Knesset plenum
Knesset plenumOlivier Fitoussi/Flash90

Michael Ben Horin was a devoted follower of Rabbi Meir Kahana. Father of twelve children, he cultivates hadasim in the moshav of Nov, in the Golan Heights. A longtime activist in Gush Emunim and the Kach Movement, he has been arrested on numerous occasions: in the struggle to stop the withdrawal from Sinai, in rallies in support of Rabbi Kahana, and in demonstrations against the Oslo Accords.

After Dr. Baruch Goldstein killed 29 Arabs in the Cave of the Patriarchs in 1994 and wounded another 125, Ben Horin was incarcerated in military detention for half a year. Upon his release, he produced and published the book, “Baruch HaGever,” in tribute to the controversial physician from Kiryat Arba who was killed by the Arabs who survived the shooting spree.

During Rabbi Kahana’s years in the Knesset, Ben Horin served as the Kach Party’s general secretary. Ten years ago, Ben Horin designed and distributed 1000 medallions reading: “Kahana Tzadak” – “Kahana was Right” – one of which he wears on his jacket every Shabbat. I spoke with him about his memories of Rav Kahana whose yahrzteit was yesterday

Do you still believe that Rabbi Kahana was right?

Today, the healthy majority of our Nation sees with their own eyes how right he was. Look at the election mess we have to suffer because of the Arab parties. Without them, the political Right comprises nearly 60% of the voters in Israel. How absurd that parties which believe in the destruction of Israel are allowed expression in the Knesset all because we allow the Arab parties to participate in the Jewish State’s elections. HaRav Kahana warned that the Golden Calf of Democracy would backfire tragically on the Jews. How correct he was!

Why did you produce the medallion, “Kahana Tzadak!”?

When a person believes in the value of an idea, it is proper to publicize it, so that others can benefit as well. This is especially true when the idea, like the “Jewish Idea” and Rabbi Kahana’s teachings were endlessly hounded, as the verse states: “And G-d will stand up for the persecuted,” (Kohelet, 3:15). I made the “Kahana was Right!” medallion at my own expense. Within a week, all 1000 were gone.

What attracted you to Rabbi Kahana?

HaRav Meir Kahana was the only clear Jewish voice in the political arena. Everyone else stuttered, while HaRav Kahana spoke the truth without fear. He used to say: “I state openly the things you feel in your hearts.” That’s why opponents hated him, because he made them look shallow, both the leaders of the political right and those of the Left. They all fought against him with all of their strength, with the full support of the judicial system, the police, the army echelon, the Shabak, and the media, in order to derail his gaining popularity and the political strength of his party.

What issues most provoked their wrath against him?

HaRav Kahana raised a banner against what he termed the Bolshevistic rule of the courts; against the possibility of peace with the Arabs in Israel; and against the criminal past of the government in kidnapping Yemenite children.

Time and again, he underscored the disdain and lack of allegiance which the country’s Arabs felt toward Medinat Yisrael, warning that the Knesset’s cherished idol of democracy could lead Herzl’s dream into becoming an Arab state.

For him, promoting these truths was the true “Ahavat Yisrael.” Whenever people called him a racist, he would answer, “I don’t hate Arabs – I love Jews.” Never did you hear HaRav Kahana or the Kach Party say: “Death to Arabs!” Rather, the chant was, “Arabs Must Go!” For him, the “Right of Return” meant, Jews return to Zion, and Arabs to Arab states.

In your opinion, what made Rabbi Kahana such a passionate Zionist?

No doubt, he had the soul of some great Jewish hero from Biblical days. On a more down-to-earth level, his great grandfather made Aliyah from Europe at the behest of the Admor of Sanz. Because the time was rampant with famine, earthquakes, and plagues, the family moved to America where Rav Kahana was born. Other family members were murdered in the Holocaust.

HaRav Kahana received a passionate Zionist education and joined the Betar Movement to give his love of Israel expression. Many Jews in his era had similar backgrounds, but not everyone became a passionate Jewish leader. HaRav Kahana had a special soul. He was a prophet in our time.

In retrospect, maybe he could have accomplished more if he had joined the Likud Party from the beginning of his political career in Israel?

That would be like asking a lion to shave his mane and join a group of kittens. When HaRav Kahana came on Aliyah, he was famous for having established the Jewish Defense League in America and for initiating the struggle to free Soviet Jews. The Herut-Likud Party immediately invited him to join their faction. He knew they wanted to use his popularity for themselves, while tying his hands and gagging his mouth. So he turned them down and formed his own party, “Kach.”

