Elections 2009 / Former Kachist: If Kahane heard Lieberman was his successor, he'd file suit for libel

Former members of the banned extremist movement Kach are voicing objections to Yisrael Beiteinu leader Avigdor Lieberman being called the successor to Kach leader Rabbi Meir Kahane.

"If they were to tell Rabbi Kahane that Lieberman were his successor, he would bring a huge libel suit against this defamation," said Baruch Marzel, a former associate of Kahane who now leads Hazit, a party in Kach's spirit. Lieberman's platform calls for a Palestinian state, and he goes even further than Meretz, Marzel added, because he is "willing to attach Umm al-Fahm to it and divide Jerusalem."

Lieberman, as far as Marzel is concerned, is "all talk."

"A day after the elections he will go back to business as usual," said Marzel. "Rabbi Kahane had practical plans for dealing with enemies. Kahane believed enemies must be expelled and the halakhic [Jewish law] status of 'sojourning stranger' be accorded to those who declare they accept the State of Israel as the state of the Jewish people."

Marzel said Lieberman's slogan of "no loyalty, no citizenship," is indeed similar, but it lacks substance because Lieberman supports "the establishment of a Palestinian state and connecting it to parts of Israel where Arabs live, in addition to the fact that Lieberman has brought to his list clear leftists like Danny Ayalon and Sofa Landver.

"Someone who has a clear doctrine, who really wants to deal with Israel's enemies and cares about the land of Israel, doesn't put people like that on his list."

"Rabbi Kahane came from a place of Torah and halakha. That is the basis," Marzel said. "[Lieberman] has been in Israel's leadership for decades. He could have promoted those opinions, implemented them, but he did nothing. This is not a person to believe in. He was director general of the Prime Minister's Office at the time of the Hebron accord - the agreement that brought a great disaster on Hebron. Now he's trying to present himself as the strong right and he might take the votes that the polls are so enthusiastic about, but after the elections he won't do anything with them, not for the land of Israel and not against the Arabs."