Yehuda HaKohen (Hebrew: יהודה הכהן, also Yehuda Weisbrod, born 1979) is an Israeli activist and internet radio personality on Israel National Radio (channel seven). He is director of the Zionist Freedom Alliance and has become a vocal critic of both government corruption and globalization in the Middle East. HaKohen lives with his family in eastern Jerusalem and like most Israeli settlers, advocates that all territory between the Mediterranean Sea and Jordan River rightfully belongs to the Jewish people. As a leader in the ZFA, HaKohen is active in social causes within Israeli society typically associated with both right-wing and left-wing politics.[citation needed] Yehuda HaKohen immigrated to Israel from New York in 2001 and studied in Jerusalem’s Machon Meir institute. During this time, HaKohen founded Am Segula and organized weekend programs for American students in Israel to visit Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip and theWest Bank.[1] This was significant at the time because it was uncommon for American Jews during the early years of the Oslo War to travel to these areas which many viewed as dangerous. Am Segula also held weekly classes in central Jerusalem where veteran activistElie Yossef taught Zionist history. Yossef’s teachings had a profound effect on many Am Segula leaders and HaKohen later began teaching the history course himself at Machon Meir. Under Yossef’s guidance, Am Segula launched a series of non-violent protests and hunger strikes in order to pressure the Israeli government to demand of the United States freedom for Jonathan Pollard.[2] Yossef traveled to many high schools lecturing about the Pollard affair until the matter became a major political issue within Israeli society. In early 2003, Am Segula merged into Magshimey Herut, a Zionist organization HaKohen had been part of in New York, and teamed up with the K’Cholmim group to take control of a hilltop near Kochav HaShachar in Samaria. HaKohen lived on the hilltop until he drafted into the Israel Defense Forces in June 2003. HaKohen served as an infantry soldier in the Netzah Yehuda Battalion, a special combat unit designed for highly religious soldiers often tasked with capturing terrorists wanted by Israel’s Shin Bet security services. Upon finishing his military service, HaKohen was made coordinator for all Magshimey Herut activities in English speaking countries.[3] During the months leading up to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s Gaza Disengagement, there was a fear among many Israelis that the divisive government policy was pushing Israeli society towards a civil war. Yehuda HaKohen traveled the country speaking to left-wing youth movements in an attempt to encourage dialogue and build mutual understanding.[4] Following the violent confrontation at Amona between the Israeli police and settler teenagers in early 2006, HaKohen and Elie Yossef went on a three week hunger strike vigil protesting violence between Jews. The activists displayed banners and handed out flyers calling on both the Israeli government and settler leadership to seek ways to avoid future bloodshed. As this took place just before national elections, the hunger strike drew criticism from some settlers who had felt victimized by the government and sought to use the tragedy as a means to hurt the ruling Kadima party in the polls. The government had no official response to the vigil.[5] In 2006, HaKohen teamed up with Yavneh Olami director Ze’ev Orenstein to co-host an internet based radio program called Jewish Campus Radio on Israel National Radio (channel seven). The program dealt with all issues facing Jewish college students in the West but focused primarily on Zionist activism on college campuses. In the summer of 2007, INR asked HaKohen to host their new program, The Struggle, which deals with Zionist history and global issues that concern the State of Israel.[6] HaKohen surprised many colleagues in late 2007 when he endorsed United States Congressman Ron Paul for the Republican presidential nomination. Although many Jews viewed Paul as an anti-Israel candidate based on his longtime opposition to American foreign aid to Israel (or any other state) and although HaKohen had previously opposed Jews voting in American elections with Israel's interests at heart, he asserted that Israel must become an independent country and that Ron Paul's policies would likely lead to an independent Israel.[7] As they began to establish student groups and organize activities on college campuses in North America, Magshimey Herut activists established the Zionist Freedom Alliance. In addition to advocating the Jewish right to Greater Israel, the ZFA became active on many human rights and social justice issues normally associated with left-wing politics. In November 2007, the Jewish Telegraphic Agencyreported the ZFA to be promoting Israeli nationalism on twenty American college campuses and described the group as socially liberal with a hard-right stance on Israeli border issues.[7] In April 2008, HaKohen led a week long program called Israel Liberation Week at Hofstra University.