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The Kahanists have already entered the Knesset once.

The chairman of the Mishkan was appalled by the bills he submitted

Former Knesset Speaker Shlomo Hillel, who passed away this week, was adamant against the proposals of the leader of the movement, testifying that he was "mentally incapable" of putting them on the agenda.

"It was a real ideological struggle for him"

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• Shlomo Hillel

• Michael Eitan

• Meir Kahana

• Shlomo Lahat

• racism

Eli Ashkenazi

Saturday, February 13, 2021, 11:00 p.m.

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An orderly worldview against racism.

Hillel (Photo: Government Press Office, Fritz Cohen)

Shlomo Hillel, who passed away this week, was known as the Speaker of a State Knesset who maintained the honor of the House, but during his tenure he found himself defiant in the High Court's decision, and found it difficult to implement it. The day of the Knesset, to the displeasure of Hillel, whose remarks in those days illustrate how much he was tormented.

"I am not mentally able to bring to the Knesset table racist bills by MK Kahana," he told friends, and even considered retiring.

Hillel was 62 years old at the time, and who had known decades of daring activities within the framework of the Haganah organization and in the operations of the illegal immigration of Iraqi Jews to Israel.

This time he faced a different challenge, but it seemed that he was no less important to him in shaping the face of the country.

In the mid-1980s, he stood firm in the face of attempts to raise the head of racism, most notably fighting MK Kahana, the leader of the "So" movement.

The 11th Knesset, of which Hillel was chairman, served from August 1984 to November 1988. Not only her long tenure It seems unusual today, but also its ability to function and lead significant processes despite serving alongside a unity government between the two major parties, the Alignment and the Likud, in conjunction with other parties.

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An almost outcast figure in the Tabernacle.

Meir Kahana in Rishon Lezion, 1990 (Photo: Reuven Castro)

Great love was not there, and from time to time clashes broke out that even led to the dismissal of Finance Minister Yitzhak Modai by Prime Minister Shimon Peres, and deep disagreements between Peres and Yitzhak Shamir over the "London Agreement" that tried to promote Peres with King Hussein of Jordan.

But the two governments, initially led by Peres and two years later led by Shamir, managed to join forces, managed to eradicate insane inflation and withdrew the IDF to the security zone in southern Lebanon.

Election of a chairman to the House of Representatives was not part of the agreement between the parties. was the struggle between Shlomo Hillel Alignment Meir Cohen Avidov be linked. Knesset corridors embroidered deals and flew promises, negotiators were running and the vote was postponed twice, and finally won praise at 60 supporters, while for Cohen Avidov voted only 46 MKs.

Moshe Shahal, then senior Shalom Peres almost broke the promise to praise Hillel, who was one of the drafters of the coalition agreement, and considered placing Abba Even as a candidate. Shahal, who was appointed energy minister and liaison minister between the government and the Knesset, threatened to resign - and Peres returned.

"Hillel was a man of principles."

Moshe Shahal (Photo: Reuven Castro)

Hillel, the ninth Speaker of the Knesset, expected a significant challenge. Rabbi Meir Kahana, the leader of the Kach movement, was elected to the 11th Knesset. Kahana advocated racist and anti-democratic ideas and openly called for the expulsion of Arab citizens from Israel. as well as the list of "progressive peace movement", on the left side of the political spectrum. the Supreme Court accepted the appeal filed lists and ran in the elections, after which representatives were elected. Kahane entered as the sole representative from his list.

Hillel, Speaker of the House, stood openly in front of Kahana , But he was not alone.

There was a wall-to-wall agreement in the Knesset that the views of a "so" leader could not win a sympathetic ear in the Israeli House of Representatives.

In view of the agreement between most of the House factions, Kahana's speeches would be heard in front of an almost empty Knesset.

Members of Knesset would demonstrate when he spoke, and he was an almost ostracized figure in the Mishkan.

This led to members of youth movements preventing him from speaking at a conference in Givatayim.

Shahal, who immigrated from Iraq as a child in the illegal immigration operation led by Hillel and defines him as a "big brother" and a "role model," is not surprised by Hillel's conduct regarding Kahana.

"Throughout his life, and also as Speaker of the Knesset, he was a man with a deep sense of justice and with solid positions that he stood for.

It was impossible to bend him when he decided to fight for things of principle, and for him the struggle against Kahanism was a real ideological struggle.

"He was a man of principles who was not willing to be flexible and change his position," he said.

"Israeli democracy is sufficiently immune"

Kahana's presence in the House of Representatives and his extremist statements repeatedly stretched the boundaries that demarcate democracy.

Thus, for example, shortly after the establishment of the 11th Knesset, the Knesset committee debated how to narrow Kahana's steps, and discussed the issue of whether his movements could be restricted in the face of agitating visits he made to Arab localities, with racist remarks.

Michael Eitan then compared laws proposed by Kahana with the Nuremberg Laws, and even speculated that these were an inspiration for him.

Kahana accepted the treatment he was receiving, and turned to Hillel, claiming that he was going through a "daily lynching" in the Knesset, as he put it.

