Ariel Sharon came to power in Israel in 2001, the
Israeli government, and especially the powerful military establishment,
has been dealing rather leniently with Kach and similar far right groups,
ostensibly because of the ideological affinity between Sharon's party
Likud and the far-right parties.<br><br>
<br><br>
A Hebrew newspaper, the Ma'ariv, published a report on the resurfacing
vigilante group last week.<br><br>
The Kach vigilantes, as they are commonly known, erect surprise
roadblocks and checkpoints on roads used by Palestinian motorists, using
attack dogs, the newspaper reported.<br><br>
<br><br>
Sometimes, the extremists reportedly serve as a "back-up force"
by "assisting" the army in "keeping law and order" by
harassing Palestinian civilians.<br><br>
<br>
Blackmail<br><br>
</b>Some members of the well-organised group have reportedly threatened
and blackmailed Israeli security officers living in their respective
settlements.<br><br>
<br><br>
The Israeli army has acknowledged, rather begrudgingly, the existence of
the group but denied that it was operating under its
supervision.<br><br>
<br><br>
However, army spokesperson Eitan Arusi confirmed that "those people
operate within the settlements and their main function is to prevent
Palestinians from infiltrating their respective
communities".<br><br>
<br><br>
Arusi told Aljazeera.net that the army was ultimately responsible for the
activities of the vigilantes.<br><br>
<br><br>
Arusi's statements, however, were contradicted by another army spokesman,
quoted earlier by Israeli radio, who sought to distance the army from the
group.<br><br>
<br><br>
Dangerous militia<br><br>
<br><br>
</b>A number of Knesset members have castigated the Israeli government
for allowing the extremists to function.<br><br>
<br><br>
"These are a bunch of killers and vile terrorists, I can't
understand why our government allows them to function freely in the
streets of the West Bank," said Ran Cohen, a member of the
newly-founded neo-leftist party, Yahad.<br><br>
<br><br>
Cohen, who described the group as a dangerous militia, called on the
Israeli justice system to force the government to outlaw the group and
end their activities.<br><br>
<br><br>
One Israeli legal expert, Moshe Hangbi, accused the Israeli government of
"indulging in a serious breach of the law".<br><br>
<br><br>
"This terrorist organisation [Kach] is supposed to be outside the
confines of the law since it was outlawed and declared a terrorist
organisation in 1994," he said.<br><br>
"The fact that it is allowed to function flies in the face of
Israeli authorities," he added.<br><br>
Attacks and massacres <br><br>
</b> <br><br>
Kach has a long record of attacking and harassing Palestinian civilians.
<br><br>
<br>
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the right-wing extremists placed bombs
in the cars of three Palestinian mayors, causing the legs of the former
mayor of Nablus, Bassam Shaka'a, to be amputated.<br><br>
<br><br>
In 1982, two armed men belonging to Kach attacked the campus of the
University of Hebron with machine guns and hand grenades, killing and
injuring dozens of students.<br><br>
<br><br>
Also in the early 1980s, Kach members sought to destroy the al-Aqsa
mosque in Jerusalem, using ground-to-ground missiles allegedly stolen
from Israeli army barracks.<br><br>
<br><br>
The bloodiest act against Palestinians by the movement took place in 1994
when Baruch Goldstein, an American immigrant, cold bloodedly murdered 29
unarmed worshippers while they were praying at the Ibrahimi mosque in
downtown Hebron.<br><br>
The worshippers were searched and had to pass through metal detectors
before entering the prayer area.<br><br>
<br><br>
Justification<br><br>
</b>The Kach leadership, along with the leaders of the settler movement
of Gush Emunim, then enthusiastically supported the massacre, evoking a
Talmudic edict that a thousand non-Jewish lives are not worth a Jew's
fingernail.<br><br>
<br><br>
Since the beginning of the intifada four years ago, extremists affiliated
with Kach and other right-wing groups, such as Kahana Hay (Kahana is
alive), have killed and injured hundreds of Palestinian
civilians.<br><br>
<br><br>
The same groups have also planned and carried out attacks on Arab schools
in East Jerusalem and the Hebron region.<br><br>
Aljazeera<br>
By Khaled Amayreh in the West Bank<br><br>
</b>You can find this article at:<br>
<a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/67C726C2-CD4A-40A3-B2AE-182E71838762.htm" eudora="autourl">http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/67C726C2-CD4A-40A3-B2AE-182E71838762.htm</a>
<br><br>
<font face="Courier, Courier" size=3 color="#FF0000">The Freedom Archives<br>
522 Valencia Street<br>
San Francisco, CA 94110<br>
(415) 863-9977<br>
</font><a href="http://www.freedomarchives.org/" eudora="autourl">www.freedomarchives.org</a></body>
</html>