MK Glick to speak at Kahane memorial

Kahane was shot to death in New York in 1990 by an Egyptian-born terrorist.

NOVEMBER 13, 2016 21:40

Updated: NOVEMBER 14, 2016 00:15

The late rabbi Meir Kahane, pictured here on a poster. (photo credit: REUTERS) — The late rabbi Meir Kahane, pictured here on a poster.

(photo credit: REUTERS)

Likud MK Yehudah Glick will be the featured speaker next Sunday via satellite at events in the United States and Canada marking the anniversary of the murder of Rabbi Meir Kahane, the outlawed former MK.

Kahane was shot to death in New York in 1990 by an Egyptian-born terrorist.

After Kahane was elected to the Knesset in 1984, he was prevented from running again because his Kach Party was banned for being racist. The party favored transferring the Arab population from the Land of Israel, revoking Israeli citizenship from non-Jews and banning Jewish-gentile marriages and sexual relations.

“Rabbi Kahane was a person who had many opinions I do not agree with but did many things for the Jewish people, including his work to free Soviet Jewry,” Glick told The Jerusalem Post. “The fact that I am speaking in his memory doesn’t mean I agree with him. But he was a member of Knesset, had many followers, was killed by an Arab terrorist, and it’s important to respect people with whom you don’t agree.”

Glick said he is against boycotting anyone.

When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition decided to boycott speeches by the Joint List two weeks ago, Glick decided to attend a speech by Joint List MK Taleb Abu- Arar.

Two years ago, Glick was honored for his work promoting the Temple Mount at a dinner of the Jewish Idea Yeshiva Kahane founded. As a result of his Temple Mount activism, Glick was shot and critically wounded by a terrorist in October 2014 but recovered from his wounds.

Until Yesh Atid’s Dov Lipman was elected in 2013, there had been no American-born MK since Kahane. There are currently two American- born MKs: Glick and Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Michael Oren (Kulanu).

Meretz leader Zehava Gal-On told the Post that she was shocked to learn Glick would be speaking at the Kahane memorials.

“By speaking at the events, he is giving legitimacy as an MK to Kahanism, fascism and racism,” Gal-On said.