He claimed that "the Knesset has fallen into the hands of a chairman who is not even trying to hide his blind hatred for us."

Hillel, for his part, did not hesitate to whip Kahana.

For example, when Kahana called out to MK Yossi Sarid that he was a "sick person," Hillel did not hold back, as the Speaker of the House made almost no interim readings, and exclaimed: "I suggest you do not determine who is sick here.

This is not in your favor. "In another case, he sculpted nine queries submitted by Kahana because of their" aggressive wording. "

"He does not know how to get out of the dilemma."

Maariv, November 8, 1985 (Photo: Official Website, Maariv Archive, National Library Collection)

Things reached a climax when Hillel and the Knesset presidency rejected two private bills by a "so" leader.

The first - the "Israeli Citizenship Law and the Exchange of Jewish and Arab Population" - sought to stipulate that only a member of the Jewish people would be entitled to be a citizen of the State of Israel.

The second - "Law for the Prevention of Assimilation between Jews and Non-Jews and for the Holiness of the People of Israel" - sought to repeal all government plans that might create ties between Jews and Arabs.

The Knesset presidency justified its decision not to place these proposals on the Knesset table, claiming that the bills include "racist remarks that are insulting, whose place will not be recognized by law, and since they violate the values ​​on which the State of Israel is based and its democratic character and dignity."

Kahana petitioned the High Court and the court rarely intervened in the work of the Knesset. The panel headed by Aharon Barak ruled that despite the fact that "both bills violate the basic principles of our constitutional regime, evoke horrific memories and harm the democratic nature of the State of Israel." ..] that they should be put on the agenda of the Knesset ... precisely because of the same values ​​of democracy. "The

High Court added that the anti-democratic platform of the" so "movement was known before the election, and its participation in the election was nevertheless approved.

Once Kahana is elected on this platform, the Knesset presidency may not prevent him from submitting a bill whose entire purpose is to fulfill his platform.

"Do not allow bills of a racist nature to be submitted."

Maariv, November 14, 1985 (Photo: Official Website, Maariv Archive, National Library Collection)

Hillel received praise in the media for his steadfast stand against the manifestations of racism, but on the other hand there were also those who criticized him for not accepting the High Court ruling. An opinion piece in Maariv wrote about Hillel that he "disrupts the country's legal system and can not refuse to comply. The rulings of the Supreme Judicial Authority. "This article further states that" Kahana is a marginal phenomenon "and that" anti-democratic phenomena cannot be fought in an anti-democratic way.

"

Finally, after many debates, the Knesset committee succeeded in drafting an amendment to the Knesset regulations that would be acceptable to most members of the House. According to this amendment, it will not be possible to submit bills of a racist nature.

Racism - like a bacterium of a contagious disease

Even outside the Knesset, Hillel fought Kahanism with all his might.

When the Tel Aviv Municipality invited Kahana to speak at a Hyde Park-style debate stage at the Youth City events, he sent an angry letter to Tel Aviv Mayor Shlomo ("Chich") Lahat.

"In a democracy, freedom of speech must be maintained, but there is no obligation to give a stage to anyone who comes to harm the very essence of democracy, which is respect for the rights of all citizens of the country, regardless of religion, race or nationality, as stated in the Declaration of Independence," he wrote. "The mind does not tolerate giving a public stage to those who want to harm the Declaration of Independence and preach the racism that is forbidden by Israeli law and arouses perspiration in the hearts of every Jew, the people who were the victims of this accursed Torah."

Lahat replied that "the personal disgust of a person's opinions, the horror they provoke, and the apprehension associated with them are not a reason in a democratic state to shut up, according to the principles of democracy."

However, Hillel insisted and replied: "If you knew, for example, that someone was going to use Hyde Park to come up with an idea to murder these or other people, or beat them, nothing even then we had to 'sanctify' freedom of speech and make it available to the public."

(Photo: Official website, Maariv Archive, National Library Collection)

Shahal mentions that Hillel's struggles for equality were then also reflected in his standing alongside the Ethiopian immigrants.

Already when he was Minister of the Interior for a short period in 1977, he applied the Law of Return to the immigrants from Ethiopia, despite the opposition of the NRP. When he was chairman of the Spanish Federation in Israel, he included representatives of immigrants, and when he was Speaker of the Knesset he was one of the most prominent. From Ethiopia,

it seems that Hillel took over as chairman came with a sharp and clear worldview regarding racism. Perhaps it was his childhood in Iraq and later, during his activities to raise Iraqi Jews, when he closely experienced the great rift experienced by the ancient community in the face of its neighbors' backlash and manifestations of anti-Semitism. and identification of the Iraqi government with Nazi ideas.

nearly 40 years later, when he sits on the throne of Israel Knesset speaker, after a public career rich areas of illegal immigration, politics and diplomacy, is celebrated in the house the date of birth of Martin Luther King.

"As a people who have been a constant victim of racism, its antisemitic incarnations and intolerance, we feel deep sympathy and appreciation for this wonderful warrior," he said in his speech, quoting Luther King himself: "History shows that racism can grow and destroy peoples, like a bacterium of infectious disease." .

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