Yehuda HaKohen
Encyclopedia
Yehuda HaKohen is an Israeli activist and critic of government corruption and globalization
in the Middle East
. He is Director-General of the Zionist Freedom Alliance
, which sites him as an activist for justice, peace and Jewish national rights in the Middle East.
HaKohen is also a vocal member of the Semitic Action
movement for grassroots dialogue and an outspoken opponent of Jewish cooperation with America's Christian right
.
in 2001 and studied in Jerusalem’s Machon Meir
institute. During this time, he founded Am Segula and organized weekend programs for American students in Israel to visit Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip
and the West Bank
. Am Segula also held weekly classes in central Jerusalem where veteran activist Elie Yossef
taught Zionist history.
s in order to pressure the Israeli government to demand the release of Jonathan Pollard
from American imprisonment. In early 2003, Am Segula merged into Magshimey Herut and teamed up with the K’Cholmim group to settle on a hilltop near Kochav HaShachar
in Samaria
. HaKohen lived there until he was drafted into the Israel Defense Forces in June 2003. HaKohen served as an infantry
soldier in the Netzah Yehuda Battalion
, a special combat unit for religious soldiers.
During the months leading up to the Gaza Disengagement, HaKohen traveled the country speaking to left-wing youth movements in an attempt to encourage dialogue and build mutual understanding between supporters and opponents of the controversial policy.
Following the violent confrontation at Amona
between the Israeli police and teenage activists in early 2006, HaKohen and Elie Yossef went on a three week hunger strike vigil protesting violence between Jews. The activists displayed banners and handed out flyers calling on both the Israeli government and settler leadership to seek ways to avoid future bloodshed. As this took place just before national elections, the hunger strike drew criticism from some settlers who had felt victimized by the government and sought to use the tragedy as a means to hurt the ruling Kadima
party in the polls. The government had no official response to the vigil.
In 2006, HaKohen founded the Zionist Freedom Alliance
to promote Jewish national rights on American college campuses and co-hosted a radio program called Jewish Campus Radio on Israel National Radio (channel seven)
. The program dealt with all issues facing Jewish college students in the West but focused primarily on Zionist activism on college campuses. In the summer of 2007, INR asked HaKohen to host their new program, The Struggle, which dealt with Zionist history and global issues that concern the State of Israel. In 2007, HaKohen endorsed United States Congressman Ron Paul
for the Republican
presidential nomination. Although many Jews viewed Paul as an anti-Israel candidate based on his longtime opposition to American foreign aid to Israel and although HaKohen had previously opposed Jews voting in American elections with Israel's interests at heart, he asserted that Israel must become an independent country and that Ron Paul's policies would likely lead to an independent Israel.
In April 2008, HaKohen led a week long program called Israel Liberation Week at Hofstra University
. During this week of events, ZFA reached beyond the Jewish community and targeted a wider student public through films, art exhibits and concerts that focused on Jewish rights to the Land of Israel, the Jewish revolt against British rule and the need for the State of Israel to become an independent country.
While mainstream Jewish leaders and pro-Israel organizations on American campuses presented Israel as a democratic Western country with numerous security challenges, HaKohen and the ZFA spoke of Israel as a Middle Eastern nation with legitimate moral and historic rights to the country. In a July 2008 interview, HaKohen told Israel National News that:
in November 2008, HaKohen made an effort to reach out to the Muslim Student Association. In the wake of these contacts, ZFA and MSA agreed that Jews and Arabs are both Middle Eastern peoples with a great deal in common and that peace can only be achieved through grassroots dialogue.
HaKohen used his radio show to speak out against Islamophobia
and to place blame for the Arab-Israeli conflict on third parties, particularly the United States and Europe
. In December 2008, HaKohen told Israel National News that:
In 2010, HaKohen became a visible member of the Semitic Action
movement for grassroots dialogue between Jewish settlers and Palestinian Arabs
. At a November 2011 meeting between the two groups, HaKohen was quoted as saying:
HaKohen frequently used his radio program as a platform to challenge the linear political spectrum and to launch attacks on President George W. Bush
, Evangelical Christians and America's military presence in Iraq
and Afghanistan
before eventually leaving INR in 2010.
