Yehuda HaKohen
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Yehuda HaKohen (Hebrew: יהודה הכהן, also known as Yehuda Weisbrod) was born in 1979 and is an Israeli activist and internet radio personality on Arutz Sheva (channel seven). He is a leader in Magshimey Herut’s Zionist Freedom Alliance and has become a vocal critic of both government corruption and globalization in the Middle East. HaKohen lives with his family in eastern Jerusalem and like most Israeli settlers, advocates that all territory between the Mediterranean Sea and Jordan River rightfully belongs to the Jewish people. He therefore opposes attempts by the State of Israel to withdraw from Judea and Samaria as a violation of Jewish rights and an injustice against the Jewish nation. As a leader in the Magshimey Herut movement, HaKohen is active in social causes within Israeli society typically associated with left-wing politics.
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[edit] Early Life and Young Adulthood
Yehuda HaKohen was born Yehuda (or possibly Jason) Weisbrod in 1979 to Jewish immigrants in New York City. In 1995, Yehuda Weisbrod joined the Betar Revisionist Zionist youth movement. It is unknown how active he was with the movement or how much of an impact the group had on his life. Weisbrod attended the Dwight School between the years of 1994 and 1998. During his years at Dwight, Weisbrod befriended many students who would later become famous musicians, fashion models, publicists, and socialites. For a time he studied philosophy under the famed Radomir Kovacevic, who he later admitted had had a profound impact on his worldview.
After graduating from Dwight, Weisbrod attended Syracuse University and worked towards a degree in sociology with the stated objective of joining the New York Police Department. At some point during his sophomore year, he became politically active with a group of fellow Betar members who had left the movement over ideological differences and started a new organization called Magshimey Herut. Weisbrod joined Magshimey Herut’s New York chapter, then called the Jewish Identity Project, and eventually took on the role of education director for the group. The Jewish Identity Project ran Birthright Israel trips for college students, worked with Jewish youth at risk in the New York area, and organized numerous demonstrations against the Israeli government’s policy of relinquishing land (as part of the Middle East peace process). At some point during this time, Weisbrod became religiously observant.
In late 2000, the Oslo War erupted in Jerusalem and the Jewish Identity Project launched a series of aggressive demonstrations calling on the Israeli government to take stronger steps in defending Jewish lives. During the following months, Weisbrod expressed frustration about protesting in New York while young Jews in Israel were risking their lives in battle. In 2001, he dropped out of school and moved to Israel.
[edit] Israel
[edit] Am Segula
Arriving in Israel, Yehuda took the family name HaKohen and began studying in Jerusalem’s Machon Meir institute while awaiting his draft date into the Israel Defense Forces. During this time, HaKohen started an organization called Am Segula that later merged back into Magshimey Herut. Under HaKohen’s leadership, Am Segula organized weekend programs for American students in Israel to visit Israeli settlements.[1] This was significant because it was uncommon for American Jews during the early years of the Oslo War to travel to the settlements which many viewed as dangerous. Am Segula also held weekly classes in downtown Jerusalem where veteran activist Elie Yossef taught Zionist history. Yossef’s teachings had a profound affect on many Am Segula leaders, including HaKohen, who later began teaching the history course himself at Machon Meir and other institutions.
Under Yossef’s guidance, Am Segula launched a series of non-violent protests and hunger strikes in order to pressure the Israeli government to demand of the United States freedom for Jonathan Pollard.[2] [3] Yossef traveled to many high schools lecturing about the Pollard affair until the matter became a serious issue within Israeli society.
[edit] Settlement and Military Service
In early 2003, Am Segula merged into Magshimey Herut and teamed up with the K’Cholmim group to take control of a hilltop near the Kochav HaShachar settlement in Samaria. HaKohen lived in a caravan on the hilltop until he drafted into the Israel Defense Forces in June 2003. HaKohen served as an infantry soldier in the Netzah Yehuda Battalion, a special combat unit designed for highly religious soldiers often tasked with capturing Arabs wanted by Israel’s Shin Bet security services.
