Netanyahu Orchestrates Merger To Bring Extremists Into Knesset

[Scurrilous]

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"The Israeli right-wing party Jewish Home merged on Wednesday with a small extremist party led by followers of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane, all but guaranteeing Knesset seats for the extremists.

Kahane’s party was banned from running in Israeli elections in 1988 for racism, then banned entirely in 1994 under anti-terrorism laws. Two Kahanist groups, Kahane Chai and Kach, are currently designated as foreign terrorist organizations by the U.S. Department of State.

According to Haaretz, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised top positions in the next government to Jewish Home leaders if they merged with the small extremist party Otzma Yehudit, or “Jewish Power,” which is led by three prominent Kahanists."

Read more: https://forward.com/fast-forward/419673/netanyahu-orchestrates-kahanist-merger/



Netanyahu courts 'frightening' extreme right party ahead of elections

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"In 1988, extremist Rabbi Meir Kahane and his political party were banned from Israel's parliament for being racist and undemocratic. Now his followers are making a comeback, courted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he seeks a fifth term as the country's leader.

On Tuesday night, Netanyahu tweeted directly at two right-wing parties and the extreme right Jewish Strength party.

"The head of the Jewish Home, the National Union, and Jewish Strength -- if you don't unite, you won't pass the electoral threshold, the right-wing bloc will lose and Gantz will form a left-wing government with the support of the Arab parties," he wrote.

"Right-wing voters expect from you to show responsibility and to unite. Do not disappoint them and do not endanger the land of Israel," he added.

The extreme right Jewish Strength party, called Otzma Yehudit in Hebrew, is made up of followers of extremist Rabbi Meir Kahane, whose anti-Arab Kach party was banned four years after it entered the Knesset in 1984. Kahane's speeches were boycotted by every other party. In 1994, it was banned outright in Israel under anti-terror laws. Three years later, it was designated a terror organization in the United States."

https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/20/middleeast/benjamin-netanyahu-election-jewish-strength-party-intl/index.html