In August 2011, HaKohen publicly opposed a Jerusalem rally organized by conservative American broadcaster Glenn Beck
and other rightist figures, accusing the organizers of promoting a Christian agenda disrespectful of Jerusalem's indigenous culture. HaKohen also dismissed Beck's support for Israel as having imperialist motives, saying:
at an Israel Liberation Week event taking place at UC Berkeley
. The incident, which took place during a concert featuring HaKohen along with hip hop artists from diverse ethnic backgrounds promoting freedom for Israel from Western pressure and foreign influence, began when pro-Palestinian students unfurled Palestinian flags from a balcony overlooking the concert stage. ZFA activists attempted to remove the flags and a fight broke out.
HaKohen told Israel National News that he opposed students attempting to remove the flags but nevertheless saw value in the incident.
Globalization
Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...
in the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
. He is Director-General of the Zionist Freedom Alliance
Zionist Freedom Alliance
The Zionist Freedom Alliance is an activist grassroots Zionist movement that advocates Israel's moral, legal and historic rights for the Jewish people to the entire Land of Israel, which they consider to include the territory captured during the 1967 Six-Day War...
, which sites him as an activist for justice, peace and Jewish national rights in the Middle East.
HaKohen is also a vocal member of the Semitic Action
Semitic Action
Semitic Action was a small Israeli political group of the 1950s and 1960s which sought the creation of a regional federation encompassing Israel and its Arab neighbors. Created in 1956, the group's key members were Uri Avnery, Natan Yellin-Mor, and Boaz Evron, with other members including Maxim...
movement for grassroots dialogue and an outspoken opponent of Jewish cooperation with America's Christian right
Christian right
Christian right is a term used predominantly in the United States to describe "right-wing" Christian political groups that are characterized by their strong support of socially conservative policies...
.
Biography
Yehuda HaKohen immigrated to Israel from New YorkNew York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
in 2001 and studied in Jerusalem’s Machon Meir
Machon Meir
Machon Meir' is a religious Zionist outreach organization and yeshiva situated in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Kiryat Moshe, close to Givat Shaul...
institute. During this time, he founded Am Segula and organized weekend programs for American students in Israel to visit Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip
Gaza Strip
thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...
and the West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
. Am Segula also held weekly classes in central Jerusalem where veteran activist Elie Yossef
Elie Yossef
Elie Yossef is a London-born Israeli educator and political activist.Eli Yossef grew up in London and attended the Hasmonean High School where he established Betar England in 1973. In 1975, Yossef came on Aliyah to Israel and served in the Golani and Paratroopers brigades of the Israel Defense...
taught Zionist history.
Political activism
Am Segula launched a series of non-violent protests and hunger strikeHunger strike
A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance or pressure in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke feelings of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most hunger strikers will take liquids but not...
s in order to pressure the Israeli government to demand the release of Jonathan Pollard
Jonathan Pollard
Jonathan Jay Pollard worked as a civilian intelligence analyst before being convicted of spying for Israel. He received a life sentence in 1987....
from American imprisonment. In early 2003, Am Segula merged into Magshimey Herut and teamed up with the K’Cholmim group to settle on a hilltop near Kochav HaShachar
Kochav HaShachar
Kokhav HaShahar is an Israeli settlement in the Binyamin region of northern West Bank. It is located on a mountain ridge overlooking the Jordan Valley, and is accessible via the Allon Road. Kokhav HaShahar falls under the municipal jurisdiction of the Matte Binyamin Regional Council...
in Samaria
Samaria
Samaria, or the Shomron is a term used for a mountainous region roughly corresponding to the northern part of the West Bank.- Etymology :...
. HaKohen lived there until he was drafted into the Israel Defense Forces in June 2003. HaKohen served as an infantry
Infantry
Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...
soldier in the Netzah Yehuda Battalion
Netzah Yehuda Battalion
The Netzah Yehuda Battalion is a battalion in the Kfir Brigade of the Israel Defense Forces . The purpose of the unit is to allow religious Israelis to serve in the IDF in an atmosphere conducive to their religious convictions, within a framework that is strictly halachically observant...
, a special combat unit for religious soldiers.
During the months leading up to the Gaza Disengagement, HaKohen traveled the country speaking to left-wing youth movements in an attempt to encourage dialogue and build mutual understanding between supporters and opponents of the controversial policy.