[8] During this week of events, ZFA reached beyond the Jewish community and targeted a wider student public through films, art exhibits and concerts that focused on Jewish rights to the Land of Israel, the Jewish revolt against British rule and the need for the State of Israel to become an independent country.[9] While mainstream Jewish leaders and pro-Israel organizations on American campuses try to present the State of Israel as a democratic Western country with numerous security challenges, HaKohen and the ZFA speak of Israel as a Middle Eastern nation with a legitimate moral and historic right to its entire country. In a July 2008 interview, HaKohen told Israel National News that: "We must make the world understand that the Jewish nation, like any other nation on the planet, has a right to self-determination in our country. Not in half of our country, but in our whole country. We have nothing against any other peoples, but the world today has no shortage of Arab states. 77% of Palestine [the territory east of the Jordan River] was made into an Arab state, and we are at least entitled to the remaining 23% that was left us by international law to be a Jewish state. No power on earth has the moral authority to rob us of our land."[10] In that same interview, HaKohen angered American neo-conservative groups by stating that: "There is nothing right-wing or conservative about wanting to keep our [the Jewish] homeland free from foreign rule. If we are truly the indigenous natives in the conflict, then our cause should really be championed by liberal students everywhere. Especially since the Bush administration that occupies Iraq and imposes a Patriot Act on the American people is the very same administration pushing to ethnically cleanse the Jewish people from portions of our homeland."[10] During Israel Liberation Week at the University of Albany[11] in November 2008, HaKohen made an effort to reach out to the Muslim Student Association in order to find common ground on a host of issues. HaKohen claimed success in reaching agreements with Muslim student leaders on several points and told Israel National News that the MSA at Albany recognized the Jewish people’s national rights, acknowledged that there really is no distinct Palestinian Arab nation and that in order for Jews and Arabs to make peace Western interference in the Middle East would have to end. ZFA and MSA agreed that both the Jewish and Arab peoples are Middle Eastern peoples with a great deal in common and that peace can only be achieved through grassroots dialogue.[12] HaKohen has used his radio show on several occasions to speak out against Islamophobia and has articulated a position that places blame for the Arab-Israeli conflict not on Arab or Jewish shoulders but on third parties, particularly the United States and Europe, who attempt to broker solutions between the sides. In December 2008, HaKohen told Israel National News that: "It was the British who originally turned local Arabs and Jews against one another in order to further their own colonialist agenda for our region. And now Western governments arm both sides and then attempt to impose artificial diplomatic solutions. The Israeli government and PA leaderships today both behave as puppets to foreign regimes and both the local Jewish and Arab populations are suffering. The way to achieve real peace between peoples here is to work from the bottom up and not the top down. The Jewish and Arab peoples are both native to the Middle East. We have a great deal in common. But for efforts at genuine peace to succeed, Western governments and multinational corporations need to leave our region alone and let the indigenous Jews and Arabs settle things between ourselves."[13] On November 13 2008, violence erupted between ZFA and the Students for Justice in Palestine at an Israel Liberation Week event taking place at UC Berkeley.[14] The incident, which took place during a concert featuring HaKohen along with Black, Jewish and Mexican hip hop artists promoting freedom for Israel from Western pressure and foreign influence, [12] began when anti-Israel students unfurled Palestinian flags from a balcony overlooking the concert stage. ZFA activists attempted to remove the flags and a fight broke out between the two organizations. While both groups accused the other of initiating the violence, both agreed that ZFA prevailed in the actual fight.[15] HaKohen, who had delivered a speech from the stage during the concert, told Israel National News that he opposed students attempting to remove the flags but nevertheless saw value in the incident. "Even though I wanted to avoid the altercation, I recognize the value in anti-Israel activists getting put in their place by the very students they so often try to bully into silence… ZFA might not have started the violence but we definitely finished it. I hope Husam [Zakharia, a member of Students for Justice in Palestine] and his crew think twice next time they want to get physical with any of our students."[12][16]Yehuda HaKohen
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Contents
[hide][edit]Am Segula
[edit]Settlement and military service
[edit]After the army
[edit]Zionist Freedom Alliance
[edit]Reaching out to Muslims
[edit]Violence at Berkeley
[edit]See also
[edit]References
[edit]External links
Thursday, 16 July 2009
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