Professor Udi Lebel, head of the International Communications Center at Bar Ilan, exposes an amazing discovery in a book by Dr. Ronny Kampinsky, "Zevulun Hammer - a Political Biography." For the sake of the younger generation which doesn't remember Hammer, he was the leader of Mafdal, the National Religious Party which was at the peak of success and influence in his time.
He writes, "Towards the end of his tenure as Secretary General of the Mafdal, Hammer had reservations regarding the polarization of religious Zionism. The entry of Meir Kahane to the Knesset as head of the Kach party was, in his eyes, an educational failure. He led the amendment of the law on racism in April 1986, saying, `It is possibly preferable for the religious parties to raise the banner of this law. We also need to do a rethinking of our own, at least in the religious Zionist camp which is duty-bound to lead the battle for the adjustment of the Israeli society in the spirit of the Torah! We have been offered the opportunity to present to the Knesset parties a text which will add a vital contribution in the fight against Kahanism and its ilk. Whoever really seeks the benefit of this opportunity should unhesitatingly support it.' "
In other words: the leader of the national religious camp was the very one who initiated the de-legitimization of the extremist Kach party and tried to prevent it from participating in the Knesset elections and disqualifying the head of this movement, Meir Kahane, from serving.
In those days the knitted kipa-wearers understood that there was no place for such fanaticism, which maintains that all the problems of the Jewish people can be solved through might, as that party's emblem projected: a Magen David with a clenched fist in its center.
It is sad and embarrassing to hear that the extreme margin of the chareidi public today regards this approach as desirable and considers voting for a man (Ben Gvir) who for many years declared himself as loyal to the teachings of his master, the head of Kach who was murdered, even though today, from political reasons, he is considered to have mellowed.
