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<\/td>\n<\/tr>\nACCORDING TO Israeli Army Radio, the banned right-wing terrorist group Kach is petitioning Israel\u2019s High Court of Justice to reinstate its status as a legal political party, thereby allowing its members to run for the Knesset. This follows on the heels of a 2006 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals denying Kach\u2019s request to have its 2003 redesignation as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) overturned (see Jan.\/Feb. 2007 Washington Report,<\/em> p. 19). Kach apparently is betting that, if Israel revokes its terrorist designation, the U.S. will soon follow suit.<\/p>\n Ironically, while Kach\u2019s eventual legal status may in fact be determined in Israel, the bulk of its support continues to flow from the United States. Kach\u2019s U.S. supporters, in fact, are the lifeline that keeps the movement an active threat to any future peace between Israelis and Palestinians in the occupied territories.<\/p>\n Kach and Kahane Chai were first listed as distinct terrorist organizations in 1995, when President Bill Clinton issued Executive Order 12947, entitled \u201cProhibiting Transactions with Terrorists Who Threaten to Disrupt the Middle East Peace Process.\u201d (The list also named Hezbollah, the Egyptian Islamic Gamaat Islamiyya, led by Sheikh Abdul Rahman, and several Palestinian \u201crejectionist\u201d groups, including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine [PFLP] and Hamas.)<\/p>\n On Oct. 5, 2001\u2013less than a month after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S.\u2013Secretary of State Colin Powell redesignated Kach and Kahane Chai as a \u201csingle organization\u201d using various aliases [see box on facing page]. In 2003 the State Department included the name \u201cKahane\u201d on its list of aliases of Kach\/Kahane Chai. \u201cThe principal U.S. members of Kahane Chai\/KACH [sic],\u201d it found, \u201chave consistently attempted to evade legal responsibility for their illegal activities by using different names for the organizations.\u201d<\/p>\n Having determined that Kach\/Kahane Chai has \u201ca substantial connection with the United States,\u201d the State Department \u201cprovided Kahane Chai representatives in the United States with advance notification of possible redesignation.\u201d<\/p>\n According to the State Department\u2019s administrative record\u2013which never would have been released were it not for Kach\u2019s 2003 appeal\u2013letters of notification were sent by certified mail to Michael R. Guzofsky, Jacob Guzofsky, Richard Zim, Eric Greenberg and Fern Sidman. In addition to return receipts bearing the signatures of Michael Guzofsky, Greenberg and Sidman, the State Department received the following reply from attorney Kenneth Klein: \u201cI am representing a United States citizen who is a representative of Kach, an advocacy organization existing in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n Apparently the fact that Kach had been designated an FTO some eight years earlier was not a concern to Klein.<\/p>\n While it is the State Department which compiles the list of FTOs, the law is actually enforced by other federal agencies\u2013Justice, in the case of criminal complaints, and Treasury, in the case of financial sanctions. Judging from publicly available U.S. government records, however, Kach\/Kahane Chai has managed to maintain an extremely low profile for a designated FTO existing in the United States. To date there have been no indictments or criminal prosecutions against members or supporters of Kach\/Kahane Chai.<\/p>\n In its 2001 \u201cTerrorist Assets Report\u201d to Congress, the Treasury Department stated that it had frozen over $1 million belonging to al-Qaeda, over $6 million of Hamas funds, over $17,000 of Palestinian Islamic Jihad\u2019s, and precisely $200 belonging to Kahane Chai. In 2002, Kahane Chai\u2019s frozen assets increased by a single dollar, to $201. That is the extent of blocked Kach\/Kahane Chai assets as reported through 2005.<\/p>\n Treasury Department spokesperson Molly Millerwise points out that, in addition to the amounts of funds frozen, terrorist designations \u201cshut down channels used by terrorist groups to raise, move, and store money, they put the world on notice about a group, individual or entity that poses a threat to security, and they make it harder, costlier, and riskier for terrorists to carry out their activities.\u201d<\/p>\n In the case of Kach\/Kahane Chai, however, the repercussions seem to be minimal at best. According to a 2002 CIA Foreign Broadcast Information Service report, one of the aliases for Kach and Kahane Chai, \u201ckahane.org<\/a>,\u201d lists the aforementioned Michael Guzofsky as its billing contact. Another Kach alias and designated FTO closely associated in recent years with Guzofsky\u2013who himself goes by various aliases, including Yekutiel Ben Ya\u2019acov\u2013is the \u201cJewish Legion,\u201d or Judean Legion or, in Hebrew, Gedud Haivri.<\/p>\n According to the Department of State\u2019s unclassified 2003 summary of the administrative record presenting the case for the group\u2019s continued designation as an FTO, \u201cKahane Chai has solicited individuals for membership in a terrorist organization or to engage in terrorist activity\u2026Kahane Chai, through its Web site http:\/\/www.kahane.org<\/a>, has solicited individuals for membership in its group and has maintained the capabilities to engage in a terrorist activity by recruiting for its paramilitary wing, the Jewish Legion, which offers training in deadly hand-to-hand combat, firearms and guard dogs.