Israel may place hardline Jewish group on terrorist list
WASHINGTON — In November, a bilingual Arabic and Hebrew school in Jerusalem was set on fire and vandalized by a group of right-wing hardliners. The arsonists scrawled slogans such as “Death to Arabs,” “You can’t coexist with cancer,” and “Enough with assimilation” on the walls of a classroom in the school, which strives to set an example for Israeli-Palestinian coexistence. In the weeks that followed, Israeli authorities detained 21 suspects connected to the Lehava extremist group on charges of incitement to hatred. Three youths, two 18-year-olds and a 20-year-old, have been charged with carrying out the act. Now, after remarks by Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon, it appears that the government is considering listing Lehava as a terrorist group and banning it. “I have turned to legal elements in the defence establishment and in the Shin Bet with a request to examine the possibility of defining Lehava as an illegal association,” Yaalon said Monday, referring to Israel’s top internal security agency. “I did this because we cannot as a country allow racist phenomenon to endanger in a substantial way the fabric of life here.” Lehava is the Hebrew acronym for the Prevention of Assimilation in the Holy Land. It is also a pun on the Hebrew word for flame. The group gained notoriety in August when it picketed and attempt- ed to disrupt the wedding of a Jewish woman who had converted to Islam and an Arab man in central Israel. Lehava activists have focused their efforts primarily on intimidating young Arabs and Jews, particularly Jewish women, to prevent them from intermingling. One Lehava member recently bragged to an undercover reporter that the group had “saved” more than 200 Israeli women over the past four years. Lehava also wants Israeli businesses not to offer jobs to Palestinian men from the West Bank and East Jerusalem.