A couple of days ago I blogged on Aaron Klein’s WorldNetDaily coverage of the recent shooting incident in Shfaram, Israel. Eden Natan-Zada, a 19-year old army deserter from the West Bank settlement of Tapuach, killed four Arab Israelis before being lynched. Klein described the lynching as murder, but declined to be so judgemental about Natan-Zada’s own actions. His reports also contained gushing tributes to the dead killer, which I speculated were arranged through Klein’s links with the Israeli far right, particularly David Ha’ivri. Many of Klein’s Israel reports are little more than press releases for Ha’ivri, a Kahanist who organises regular protests at the Temple Mount.
It looks like my hunch was correct. From the Forward:
In April, Natan-Zada participated in a march to the Temple Mount — banned and blocked by the Israeli police — that was led by a right-wing Tapuach rabbi, David Ha’ivri. Both men were among the 30 or so people arrested at the event, according to Israeli Defense Ministry officials.
And here’s something else of interest about Ha’ivri (links added):
Ha’ivri, a student of Kahane, is one of a number of Tapuach residents with ties to American organizations. He was hosted during a fundraising tour last fall by a number of Chabad-Lubavitch synagogues in the United States as well as by Americans for a Safe Israel, the organization that has led the most prominent anti-disengagement rallies. The tour came just six months after Ha’ivri was arrested by Israeli authorities for “incitement to violence.”
…In terms of ideology and fundraising, “there’s a pretty thin line between the Americans for a Safe Israel and the Kahanists,” said University of Pennsylvania political scientist Ian Lustick, one of the few scholars who has studied Jewish extremist groups in depth.
Americans for a Safe Israel has been noted on this blog before. It is run by Herbert Zweibon, and has played in prominent role in rallying Christian Zionists (whom Zweibon appears to believe are anti-Semites beneath the surface) on behalf of Greater Israel. Gary Bauer, the late Ed McAteer and the Apostolic Congress’s Robert Upton have been particularly involved with it.
(story tipped from Failed Messiah)
UPDATE: Terry Krepel of ConWebWatch charts the whole history of Klein’s reporting on the Israeli far-right. His conclusion:
…perhaps…WND should explain why a person who appears to be little more than a PR man for an extremist movement with a history of violence is working as its Jerusalem reporter.
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