I BOOKS
Taking On Meir Kahane
Robert I. Friedman has been criticized as a self-hating Jew for his scathing portrait of the JDL
founder but says his book is performing a service for the Jewish people and Israel.
JAMES D. BESSER
Washington Correspondent
R
obert I. Friedman's
fascination with Meir
Kahane goes back
more than a decade, and it
gives his book, The False
Prophet: From FBI Infor-
mant to Knesset Member, a
subjective, personal quality
that incenses some critics —
and wins praise from others.
Mr. Friedman, a 39-year-
old journalist, is open about
his biases; this is no exercise
in rigorously objective,
newspaper-style journalism.
"I say what my biases are
right in the prologue," he
said in a recent interview. "I
think that Kahane is a dan-
gerous guy; after five or six
pages, the reader knows
where I stand, and they can
decide whether or not to
continue. I certainly never
wrote the book to hurt Isra-
el, or to defame Zionism. But
I've been accused of that re-
peatedly since the book
came out."
Mr. Friedman's interest in
Rabbi Kahane began in
1979, when he was a gradu-
ate student with a burning
desire to specialize in Middle
East reporting.
One of the requirements of
his program was that he
spend some time in the Mid-
dle East. Mr. Friedman
landed in Israel and began
looking for stories. A stroke
of good fortune provided
him with the topic that
would shape the next decade
of his life.
Mr. Friedman says he was
"stunned" when he read an
article by Rabbi Kahane in
the Jerusalem Post which
analyzed Israel's demo-
graphic problem, and dis-
cussed Israel's choice be-
tween Zionism and democ-
racy regarding the growing
Arab population.
Mr. Friedman was shock-
ed by Rabbi Kahane's con-
clusion that Arabs should be
transferred out of Israel, but
he was impressed with the
rabbi's analysis of the prob-
lem and the fact that he was
dealing with an issue others
were ignoring.
Based on that original Je-
rusalem Post story, Mr.
Although Mr.
Friedman expected
his book to
generate
controversy, he was
unprepared for the
personal criticism
that greeted its
publication.
Friedman called Rabbi
Kahane and asked for an in-
terview. De'sptite the fact
that Mr. Friedfnan was only
a graduate student, the cha-
rismatic and controversial
rabbi opened his door.
"I learned later that he
was about at the lowest
point in his political career
at that time," Mr. Friedman
said. "He had already run
twice for the Knesset and
failed to win the one percent
necessary to get a single
seat. When I met him, he
46 FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1990
had just a handful of Ameri-
can Jewish supporters
around him — kids with long
hair and black leather j ack-
ets, who were making mis-
chief in Jerusalem and in the
territories. Nobody in the
Jerusalem press was paying
any attention to him."
Rabbi Kahane gave Mr.
Friedman a series of long in-
terviews that formed the ba-
sis of his current book. He
also allowed the writer to
follow him to a number of
speaking engagements, and
once on a foray in the West
Bank. This last incident,
along with Mr. Friedman's
strong revulsion over the
beating of a random Arab
man, are featured promi-
nently in the book's pro-
logue.
After his graduation, Mr.
Friedman returned to the
Middle East frequently on
freelance assignments. No
matter the assignment, his
fascination with Rabbi
Kahane continued.
"I would always look up
Kahane," he said. "He was
very nice to me, and I could
see how kids respond so well
to him; he can be so char-
ming and charismatic and
soft spoken. He looks right
at you. If you're young and
having problems, he be-
comes your counselor, your
friend, your rabbi. I'd look
him up, we'd eat, we'd drink,
he'd try to get me to do ar-
ticles on him."
But those personal
qualities are matched by a
dark side, Mr. Friedman
said. "He has always been
able to find young, often
very good-hearted Jews who
want to prove their love for
the Jewish state. And then
I've seen him turn his back
on countless numbers of
young people who went to
prison because they were
carrying out his violent
preachings. He doesn't raise
money for them, he doesn't
visit them, he doesn't help
their families."
One of the keys to Rabbi
Kahane's success, Mr.
Friedman said, is his ability
to appeal to opposing con-
stituencies.
"He has his secular fol-
lowers, who don't listen to
his religious message and
tune into the militant na-
tionalist message. And he
has his religious followers
who are tuned in to both the
political and religious mes-
sage. He's the only example
I can think of in modern Is-
raeli politics who has fused
Jabotinsky's brand of Zi-
onism with militant Messi-
anic Jewish nationalism."
Although Mr. Friedman
expected his book to gener-
ate controversy, he was un-
prepared for the personal
criticism that greeted its
publication.
In particular, Mr. Fried-
man was hurt and angered
by a review of his book that
appeared in the New York
Times Book Review
a re-
view, he argued, that at-
tacks his loyalty as a Jew,
not just his book.
"He [reviewer Robert
Leiter] accused me of doing
a hatchet job on Kahane, if
one could do that, and on
Zionism, and on Israel. He
doesn't review the book. It's
a sustained attack on me.
He describes me as, in effect,
an enemy of the Jewish peo-
ple.
Mr. Friedman, who is cur-
rently under contract with
Random House to write a
book about the West Bank
settlement movement, says
he is deeply pained at depic-
tions of himself as a self-
hating Jew. He says he is a
journalist who cares deeply
about Israel and sees no
contradiction between
"telling the truth and being
sensitive to the survival arid
well-being of the Jewish
state."
He says he has no regrets
about writing the Kahane
—
book because he believes it
is important to "expose Isra-
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