Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

IDF vets train NY Jewish paramilitaries
The Jerusalem Post ^ | July 25, 2008 | HAVIV RETTIG

Posted on 07/27/2008 8:41:08 AM PDT by ChicagoHebrew

onatan Stern, the "Sgan Mefaked Hakita" (deputy squad commander) of Kitat Konenut New York, insists his "paramilitary emergency armed response team" is no "group of vigilantes or a JDL [Jewish Defense League]." Members of Kitat Konenut New...

Members of Kitat Konenut New York pose in a photo posted on the group's Facebook page. Photo: Courtesy Slideshow: Pictures of the week

"The goal of the organization is to have a competent and professional group of armed volunteers ready to respond to a threat at a moment's notice in any area where Jews reside," explains the Israeli combat veteran.

"We do not carry out demonstrations or political activity of any kind as we have no political agenda. Our agenda is to protect Jews wherever and whenever necessary and by any means needed."

On Friday, the third session of the group's training camp will begin in the Catskills woodlands of upstate New York, on land belonging to a Jewish supporter of the organization. With tuition at $400, the group expects 15 participants and five instructors for the 10 days of training. Participation has doubled since the group began three years ago.

Kitat Konenut New York is modeled on the rapid response teams in the West Bank settlements that are often the first to act when terrorist attacks or other emergencies take place. The group bills itself as religious-Zionist but nonpolitical.

American Jews have "felt a false sense of security in the United States," Stern believes, "because historically there has been less anti-Semitism than in other countries. But there have been incidents - neo-Nazi terrorist attacks, Arab terrorist attacks. Jews have to be vigilant."

"The threat is not from the American people or government," he adds, but from "terrorist sleeper cells that want to target Jews. These people are very dangerous and the FBI issues warnings against them very often," he said, citing the FBI's warning, after the killing of Hizbullah operations chief Imad Mughniyeh in Damascus in February, that the Lebanese group might carry out terror attacks on Jewish communities.

"The average American is friendly to Jews, but we're worried about those individuals on the periphery of society," Stern says.

The group was founded in the summer of 2006 in response to the shooting attack at the Jewish federation of Seattle premises by local Muslim Naveed Haq.

"We realized there is a need for this kind of organization, and as Israeli combat veterans living in the US, we have the skills and ability to respond to this," Stern says.

The group's MySpace page details the camp's regimen, which includes training in the IDF's Krav Maga martial art, use of non-lethal weapons and identification of suspicious objects, but also sharpshooter and assault rifle training, infantry exercises and endurance marches. Explanatory literature lists a large number of weapons with which participants can expect to train.

"We believe all Jews in the US must be legally armed and trained," Stern says, "and towards this goal we hold paramilitary training camps to train and equip Jewish American youth."

The group's literature notes emphatically that all firearms used in training "are 100% legal and in compliance with all federal, state and local laws."

"We strongly believe in the constitutional right to bear arms and we express this right to its fullest," it adds.

The group claims to be "well-connected with the New York police and fire departments" and it invites "all members of the law enforcement community to join in our life-saving activities."

Stern says, "We are all legally armed and carry radios and cellphones" during all hours of the day, and even on Shabbat, "as we need to be constantly ready to respond to any incident."

The camp literature also promises discussions on Torah and Halacha, understanding and confronting terrorism, fighting anti-Semitism, the history of the Zionist movement in the Land of Israel, and encouraging participants to "know your rights and learn how every American can and must be legally armed and how to express the Second Amendment" - the right to bear arms.

Funded by tuition money and a handful of private donors, the group does not exclude secular Jews, Stern says, but asks that they respect the Orthodox nature of the camp by observing Shabbat in public and refraining from bringing non-kosher food.

"We wouldn't have a problem with non-Jews coming either," says Stern, "but no non-Jew has applied thus far."


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Israel; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: guns; heller; israel; secondamendment
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 121-140141-160161-180 ... 241-255 next last
To: spanalot
How are they IDF anything?
Was my Tae Kwan Do class an Korean paramilitary?
141 posted on 07/27/2008 6:56:40 PM PDT by rmlew (Liberalism is like AIDS; it destroys the natural defenses of a nation or civilization.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 51 | View Replies]

To: PapaBear3625

Bloomberg’s a definitional self-hating Liberal. If he protects anyone of Jewish persuasion, I’m a Chinese astronaut...


142 posted on 07/27/2008 7:00:41 PM PDT by castlebrew (Gun control means hitting where you intended to!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 136 | View Replies]

To: 1COUNTER-MORTER-68

Where’s the Viking Kitties when you need them? Way past time for a ZOT! on a certain troll...


143 posted on 07/27/2008 7:08:02 PM PDT by castlebrew (Gun control means hitting where you intended to!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 135 | View Replies]

To: PA Engineer

“Read each word slowly”

I did and it still has the same racist an extremist agenda - no different than the KKK or the Black Panthers.

“Our agenda is to protect Jews wherever and whenever necessary and by any means needed.”

And right now, it is apparent that these paramilitary Israelis, you and your ilk are no friends to Jewry.


