At Kahane memorial, Ben Gvir booed for saying he opposes expelling Arabs

Far-right leader MK Itamar Ben Gvir is booed during a speech he gives at a commemoration of the late racist rabbi Meir Kahane for taking issue with some of the ideas of his spiritual mentor.

Ben Gvir says that although he admires Kahane, he will not advance legislation to expel all Arabs from Israel and the West Bank or to create a regime of ethnic segregation as Kahane advocated, for which he is roundly booed by the audience.

“It is no secret that today I am not Rabbi Kahane and I do not support the deportation of all Arabs, and I will not enact laws for separate beaches,” he says to boos.

However, he is cheered for his vow to expel terrorists.

Present at the event are incoming Otzma MKs Yitzhak Vesselrov and Almog Cohen; together with Jerusalem deputy mayor Arieh King; Otzmah founder Baruch Marzel; leader of the Jewish supremacist Lehava organization Bentzi Gopstein; far-right rabbi Dov Lior and several hundred participants.

Marzel tells The Times of Israel he did not vote for Ben Gvir in the recent election because he has said he does not follow Kahane’s path, and will establish a new far-right party to contest future elections.

Like Kahane, Marzel has been barred from running for the Knesset in the past for his racist views.