According to a 2004 New Yorker article, Eitam said of the Palestinians: "We will have to kill them all. I know it's not very diplomatic. I don't mean all the Palestinians, but the ones with evil in their heads." Jewish Exponent
He didn't mean all of them, mind you, he doesn't want people to think he is some kind of extremist.
'we cannot be with all these Arabs, we'll have to expel the overwhelming majority of West Bank Arabs from here and remove Israeli Arabs from political system. YNet
How does Hillel, the largest pro-Israel campus organization in the country describe their traveling speaker?
Effie Eitam is an Israeli War Hero, a devout Jew and an unabashed supporter of the right of the Jewish people to their own homeland. He is a former leader of the National Religious Party and more recently the Ahi party, which became a part of Likud in 2009. Muzzlewatch
Just to be clear, Hillel nixed a speech by Jeff Halper of Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions He was deemed "not sufficiently pro-Israel. since they work on opposing home demolitions by the Israeli government and support human rights for Palestinians.
Effie Eitam is just fine, however.
In a series of lectures organized by Caravan for Democracy, a project of Media Watch International and the Jewish National Fund, Eitam traversed the US Northeast during a two and a half week US tour, from October 28 to November 15. He spoke at a dozen colleges and several high schools during this trip, telling The Jerusalem Post that he spoke for the Israeli consensus. Caravan plans to host him twice more this spring. JPost
I'm speechless. Okay, nearly speechless. This is not a positive development. It says much about what is considered acceptable discourse by mainstream american Zionist groups. Do they care what progressives think about Israel anymore? But most importantly, i am concerned because this is not some mere crackpot, this is a crackpot with a portfolio.
Eitam is now an adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on infrastructure and energy issues, and has been chosen by the Jewish National Fund to represent Israel on American campuses.
Meanwhile, in Israel:
The U.S. embassy asked Knesset Chairman Reuven Rivlin whether he intends to permit Knesset members to hold a ceremony in the plenum in memory of Rabbi Meir Kahane.
Michael Pearlstein, the embassy's second secretary in Tel Aviv, wrote to Moshe Stern, a Rivlin adviser, to clarify the matter for U.S. special envoy Sen. George Mitchell and his staff.
We "would like to know if the speaker has made a decision and, if so, what it is," Pearlstein wrote to Stern. "This is something Senator Mitchell and his team are following with some concern," Pearlstein wrote.
Israeli media reported that MK Michael Ben Ari (National Union) was planning to hold a plenum session in honor of former MK Kahane, around the Hebrew anniversary of the former Kach leader's assassination. Haaretz
Kahane founded both the Kach movement and the Jewish Defense League. The Kach movement was outlawed in Israel after the terrorist Goldstein killed 29 Muslims as they were praying in a mosque in Hebron in the West Bank. The Jewish Defense League is considered a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. One has to wonder, however, when we have folks like Effie Eitam being feted around the country by Hillel and the Jewish National Fund... why should anyone miss Kahane?
UPDATE
Sorry for not providing this link earlier. Questions about if this was just the work of local groups of Hillel or the national organization.
Go to the national website and see this:
More than 450 top Hillel lay leaders, professionals and students joined together with Israeli Government Ministers, Knesset Members and business leaders at a reception celebrating Israel's future at the IDT Call Center in Jerusalem. IDT, a leading provider of wholesale and retail telecommunications services, operates an international hub in the Israeli capital that employs immigrants from around the world. The company was founded and is chaired by Hillel International Board of Governors Member Howard Jonas. Among the participants were Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger, Education Minister Limor Livnat, Minister of Housing and Construction Efraim Eitam, Knesset Member Avraham Burg, and Hillel International Board of Governors Co-Chair Lynn Schusterman.national website
PS: This Rabbi Metger, also such a nice fellow.
Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger has been quoted as calling for Gazans to be transferred to the Sinai Peninsula, to a Palestinian state which he said could be constructed for them in the desert. Haaretz