Following the violent confrontation at Amona
Amona
Amona is an Israeli settlement in the central West Bank, on a hill overlooking Ofra. Located within the municipal boundaries of the Mateh Binyamin Regional Council, the village was founded in 1997 on a hilltop of privately owned Palestinian land and inhabited by young settlers from Ofra.By late...
between the Israeli police and teenage activists in early 2006, HaKohen and Elie Yossef went on a three week hunger strike vigil protesting violence between Jews. The activists displayed banners and handed out flyers calling on both the Israeli government and settler leadership to seek ways to avoid future bloodshed. As this took place just before national elections, the hunger strike drew criticism from some settlers who had felt victimized by the government and sought to use the tragedy as a means to hurt the ruling Kadima
Kadima
Kadima is a centrist and liberal political party in Israel. It was established on 24 November 2005 by moderates from Likud largely to support the issue of Ariel Sharon's unilateral disengagement plan, and was soon joined by like-minded Labor politicians...
party in the polls. The government had no official response to the vigil.
In 2006, HaKohen founded the Zionist Freedom Alliance
Zionist Freedom Alliance
The Zionist Freedom Alliance is an activist grassroots Zionist movement that advocates Israel's moral, legal and historic rights for the Jewish people to the entire Land of Israel, which they consider to include the territory captured during the 1967 Six-Day War...
to promote Jewish national rights on American college campuses and co-hosted a radio program called Jewish Campus Radio on Israel National Radio (channel seven)
Arutz Sheva
Arutz Sheva is an Israeli media network identifying with Religious Zionism. It offers online news in English, Hebrew, French, Spanish and Russian. Arutz Sheva offers free podcasts, live streaming radio, a daily email news update, streaming video and 24 hour updated text news...
. The program dealt with all issues facing Jewish college students in the West but focused primarily on Zionist activism on college campuses. In the summer of 2007, INR asked HaKohen to host their new program, The Struggle, which dealt with Zionist history and global issues that concern the State of Israel. In 2007, HaKohen endorsed United States Congressman Ron Paul
Ron Paul
Ronald Ernest "Ron" Paul is an American physician, author and United States Congressman who is seeking to be the Republican Party candidate in the 2012 presidential election. Paul represents Texas's 14th congressional district, which covers an area south and southwest of Houston that includes...
for the Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
presidential nomination. Although many Jews viewed Paul as an anti-Israel candidate based on his longtime opposition to American foreign aid to Israel and although HaKohen had previously opposed Jews voting in American elections with Israel's interests at heart, he asserted that Israel must become an independent country and that Ron Paul's policies would likely lead to an independent Israel.
In April 2008, HaKohen led a week long program called Israel Liberation Week at Hofstra University
Hofstra University
Hofstra University is a private, nonsectarian institution of higher learning located in the Village of Hempstead, New York, United States, about east of New York City: less than an hour away by train or car...
. During this week of events, ZFA reached beyond the Jewish community and targeted a wider student public through films, art exhibits and concerts that focused on Jewish rights to the Land of Israel, the Jewish revolt against British rule and the need for the State of Israel to become an independent country.
While mainstream Jewish leaders and pro-Israel organizations on American campuses presented Israel as a democratic Western country with numerous security challenges, HaKohen and the ZFA spoke of Israel as a Middle Eastern nation with legitimate moral and historic rights to the country. In a July 2008 interview, HaKohen told Israel National News that:
"We must make the world understand that the Jewish nation, like any other nation on the planet, has a right to self-determination in our country. Not in half of our country, but in our whole country. We have nothing against any other peoples, but the world today has no shortage of Arab states. 77% of Palestine [the territory east of the Jordan River] was made into an Arab state, and we are at least entitled to the remaining 23% that was left us by international law to be a Jewish state. No power on earth has the moral authority to rob us of our land."
Dialogue Efforts with Muslim and Arab Groups
During Israel Liberation Week at the University of AlbanyUniversity at Albany, SUNY
The State University of New York at Albany, also known as University at Albany, State University of New York, SUNY Albany or simply UAlbany, is a public university located in Albany, Guilderland, and East Greenbush, New York, United States; is the senior campus of the State University of New York ...
in November 2008, HaKohen made an effort to reach out to the Muslim Student Association. In the wake of these contacts, ZFA and MSA agreed that Jews and Arabs are both Middle Eastern peoples with a great deal in common and that peace can only be achieved through grassroots dialogue.
HaKohen used his radio show to speak out against Islamophobia
Islamophobia
Islamophobia describes prejudice against, hatred or irrational fear of Islam or MuslimsThe term dates back to the late 1980s or early 1990s, but came into common usage after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States....
and to place blame for the Arab-Israeli conflict on third parties, particularly the United States and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. In December 2008, HaKohen told Israel National News that:
"It was the British who originally turned local Arabs and Jews against one another in order to further their own colonialist agenda for our region. And now Western governments arm both sides and then attempt to impose artificial diplomatic solutions. The Israeli government and PA leaderships today both behave as puppets to foreign regimes and both the local Jewish and Arab populations are suffering. The way to achieve real peace between peoples here is to work from the bottom up and not the top down. The Jewish and Arab peoples are both native to the Middle East. We have a great deal in common. But for efforts at genuine peace to succeed, Western governments and multinational corporations need to leave our region alone and let the indigenous Jews and Arabs settle things between ourselves."