\u201d<\/p>\n Israeli police investigated the Jewish Legion in 2004 for \u201csetting up unauthorized roadblocks in which its members randomly select Palestinian vehicles for inspection.\u201d According to a Jerusalem Post <\/em>report, the group\u2013based in Tapuach, a settlement located at a strategic junction near Nablus, in the heart of the West Bank\u2013claimed that \u201cit has extended activities outside the settlement boundaries where its armed members search Palestinian vehicles, ambulances and U.N. vehicles.\u201d<\/p>\n Israeli police subsequently raided and shut down Jewish Legion offices in Tapuach for being a front for Kach\/Kahane Chai.<\/p>\n A series of testimonials by Israeli officials praising the Jewish Legion was posted on the Yahoo! Group \u201cStand By Israel\u201d by moderator David Gross. One such testament is from Brig. Gen. Harel Konfo, Shomron Regional Israel Defense Forces (IDF) commander: \u201cGood things must be said of a project that helps secure the Tapuach area.\u201d That the Jewish Legion has actively worked in conjunction with the IDF is reflected in a posted message from a settler representative from the regional council noting that \u201cThe (J.L.) kennel has helped the IDF and yishuvim <\/em>security teams.\u201d<\/p>\n The above quotes were taken verbatim from the Jewish Legion Web site, <www.defendisrael.net<\/a>>. Gross also includes on the group\u2019s homepage a scan of an October 2003 article from his local Long Beach, NY newspaper documenting an award he received for his support for the Jewish Legion in Tapuach.<\/p>\n Like the Kahanists in the Palestinian population center of Hebron, south of Jerusalem, Tapuach\u2019s extremist settlers are provided 24-hour protection by the Israel Defense Forces. According to \u201cthumper0608,\u201d an IDF officer posting on \u201cStand By Israel,\u201d the Kahanist group is \u201cwell meaning and strongly Zionistic in their own way\u201d\u2013a way that just happens to encourage murdering Arab civilians (see \u201cTags\u201d on the Voice of Judea YouTube page pictured opposite).<\/p>\n Apparently, however, there are some lines that even Israeli settler paramilitaries are not allowed to cross. On Feb. 4, 2007, a blogger calling himself \u201cYa\u2019aqov Ben-Yehudah\u201d posted an article on the Internet titled \u201cNaveh\u2019s Crimes.\u201d It included the reproduction of a sort of \u201cwanted\u201d sign in Hebrew posted around the occupied West Bank. As presented in the English translation, the individual in question is Yair Naveh, IDF \u201cgeneral of the central command\u201d in the occupied West Bank, who is \u201cwanted\u201d for such alleged crimes as \u201cexpulsion\u201d of Israeli settlers, \u201cpogrom\u201d in the conflict with settlers in Amona, as well as \u201cincitement\u201d and \u201csilent expulsion\u201d for signing restraining orders against settler youth attacking Palestinians during the annual olive harvest.<\/p>\n In its 2006 closing brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals, the State Department described this sort of intimidation as \u201cterrorist activity.\u201d According to the brief, \u201cKahane Chai has engaged in terrorist activity by threatening and conspiring to carry out assassinations\u2026Kahane Chai has threatened to harm Israeli Security officials involved in investigating Kahane Chai members.\u201d<\/p>\n On March 30, 2006\u2013three years after the State Department listed the Jewish Legion as an alias of Kach\u2013Americans and Israelis Strength and Honor (AISH) published an appeal for $5,000 to buy a Toyota truck for Israel\u2019s Best Friend (IBF)\u2013one of several recent reincarnations of the Tapuach-based Jewish Legion. According to the appeal, \u201cAISH works closely with Israel\u2019s Best Friend, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing guard dogs for those who need them in Israel. Our president, Ed Banyai, is on their board.\u201d<\/p>\n The following day, Ya\u2019aqov Ben-Yehudah, poster of \u201cNaveh\u2019s Crimes,\u201d posted an appeal on Stand By Israel entitled \u201curgent appeal help IBF stop terror in Israel please forward.\u201d Seeking a $10,000 donation, this appeal concluded: \u201cYour 501c3 tax deductible contributions can be sent to Americans and Israelis Strength and Honor\u2013AISH, 6839 Woodridge Drive, Norfolk, VA 23518.\u201d<\/p>\n A search of Guidestar.org, which lists IRS charitable organizations, yielded no results for either \u201cAISH\u201d or \u201cIsrael\u2019s Best Friend.\u201d<\/p>\n In a June 10, 2006 post to the MySpace group \u201cjews4life,\u201d \u201cMoreh\u201d included a link to the Jewish Legion (Gedud Haivry) Web site (<www.defendisrael.net<\/a>>) and described the life of a Legionaire:<\/p>\n \u201cYou buy your own ticket and got to show up in Tapuach, Samaria, \u2018West Bank.\u2019 To be accepted as a Legionaire, got to be mentally fit. Tests are tough. Life is hard, Food is bad. Bed is hard. Good thing, you won\u2019t use bed much.\u201d<\/p>\nZionist Jihadis<\/h2>\n
Testimonials to Terrorists<\/h2>\n
\u201cCharitable\u201d Organizations<\/h2>\n