Res. Major General Rehavam (Gandhi) Zeevi, a confirmed right-wing hawk, launched his new Moledet (Motherland) political party at its inaugural meeting Tuesday night, firmly nailing the motto “transfer” to his masthead as the main plank in the party’s political platform.
The meeting was attended by several hundred people, mainly older citizens, who applauded wildly every time Zeevi mentioned the word “transfer.”
Zeevi, presently director of Tel Aviv’s Land of Israel Museum at Ramat Aviv, insists he plans to remove the Arabs from Israel only by agreement with them, and not by force.
He told the gathering that he dares to say aloud — that the Arabs should be removed from Israel — what many Israelis feel in their hearts.
“He has brought the idea of the transfer of the Arabs out of the closet and presented it to the public view, for their consideration and acceptance,” his supporters say.
Meir Kahane’s Kach party also openly promotes the idea of the forced transfer of Arabs from Israel to the Arab states. The right-wing Tehiya party also supports the idea, but is less blatant in pressing for it as an open policy.
According to a Modiin Ezrachi public opinion poll published in Maariv Wednesday, there has been a marked political shift to the right since the start of the Palestinian uprising nine months ago.
While 53 percent of the 1,278 people questioned said they had not changed their political position since the unrest began, 32 percent said they had become more hawkish, while 14 percent said they had shifted to the left and were more dovish today than previously.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