In 2010, HaKohen became a visible member of the Semitic Action
Semitic Action
Semitic Action was a small Israeli political group of the 1950s and 1960s which sought the creation of a regional federation encompassing Israel and its Arab neighbors. Created in 1956, the group's key members were Uri Avnery, Natan Yellin-Mor, and Boaz Evron, with other members including Maxim...
movement for grassroots dialogue between Jewish settlers and Palestinian Arabs
Palestinian people
The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...
. At a November 2011 meeting between the two groups, HaKohen was quoted as saying:
“The first step towards achieving peace is for both populations to learn to be good neighbors. And this is less relevant to people in Tel Aviv than it is to ethnic Jews living here in Samaria... Both populations need to learn to see and accept the other as indigenous and belonging here. The closest people in the world to the Jewish people are the Arabs. Any hostility between our two peoples is completely unnatural and the result of foreign powers exploiting both populations... If we examine the last two decades, we see that thousands of people have been killed on both sides and that our two populations have been forcibly segregated... Both peoples have also suffered several other injustices. Thousands of Jews have been forcibly expelled from their homes and turned into refugees. Entire towns and villages have been destroyed. And Arabs have their freedom of movement restricted by a military bureaucracy every day of their lives... Before Oslo there were no checkpoints or walls here and everyone could travel wherever they liked. Peoples lived together in a situation that may not have been perfect but was still much better than the situation we see today."
Breaking with the Right
HaKohen and ZFA broke away from Magshimey Herut in 2008 after he angered American neo-conservative groups by stating that:"There is nothing right-wing or conservative about wanting to keep our homeland free from foreign rule. If we are truly the indigenous natives in the conflict, then our cause should really be championed by liberal students everywhere. Especially since the Bush administration that occupies Iraq and imposes a Patriot Act on the American people is the very same administration pushing to ethnically cleanse the Jewish people from portions of our homeland."
HaKohen frequently used his radio program as a platform to challenge the linear political spectrum and to launch attacks on President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
, Evangelical Christians and America's military presence in Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
and Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
before eventually leaving INR in 2010.
In August 2011, HaKohen publicly opposed a Jerusalem rally organized by conservative American broadcaster Glenn Beck
Glenn Beck
Glenn Edward Lee Beck is an American conservative radio host, vlogger, author, entrepreneur, political commentator and former television host. He hosts the Glenn Beck Program, a nationally syndicated talk-radio show that airs throughout the United States on Premiere Radio Networks...
and other rightist figures, accusing the organizers of promoting a Christian agenda disrespectful of Jerusalem's indigenous culture. HaKohen also dismissed Beck's support for Israel as having imperialist motives, saying:
"Rightwing Americans like Glenn Beck may support the State of Israel, but that support is based on a flawed view of Israel as an American client state in the Middle East. Beck wants to see an Israel that serves as a Western satellite in the region and this directly conflicts with the Zionist goal of a politically independent Jewish state that expresses our authentic Hebrew culture and is capable of making peace with the other indigenous peoples of the Middle East... Zionism is about Jewish liberation and not about creating a 'Robin' to America's 'Batman' in the region."
Berkeley violence
On November 13 2008, violence erupted between ZFA and the Students for Justice in PalestineStudents for Justice in Palestine
Students for Justice in Palestine is a student organization which was first established at the University of California, Berkeley in 2001...
at an Israel Liberation Week event taking place at UC Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
. The incident, which took place during a concert featuring HaKohen along with hip hop artists from diverse ethnic backgrounds promoting freedom for Israel from Western pressure and foreign influence, began when pro-Palestinian students unfurled Palestinian flags from a balcony overlooking the concert stage. ZFA activists attempted to remove the flags and a fight broke out.
HaKohen told Israel National News that he opposed students attempting to remove the flags but nevertheless saw value in the incident.
"Even though I wanted to avoid the altercation, I recognize the value in anti-Israel activists getting put in their place by the very students they so often try to bully into silence… ZFA might not have started the violence but we definitely finished it. I hope members of Students for Justice in Palestine think twice next time they want to get physical with any of our students."