Kahane Does Not Define Israel
Jonathan P. Baird’s column, “Meir Kahane is the father of the new Israel,” is a gross distortion of both history and reality. To claim that today’s Israel is defined by a fringe rabbi rejected decades ago is misleading and insulting.
Israel is not a theocracy or a dictatorship. It is the Middle East’s only functioning democracy — where citizens, Jewish and Arab alike, vote, protest and challenge their leaders. Massive demonstrations, fierce Knesset debates and rulings from an independent judiciary all prove that Israel’s democracy is alive and well. That reality directly contradicts Baird’s sweeping claim that Kahane’s legacy drives the nation.
Kahane’s racist ideology was barred from Israel’s political mainstream long ago. To frame Israel’s elected government as his heir ignores the will of millions of citizens who vote for a wide spectrum of parties, from left to right. It also dismisses the daily work Israelis do to foster coexistence, advance technology and provide humanitarian aid worldwide.
If Baird wants to discuss what destroyed Israel’s peace camp, he should start with two bloody intifadas, thousands of rockets from Hamas and Hezbollah, and the mass slaughter of Oct. 7. Those atrocities didn’t just kill innocent people — they killed any hope that Israelis could trust their neighbors with peace. That is why the Israeli right has been strengthened — not because of some ghost from the past.
Reducing an entire nation to the shadow of an extremist dishonors the truth and disrespects the people of Israel who have sustained a vibrant democracy against all odds.