CNN Freeman Report 03/10/83 – Sandi Freeman interview with Rabbi Meir Kahane.
Meir David HaKohen Kahane (Hebrew: רבי מאיר דוד הכהן כהנא; born Martin David Kahane; August 1, 1932 – November 5, 1990) was an American-born Israeli ordained Orthodox rabbi, writer, and ultra-nationalist politician. A cofounder of the Jewish Defense League (JDL) and founder of the Israeli political party Kach, he espoused strong views against antisemitism. Kahane was an intense advocate for Jewish causes. He organized defense squads and patrols in Jewish neighborhoods, and demanded that the Soviet Union release its oppressed Jews. He supported violence against those he regarded as enemies of the Jewish people, called for immediate Jewish mass migration to Israel to avoid a potential “Holocaust” in the United States, supported the restriction of Israel’s democracy to its Jewish citizens, and endorsed the annexation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. In 1968, Kahane was one of the co-founders of the JDL in the United States. In 1971, he co-founded Kach (“Thus”), a new political party in Israel. That same year, he was convicted in New York for conspiracy to manufacture explosives and received a suspended sentence of five years. In Israel, he was convicted for plotting to blow up the Libyan embassy in Brussels in revenge for the massacre of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, receiving a suspended sentence and probation. In 1984, he became a member of the Knesset, when Kach gained its only-ever seat in parliamentary elections. Kahane was boycotted across the aisles of the Knesset, and would often speak in front of an empty chamber. The Israel Broadcasting Authority similarly avoided coverage of his activities. The Central Elections Committee tried to ban Kahane from running in the 1984 elections, but this ban was overturned by the Supreme Court because there was no law to support it. In response, the Knesset approved an ad hoc law that allowed for the banning of parties that are “racist” or “undemocratic”. In 1988, despite polls showing Kach gaining popularity due in part to the ongoing First Intifada, Kach was banned from entering that year’s elections.
Kahane publicized his “Kahanism” ideology, which he claimed was simply Torah Judaism based on Halakha (Jewish law), through published works, weekly articles, speeches, debates on college campuses and in synagogues throughout the United States, and appearances on various televised programs and radio shows. In Israel, he proposed enforcing Halakha as codified by Maimonides and hoped that Israel would eventually adopt Halakha as state law. Non-Jews wishing to dwell in Israel would have three options: remain as “resident strangers” with limited rights, leave Israel and receive compensation for their property, or be forcibly removed without compensation. While serving in the Knesset in the mid-1980s Kahane proposed numerous laws, none of which passed, to emphasize Judaism in public schools, reduce Israel’s bureaucracy, forbid sexual relations between Jews and non-Jews, separate Jewish and Arab neighbourhoods, and end cultural meetings between Jewish and Arab students.
Kahane was assassinated in a New York City hotel by an Egyptian-born U.S. citizen in November 1990.
Sandi Freeman-Geller is an American journalist and cable television pioneer. She hosted Freeman Reports on CNN for five years. Previously, she won an Emmy for her work at WLS-TV. At the height of her career at CNN, she was often referred to in the press as the “best interviewer” on television at a time when there were few female hosts. Raised in St. Louis, Freeman attended Webster College. She worked for the WLS-TV, the ABC owned-and-operated television station from 1973 to 1980. Freeman co-hosted AM Chicago for WLS-TV alongside (at various points) Steve Edwards, John Barbour and Robb Weller. Ted Turner hired her for a daily evening program that reached large audiences as one of the pioneers of the then nascent CNN. Her program, The Freeman Report, aired on CNN from 1980 to 1985. During that time, she interviewed many famous personalities, including Frank Zappa, Shimon Peres, Hosni Mubarak, Yitzhak Shamir and others. In 1985, the show was replaced by Larry King Live.
The Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. It is owned by CNN Global, which is part of Warner Bros. Discovery. It was founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel. Upon its launch in 1980, CNN was the first television channel to provide 24-hour news coverage and the first all-news television channel in the United States.
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