144 posted on 07/27/2008 7:34:19 PM PDT by spanalot
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 100 | View Replies]

To: castlebrew
!NO ZOT! Image and video hosting by TinyPic We'll Strike OIL If You'll Just HUSH!!! BWAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!(hurt myself)...;0)
145 posted on 07/27/2008 7:34:52 PM PDT by 1COUNTER-MORTER-68 (THROWING ANOTHER BULLET-RIDDLED TV IN THE PILE OUT BACK~~~~~)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 143 | View Replies]

To: abu afak

Actually it was just an expression of speech - as an antisemite has more to fear in Brooklyn than in Tel Aviv, the former of which has more Jews than the latter.


146 posted on 07/27/2008 7:35:56 PM PDT by spanalot
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 118 | View Replies]

To: ExpatGator

” I’d be glad to discuss the operating system differences between the M14 and M16”

Did you prefer the open or peeps on the 14?


147 posted on 07/27/2008 7:43:54 PM PDT by spanalot
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 105 | View Replies]

To: SJackson

“other than I’m a Jew, what else do you have on me?”

With a friend like you, Jews need no enemies.

Your position here would be despised by most American Jews I know.

Now go get your commie AK47 like in the picture in this article you like so much and chase the skinheads under your bed in Brooklyn.


148 posted on 07/27/2008 7:50:27 PM PDT by spanalot
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 112 | View Replies]

To: PA Engineer

“From your response I call you a liar”

“I couldn’t even give you a clue.”

Why do I want to say that American is not your first language? Where did you come from, PA engineer? Mockba?


149 posted on 07/27/2008 7:53:03 PM PDT by spanalot
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 115 | View Replies]

To: spanalot

As I said before: I’ll not allow you to deflect from addressing the facts presented against your argument. I have kids, so I won’t fall for your diversion. Good try though.


150 posted on 07/27/2008 7:54:36 PM PDT by ExpatGator (Extending logic since 1961.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 147 | View Replies]

To: forkinsocket

Syrians, Iraqis and Persians are all fanatic about their origins.


151 posted on 07/27/2008 7:55:14 PM PDT by ChicagoHebrew (Hell exists, it is real. It's a quiet green meadow populated entirely by Arab goat herders.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 120 | View Replies]

To: abu afak

“the old dead horse accident USS Liberty “

Oh really.

You call the sustained attack over the period of 40 minutes by Israeli naval and air forces an “accident”

You call the cowardly attack on an unarmed ship that left 208 dead and wounded US Naval men an “old dead horse”.

Maybe one of these IDF “retirees” retired from that battle?

What are you doing at FR. I dont think you belong here.

http://www.gtr5.com/


152 posted on 07/27/2008 8:00:05 PM PDT by spanalot
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 118 | View Replies]

To: castlebrew

http://www.gtr5.com/

Lets hear you chirp now.


153 posted on 07/27/2008 8:02:11 PM PDT by spanalot
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 131 | View Replies]

To: wastedyears

Yes, but the very BIG PROBLEM IS THAT THEY ARE PROVIDING PROTECTION ONLY TO JEWS.


154 posted on 07/27/2008 8:04:34 PM PDT by spanalot
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 130 | View Replies]

To: PapaBear3625

Every American that I know qualifies with an NRA sponsored program.

They dont hire foreign military to put together paramilitary units with AK47s


155 posted on 07/27/2008 8:07:00 PM PDT by spanalot
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 136 | View Replies]

To: ChicagoHebrew

I’ve never seen anyone else go as far as to wave Moroccan flags in the middle of Israel, sing the Moroccan national anthem, & threaten to knife anyone who puts down their beloved Morocco.


156 posted on 07/27/2008 8:10:18 PM PDT by forkinsocket
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 151 | View Replies]

To: rmlew; Jim Robinson

“the assassination of Meier Kahane”

Heads of state are assassinated, not leftist scum.

And you use this to justify Israeli run paramilitary in this country?

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! You want KibutzKommie.com and not Free Republic.


157 posted on 07/27/2008 8:10:59 PM PDT by spanalot
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 138 | View Replies]

To: Stentor

Why don’t let them catch you limping? What if you messed up an ankle?


158 posted on 07/27/2008 8:14:55 PM PDT by wastedyears (Show me your precious darlings, and I will crush them all)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 134 | View Replies]

To: spanalot
Stay on topic, spamalot. Since when was the Liberty part of the discussion? It's not mentioned in the article under consideration.

Answer the question, big man: What are you doing for this country - are you ready to fulfill your duty as a member of the militia, or are you still just sitting on your thumb there in the basement waiting for someone to bail out your sorry a**?

It would've indeed been better for you to have lurked and been thought a fool, rather than to have posted and thus removed all doubt...

159 posted on 07/27/2008 8:18:24 PM PDT by castlebrew (Gun control means hitting where you intended to!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 153 | View Replies]

To: rmlew

“right-wing Jews defending themselves and their communities and detering Islamist violence “

Israeli run paramilitary militias in the US is not a 2nd amendment right. And if Israel wanted to stop Islamist violence, why were half a dozen Israeli operatives high fiving when the WTC went down?

http://www.todayscatholicworld.com/mossad-agents-911.htm


160 posted on 07/27/2008 8:20:45 PM PDT by spanalot
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 139 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 121-140141-160161-180 ... 241-255 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson