Supporters of Rabbi Meir Kahane, the slain leader of the banned ultra-nationalist Kach party, denounced what they see as the army's restraint toward the Palestinians, at the annual memorial ceremony for the far-right leader, in the settlement of Beit El on Wednesday.
"If the army won't do the work, then we will. If the government works crookedly, we'll work straight," said former Kach leader Noam Federman. He said that he believes that the army was given a free hand to act, but since "the IDF's [behavioral] codes today are almost identical to those of the political echelons," that freedom is meaningless.
"We need to prepare for the possibility of finding ourselves alone, without the IDF, facing the Arabs. The IDF has already abandoned places, such as Joseph's Tomb. We do not intend to flee, and we must prepare for the future."
"The Arabs must be made to feel afraid, since the IDF isn't doing it," said Lenny Goldberg, of Beit El, one of the organizers of the memorial service. "They aren't afraid of the IDF, so we have to make them fear us. When the settlers put up a roadblock, the Arabs stay two kilometers away. When the IDF does it, they aren't afraid."
Eli Stern said that Jews are uprooting Arab plantations in places where shooting has occurred. "The army doesn't do it, so Jews are doing it," he said.
