Sunday, February 14, 2010

Kahana's JDL reorganizing to Protect Israeli speakers abroad

(Efrat Porsher, Israel Hayom).Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon and Israel’s US Ambassador Michael Oren may not like the new initiative, but in the wake of recent incidents, they and other representatives of Israel worldwide are in for some unexpected help from extreme-right activists.

In recent days, prominent right-wing activists conversed with activists of the Jewish Defense League abroad, as well as with other right-wing activists and students who attend universities in the USA and Europe, who expressed an interest in the idea of reviving the League. The Jewish Defense League was founded by Rabbi Meir Kahana in the late 1960s, and it was active for some two decades before it faded away.

The idea to revive the League was born after pro-Palestinian students interrupted lectures by Ayalon and Oren in US and British universities. The League will work in two directions. First, organization activists will show up at events that Israeli diplomats are expected to address and try to prevent students from interrupting their lectures. Second, they will prevent diplomats from enemy countries or from countries that are hostile toward Israel from speaking at university venues. “Those who exploded events attended by Israeli representatives will live to regret it,” said right-wing activist Itamar Ben-Gvir.