Wouldn’t you knew? Who was the future leader of the campaign to ban him from the Knesset? The Likud Prime Minister, the famous underground warrior of the Lechi in the days where Jews weren’t afraid to be Jews. With the help of other old underground fighters, like Geula Cohen of the Techiya Party, along with the champions of Hellenism on the Left, and the “legal” backing of Meir Shamgar’s supreme court of tyranny, HaRav Kahana was thrown out of the Knesset while the Arabs were allowed to remain, up until today, even though they support terrorism against Jews and long for the end of the Jewish State.

How did you meet Rabbi Kahana?

When Menachem Begin became Prime Minister, he turned his back on the people who voted for him and decided to give away all of the Sinai to Egypt. When Sadat was invited to Jerusalem, I understood that a huge betrayal was on the way. In WW2, Sadat worked with the Nazis. The British imprisoned him for that in Cairo. In his meeting with Begin, he wore a necktie with a symbol of swastika woven into the design.

As stipulated in the 1979 treaty, Israel was required, within three years, to withdraw all of its 2,500 civilians and thousands of military personnel from the Sinai, which it had captured in the 1967 Six Day War. HaRav Yisrael Ariel and his brother, HaRav Yaacov, were the heads of the mixed, religious and secular community in Yamit in the Sinai. On the day that the Knesset voted in favor of the peace deal with Egypt, I accepted their invitation to illegally establish a dati settlement in northern Sinai, what later turned into Atzmona.

In 1980, HaRav Yisraeli informed me that in order to stop the withdrawal from the Sinai, he was joining HaRav Kahana in his first (unsuccessful) bid for the Knesset. He assigned me the fifth spot on the ticket. In the autumn of 1981, when he asked me to form another yishuv in the Sinai, in order to strengthen the Jewish presence in the area, I found myself working alongside Baruch Marzel, a close follower of HaRav Kahana.

I first met HaRav Kahana outside the “bunker” in Yamit, where a group of ardent Kahanists announced that they were prepared to resist the pending army evacuation, even if it met sacrificing their lives. My assignment as a trained engineer was to fortify the bunker in the best possible manner. Supplied with explosives, the group of idealists threatened to blow themselves up if the IDF attempted to remove them by force.

Prior to the showdown, HaRav Kahana persuaded them to abandon their highly-publicized suicide plan.

After the withdrawal from Sinai, you were appointed to the secretariat of the Kach party. How was Rabbi Kahana received in the Knesset?

Immediately, a campaign of hatred and incitement was waged against him. The President of the country, Haim Herzog, refused to meet with him. The media officially boycotted him. They didn’t afford him a chance to explain his actions and beliefs. When he spoke before the Knesset, in speeches filled with inspiration and Jewish pride and vision, Knesset members from all parties would flee from the auditorium. In response, he would begin his remarks, “To the honorable Head of the Knesset and to the empty assembly hall….”

Did he express frustration, disappointment, or anger in response to the way he was treated?

Most often, he laughed it off. He was like a giant pestered by flies. He felt frustration and anger because of the weak-hearted spirit of the Nation’s leaders, and for the honor of the Torah which his perspectives represented, but he didn’t react to the abuse on a personal level.

To the chagrin of the elitists, their strategy boomeranged. The healthy Jewish populace sensed that a true Jewish leader had arisen. Thousands attended Kach rallies all over the country whenever HaRav Kahana appeared. Before the next election, a reliable survey had him winning 13 seats. Trembling with fear, in the name of democracy, the establishment banned Kach from the Knesset.

How close is the “Otzma Yehudit” Party to the policies and “Jewish Idea” of Rabbi Kahana?

They try their best to continue the fight against the hypocrisy of Israeli democracy and the anti-democratic Supreme Court, but there is only one Rav Kahana.

Tzvi Fishman was awarded the Israel Ministry of Education Prize for Jewish Culture and Creativity. Before making Aliyah to Israel in 1984, he was a successful Hollywood screenwriter. He has co-authored 4 books with Rabbi David Samson, based on the teachings of Rabbis A. Y. Kook and T. Y. Kook. His other books include: "The Kuzari For Young Readers" and "Tuvia in the Promised Land". His books are available on Amazon. Recently, he directed the movie, "Stories of Rebbe Nachman."