{"id":112421,"date":"2017-02-01T08:58:47","date_gmt":"2017-02-01T16:58:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=112421"},"modified":"2017-02-02T10:27:42","modified_gmt":"2017-02-02T18:27:42","slug":"kahanists-embrace-trump-but-are-divided-on-alt-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=112421","title":{"rendered":"Kahanists Embrace Trump \u2014 But Are Divided on \u2018Alt-Right\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Forward<\/a>:<\/p>\n

A Twitter user known as AltRabbi wrote online, \u201cClosest thing jews have had to alt right was kahane.\u201d<\/p>\n

AltRabbi is known online as a religious Jew who is sympathetic to the \u201calt-right.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSecular Jews in US are so severly [sic] SJW that they are lost,\u201d he wrote, using an acronym for \u201csocial justice warrior,\u201d a pejorative term for activists.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of people watch Torah classes organized by Baron, who admires the ways the \u201calt-right\u201d has harnessed the internet.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some lessons to learn from them in the way they reach out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

A recent flare-up in Whitefish, Montana, brought the generational divisions of the movement into sharp relief.<\/p>\n

Neo-Nazis pledged to carry out an armed march against local Jews in Whitefish, where Spencer lives part time. Spencer did not endorse the march, and quietly distanced himself from the anti-Semitic campaign, but the clear ideological links between the \u201calt-right\u201d and Nazism were laid bare.<\/p>\n

This caused members of the older JDL generation to take a stand.<\/p>\n

Meir Weinstein, national director of Canada\u2019s JDL, told the Forward he was more than willing to confront Spencer and neo-Nazis in person.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat guy\u2019s going to get his head kicked in. He\u2019s a Nazi, this guy\u2019s a Nazi,\u201d Weinstein said of Spencer in a phone interview.<\/p>\n

But others, like Stern, are taking a more tempered approach: \u201cWe\u2019re not going to work with Nazis \u2014 God forbid \u2014 but there are factions within the \u2018alt-right\u2019 where there is a commonality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stern hopes that Spencer might \u201cdenounce all forms of Nazism.\u201d Spencer has complicated views on Jews and Israel and does not call himself a Nazi \u2014 preferring instead white \u201cidentitarian.\u201d Still, it is unlikely that he will \u201cdisavow\u201d any of his neo-Nazi supporters.<\/p>\n

In an email to the Forward, Stern asked: \u201cWhy shouldn\u2019t we associate ourselves with a charismatic and extremely popular rising figure within the MAGA movement who agrees with us on most issues, but has some problematic followers?\u201d<\/p>\n

In Stern\u2019s eyes, \u201cwhite nationalism is not akin to Nazism,\u201d and white nationalists \u201cdo not necessarily hate Jews or non-whites.\u201d Sterns message went on: \u201cThey simply want the best for their race. And Jews are white too btw, so why should we object to that?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are looking to make an alliance with people on the right, but that doesn\u2019t include people who you would call Nazis,\u201d Baron said, trying to clarify the Kahanist camp\u2019s position. \u201cWe do connect to people who have an American nationalist viewpoint.\u201d<\/p>\n

While it is unlikely that Spencer will develop a formal alliance with Kahanist elements, both they and the more established JDL movement are part of a swell of nationalist groups angling for revivals, according to researchers who monitor radical groups.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis time seems to be ripe for extremist movements of all types,\u201d said Oren Segal, the director of the Anti-Defamation League\u2019s Center on Extremism. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t be surprised if we see this Kahanist ideology grow online.\u201d<\/p>\n

Faybyshenko has high hopes for his re-energized movement.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s something being reborn,\u201d he said. \u201cEspecially after the election results, we now see that people are waking up.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Forward: A Twitter user known as AltRabbi wrote online, \u201cClosest thing jews have had to alt right was kahane.\u201d AltRabbi is known online as a religious Jew who is sympathetic to the \u201calt-right.\u201d \u201cSecular Jews in US are so … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42720,17456],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-112421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alt-right","category-r-meir-kahane"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t