Behind the Scenes of Kahane’s Expulsion

Samuel Shoshan, a New York engineer and close supporter of Rabbi Meir Kahane, national chairman of the Jewish Defense League, told me that he was with Rabbi Kahane until the rabbi left Brussels after having been expelled. He told me they were treated well by the Belgian police. in fact they were not arrested but merely held for questioning. The American Consul immediately intervened to ascertain the facts, After four hours of quite pleasant conversation in which Kahane said he would not discuss ideology with the police, a point the interrogators did not press, Rabbi Kahane was told that he would have to leave Belgium on the same day on an order of the Foreign Minister. Shoshan was told he was free to stay in Brussels. Rabbi Kahane then left Brussels. Dov Sperling, an Israeli supporter of the 38-year-old rabbi, told me he had met Rabbi Kahane at Brussels Airport on Wednesday morning. They went immediately to the conference hall and told the steward, a Belgian Jewish youth, that the rabbi wanted to send a note to the chairman of the conference.

They were admitted to the lobby and the rabbi wrote his note and sent it up. Meanwhile, television cameras gathered around and the Belgian security people were alerted, Rabbi Kahane received a reply from the conference chairman saying that they would have to consider whether to admit him, Where upon several stewards told him that he cannot stay in the lobby. He left with Sperling. On their way to the hotel they were approached by three security men who politely told the rabbi that both must come with them. Shoshan was also asked to come. Sperling was held for only two hours. There is not a scrap of evidence that anybody in the conference had anything to do with the arrest. In fact. a high ranking Belgian official told me: “We read the Herald Tribune (of Paris) and we know who Kahane is. Our purpose was merely to ensure that there are no unpleasant incidents in our capital and we were not involved in the whole matter otherwise. We have never had an approach from anybody connected with the conference in which Kahane or his supporters were mentioned.” Rumors about Arthur Goldberg trying to arrange a meeting between the conference presidium and Soviet Jewish Gen, David Dragunsky are completely unfounded.

It transpires that there were a number of messages to the conference by Soviet Jews in various parts of Russia which never reached the conference. One, Ilya Zilberg, telephoned Israel and asked them to ascertain if messages arrived in Brussels. Some private persons in Brussels had similar telephone enquiries from Russia. Grisha Feigin told me in a special interview that “Jews of the world do not do enough for Israel. Having come out of Russia and gone to Israel, I am perhaps in a better position to assess the importance of Israel for the Jewish present and future than those of you who know it intimately from its beginnings. In the light of this overwhelming experience on reaching Israeli, I take the liberty of saying that Jews of the world do not do enough for Israel. At the same time I can only endorse what has been said on the platform, namely that the campaign for Soviet Jews has not been as effective as it might have been. but this I can see, is now being remedied.”