I read Gershon Baskin’s article “Remove Ben-Gvir now!" (The Jerusalem Post, January 6) and suddenly thought we were in Soviet Russia, where civilians were slandered, falsely criticized, asked to be silenced and tried to be blocked from expressing their opinion and freedom of expression.
Gershon Baskin does not tell the truth. He is not telling the truth when he claims that I am a racist, while he knows that twice the Supreme Court in a nine-judge panel has ruled that there is no racism in my remarks. He does not say - when he knows and hears my lectures - I make sure not to include all Arabs and explicitly state that I have no problem with anyone who is loyal to Israel.
Yes Gershon, I have a problem with those who murder us, with those who harm us, with those who want to turn Israel into Palestine, turn every murderer into a hero and support harming the Jewish people, but they have never been criticized, only Jews. Gershon’s serious problem is that he not only does not tell the truth but that he is also a hypocritical person. Gershon wants to silence me!
He says it explicitly: Do not interview him, do not give him a stage and do not give him public legitimacy. What is amazing is that while Gershon is saying these things against me, he himself supports freedom of expression for MKs Ayman Odeh, Walid Taha and Ofer Kasif. For Gershon it is democratic to let them be in the Knesset.
He has no problem with Taha’s visit to the terrorist’s family from the Night of the Pitchforks (on February 14, 1992, Israeli Arab militants infiltrated an IDF base and killed three Israeli soldiers) and that he supports Syria. He has no problem with Ofer Kasif calling our soldiers murderers, identifying with the enemy and understanding terrorist attacks against Jews. To all these, the hypocritical Baskin is willing to give freedom of expression and also says that he will defend their right to speak, even if he does not always agree with their views .
Currently in Israel, there is a government controlled by the Islamic Movement, which even Egypt outlawed and which every democratic regime despises and does not allow it to act, but he has a problem with me. He wants to shut me up, silence me and prevent people from hearing my opinions. He knows that he cannot deal with those opinions because they are right.
And a few words about Rabbi Meir Kahane. Although I did not know Rabbi Kahane, who was assassinated before I joined the party, I do not sign on to every word of his and every bill he submitted to the Knesset. But I have to state the truth today, after so many years since Rabbi Kahane died.
Kahane was wronged, was disqualified in an anti-democratic way (while the Islamic movement is allowed to run), was silenced and underwent character assassination, before he was physically murdered. Today, people know that Rabbi Kahane acted for the country when he went from place to place in the US and called on Jews to immigrate to Israel, acted against the Iron Curtain in the Soviet Union and established the Jewish Defense League.
Baskin can shout and support his friends, Odeh and Tibi, but it has been proven that those who pity the cruel (Tibi and Odeh, who want to harm the country) are cruel to the merciful and want to shut up good Jews.
In the near future, I hope to say a few words about the Shimon Hatzadik neighborhood concerning which Mr. Baskin has also manipulated the facts.
The writer is head of Otzma Yehudit and an MK on behalf of the Religious Zionist Party.