The Jerusalem Magistrate Court has ordered Israel Broadcast Authority and its advertising company to pay the Kahana family 15,000 NIS in compensation. The court simply approved a deal reached between the parties outside of court.
The case dates back to 2009 when the Kahane family wished to advertise upcoming events surrounding the yahrzeit of Rabbi Meir Kahana HY”D. After complying with IBA requests to remove words such as “kadosh” and “leader of Israel” in the description of Rav Kahane, IBA agreed to air the ads as it does when it announces events surrounding a yahrzeit on behalf of families of other public officials.
While the ad aired on the radio a number of times, a left-wing organization turned to IBA objecting to the radio ad. IBA then halted the ad even though it was to air additional times.
Attorney Itamar Ben-Givir took the case to the Jerusalem Magistrate Court, explaining due to the unilateral actions of IBA, the Kahane family endured grief and anguish for the cessation of the radio advert had a negative impact on the yahrzeit events. Ben-Givir added that it is unacceptable for the left-wing Peace Now organization to dictate policy for IBA. The court instructed the sides to work it out and reach an agreement. IBA agreed to pay 10,000 NIS and the advertising firm 5,000 NIS.
Ben-Givir was pleased with the settlement, adding the Kahane family has the right to advertise yahrzeit events on IBA no less than the Rabin family.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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8 Responses
Strange verdict that seems to have been narrowly made on the basis of contractual obligtions without considering the facts raised by those who objected to the ads that Kahane and his group were designated as a “terrorist” organization by the U.S. and that he openly advocated for racist policies including the expulsion of all arabs from EY. He certainly did little to promote peace and reconciliation and thats why so many objected to any “celebration” of his yahrtzeit.
Kahane was not a racist he just advocated ideas that were contrary to left wing israeli radicalism and dreams that jews can live peaceable with the arabs. It now turns out that years later aftter the oslo accords and arab spring,syria etc. We see that arabs can’t live in peace among themselves so entertaining wild imaginary dreams of muslims living side by side in harmony with jews is utterly rediculus
He was a very smart amazing person.
he had semicha from the MIR and he saw the future and was thinking years ahead… virtually all his predictions of arab terror and expulsions occurred… while 1 may not agree with all his methods he was a talmud chacham, smart, dedicated and loved every jew and lived and dies for his fellow jews… he is missed.
Rav Kahane HY’D was not a racist. Arabs and Jews belong to the same race, they are both Caucasian and Semitic. What Rav Kahane believed, was and accepted halachic view that any non-Jew who is not observant of the 7 Noahide Commandments must be expelled from the land. This is a positive commandment (lo yeshvu beartzecha, Exodus 23:32-33). Some commentators, including Rashi believe it only applied to the 7 idolatrous nations, but others, including Rambam, Ritva, Kaftor vaPerah accepted that only Resident Alien (ger-toshav) can be allowed to dwell in E. Israel. We do not accept ger-toshav now. Since many Arabs support terrorism and do not bring them to justice, at the very least those Arabs cannot be counted as Noahides. This is a very valid and strong halachic opinion. Most importantly, it is crystal clear that had Israel expelled all Arabs in 1967, Israel would be no worse off as far as relationships with Arab countries as it is now, but it would be a lot safer.
The other end of the spectrum namely giving arabs land unilaterally instead of expelling them- has been tried and deemed hands down unsuccessful. We can only guess whether the plans of Kahane would have worked. His expulsion was part of a plan that allowed for compensation and relocation. Although not a Kach-nik myself, I do not think that those wishing to commemorate his yartzeit should be stifled.
Today everybody knows Kahane zt’l was right.
Gadolhatorah it’s not racist to expel murderers from the jewish homeland Secondly it’s impossible to have “peace and reconciliation” with creatures (arabs) who want to murder you and take away all of your land. The only thing the peace movement has accomplished is to embolden our enemies and destroy the security of the state of Israel and any deterrence the state might have once had.
To No. 1: There was no verdict. The case was settled between the parties. The report did not consider facts raised by the parties objecting to the ads. The report did summarize the basis for the claim by the Kahane family, which was that it suffered grief and anguish because the ads were cancelled. In American law, that would sound like a wrongful death claim, not a claim about free speech. As for Kahane’s “terrorist” status, you brought that up, not the report.
I am not familiar with broadcast rules in the State of Israel, but Kahane was notoriously inflammatory, and broadcast rules for advertising may be narrower than rules for speech outside paid ads.