During his service in the army HaKohen married Lyat Gul, a Jewish girl from Afghanistan who had been active in Magshimey Herut. They lived for some time in Jerusalem’s Kiryat Moshe neighborhood before moving to an urban settlement next to the Mount of Olives in eastern Jerusalem. Upon finishing his military service, HaKohen was made coordinator for all Magshimey Herut activities in English speaking countries.[4]
[edit] Post Army
During the months leading up to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s controversial Gaza Disengagement, there was a fear among many Israelis that the divisive government policy was pushing Israeli society towards a civil war. While several prominent figures in the Israeli peace camp argued that such a conflict was desirable and ultimately constructive for Israel’s democratic character,[5] many in the national camp sought to avoid bloodshed between Jews. Yehuda HaKohen traveled the country speaking to left-wing youth movements in an attempt to encourage dialogue and build mutual understanding.[6]
Following the violent confrontation at Amona between the Israeli police and settler teenagers in early 2006, HaKohen and Yossef went on a three week hunger strike vigil protesting violence between Jews. The activists displayed banners and handed out flyers calling on both the Israeli government and settler leadership to seek out ways to avoid future bloodshed. Perhaps because this took place just before national elections, the hunger strike drew criticism from some settlers who had felt victimized by the government and sought to use the tragedy as a means to hurt the ruling Kadima party in the polls. The government had no official response to the vigil.[7]
As Magshimey Herut became more active on college campuses in North America, Yehuda HaKohen established the Zionist Freedom Alliance to serve as the student voice of Jewish liberation. In addition to advocating the Jewish right to Greater Israel, the ZFA became active on many human rights and social justice issues normally associated with left-wing politics. In 2006, HaKohen was recruited by Yavneh Olami director Ze’ev Orenstein to co-host an internet based radio program called Jewish Campus Radio on Arutz Sheva (channel seven). The program deals with all issues facing Jewish college students in the West but focuses primarily on Zionist activism.
[edit] Ideology
Since arriving in Israel, Yehuda HaKohen has written regular articles usually covering subjects in the Torah's weekly portion. These articles often carry strong political ramifications pertaining to current events.[8] From these writings and from Jewish Campus Radio, much can be discerned of Yehuda HaKohen’s worldview.
[edit] Land of Israel
HaKohen advocates that the entire land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people and that to divide the country would be an historic crime against the Jews. He has, however, attacked the arguments that Israel requires territory for security purposes. According to HaKohen, Israel’s rights are based on justice and morality, not security needs.[9]
[edit] Israeli Identity
Like other leaders in the ZFA, HaKohen asserts that the nation of Israel is Middle Eastern rather than Western. Many problems facing the Jewish people, according to HaKohen, stem from the fact that Jewish leaders often wish to behave and be viewed as Westerners, a phenomenon that leads to Israel being judged by Western standards. HaKohen views himself and the entire Jewish people as indigenous to the Middle East, despite having suffered a lengthy exile from the region.[10]
HaKohen often urges Jews to view themselves as characters in history. He has often contended that the true divisive differences among Jews is not the divide between right and left or between religious and secular. According to HaKohen, the real divergence is between Jews who see themselves as living in Jewish history and those who see themselves as merely living in the modern world.
[edit] National Unity
On numerous occasions, HaKohen has expressed that love for every Jew is central to his beliefs. He has been known to use the metaphor of a tree when discussing the Jewish people. “It is sometimes difficult to like certain individual branches. But when one possesses a love for the entire tree as a single entity, that love then flows to each and every branch regardless of their merits or faults.” HaKohen has been active in several initiatives geared at bridging gaps and alleviating hostilities between Jews of opposing political views.
[edit] Religion and State
HaKohen believes that a separation between religion and state is a Western invention that works well for Christian societies but has no place in the Middle East. Part of Middle Eastern identity, according to HaKohen, is a healthy connection between religion and national life. HaKohen opposes the notion of state enforced religious observance but supports the idea of stronger Jewish identity in areas of public life and argues that the Torah holds answers for many of Israel's current national challenges.[11]
[edit] Politics
Magshimey Herut takes positions on numerous issues that contradict the notion of a linear political spectrum. For example, the organization advocates a very hard right position on Israel’s borders while taking left-wing positions on social and economic issue. Yehuda HaKohen has often stated on his radio program that Western political labels do not fit Israeli issues. Positions such as left, right, liberal, and conservative are positions for Westerners with the comfort and luxury of philosophical opinions. As a Middle Eastern nation, Israel should fight to secure her borders, freedom, and survival in a hostile region. At the same time, Israel should work to build a moral society that will serve as an example of social justice to other nations.[12]
[edit] Economics
HaKohen has never clearly stated his economic positions but has often advocated policies that could appear somewhat socialist. He has, however, attacked the idea of big government and excessive state control.[13]
[edit] Globalization
HaKohen believes that globalization in its current form leads to the exploitation of poor countries by wealthier ones and the imposition of Western values on traditional cultures (such as Israel). He has also attacked globalization for undermining the notion of national sovereignty and depriving small nation-states of their inherent right to self determination. HaKohen is suspicious that the forces of global economics seek to amalgamate continents into unified blocks like the European Union, therefore contradicting the basic tenets of Zionism and directly threatening Israel’s existence as a small Jewish state situated in a mostly Arab region.[14]
