Ben-Gvir, top Otzma Yehudit members to attend Kahane memorial - report

Meir Kahane's party Kach was barred from running for Knesset and was designated as a terrorist organization.

Otzma Yehudit leader Itamar Ben-Gvir (photo credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)
Otzma Yehudit leader Itamar Ben-Gvir
(photo credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)

Otzma Yehudit leader Itamar Ben-Gvir and other seniors of the party will attend the annual memorial for former MK Meir Kahane on Thursday, according to an unconfirmed Kipa report. 

Itamar Ben-Gvir and Otzma Yehudit have not yet confirmed nor denied the report.

The memorial is set to take place in Jerusalem on Thursday with the slogan "today, everyone knows that Kahana was right".

In last year's memorial, Ben-Gvir said that "there is a difference between me and Kahane, and between Otzma Yehudit to Kach. But the biggest compliment I get is that we took the love of Israel, the caring for the people of Rabbi Kahane, who gave his life to these people, and brought it to the Knesset." 

"The biggest compliment I get is that we took the love of Israel, the caring for the people of Rav Kahane, who gave his life to this people, and brought it to the Knesset."

Itamar Ben-Gvir

Ben-Gvir attended the memorial regularly in the past, but now as an apparent coalition member, his attendance will set a precedent.

 Head of the Otzma Yehudit party Itamar Ben Gvir speaks to supporters as the results of the exit polls for the Israeli elections are announced, at the party's campaign headquarters, November 1, 2022. (credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)
Head of the Otzma Yehudit party Itamar Ben Gvir speaks to supporters as the results of the exit polls for the Israeli elections are announced, at the party's campaign headquarters, November 1, 2022. (credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)

Who was Meir Kahane?

In 1988 Kahane's party Kach was barred from participating in the elections for the Knesset as the result of the extremist views the party promoted against Arabs. 

In 1994, following the Cave of the Patriarchs massacre, conducted by Kach activist and candidate Baruch Goldstein, Israel outlawed Kach and categorized it as a terrorist organization. The United States, and other democracies around the world, also outlawed the movement and categorized it as a terrorist organization.