In the early morning hours of December 31, 2000, the lives of HaRav Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane and his wife, Talia, were snuffed out in the most barbaric fashion by a radical Palestinian faction that claimed responsibility soon after the attack. While Binyamin and his wife were driving their children to school, their car was ambushed -- and their bodies riddled with bullets -- on a road near the Jewish settlement of Ofra, near Ramallah, a hub of militant Arab activism. Their five children who were also in the van were injured as well, and their four-year-old daughter, Tzivia, is in serious condition in Hadassah Hospital in Ein Kerem. These children, including a two month old baby, are now orphans, never to know and experience the great love and devotion of their parents.

Are we angered at the Arabs who committed this dastardly and cowardly deed? Absolutely. Do we want to seek vengeance? That goes without saying. Do we want to see a day when Jews can once again live as a truly free and safe people in their own country? Of course, that's obvious. But the question arises, whom should our anger and rage be directed at? Who is really responsible for these horrible murders? Who should be really held accountable?

It is most imperative to first know who was killed and why. Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane, was the son of Rabbi Meir David Kahane, who was murdered by El Said Nosair, an Egyptian-born Arab, in November 1990. As we know, Rabbi Kahane, founder of the Jewish Defense League and head of the Kach party in Israel, was indeed a controversial figure in Israel and was a perennial thorn in the side of the demogogues in the Knesset and the bevy of leftists who sought to silence him. He called for the expulsion of the Arabs in Israel, not because he hated Arabs but because he loved Jews and knew that the Jewish state would never survive with a majority of Arabs. He knew the problem very clearly and dedicated his life to the survival of Jews worldwide. At the time of Rabbi Kahane's assassination, Binyamin was encouraged to take the mantle of leadership and continue to spread the message of his father and of Torah-true Judaism. For the last ten years, Binyamin had been a bold, forthright and vocal advocate of his father's message and had engaged in countless demonstrations and protests against the suicidal "peace process," orchestrated by Ehud Barak.

He led a movement called Kahane Chai that was subsequently outlawed by the same anti-democratic forces that helped silence his father. He worried very little about these little people with Lilliputian minds. He feared no man, he only feared Hashem Yisborach. As a result of his courageous attempts to speak the truth he was arrested dozens of times and put on trial for sedition. Sedition? How could this possibly be? Surely this outrageous charge must headline in the theatre of the absurd; it can't possibly be true. But alas it was. In the Israel of 2000,an ostensibly Jewish state, the cowards and lackeys in the government put Binyamin Kahane on trial for sedition when he clearly cried out for the survival of Israel, for the preservation of his people.

Now that we know who Binyamin Kahane was and what he stood for, we can point our fingers in indignation and rage at the government of Israel, at the "peacemaker" Barak, who created this climate where Arabs can get away with murder and do so freely and openly. Let's be livid at a Knesset who allows an Ahmed Tibi to take the pulpit and call for the annihilation of the Jewish State. Let us rail against the flagrant obsequiousness of a government of Jews who knuckles under to the gentiles in Washington who relentlessly pressure us to relinquish God-given Jewish land to the Arabs. They are responsible for the heinous killings of Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane and his wife !!! They are to be held accountable now and on the Day of Judgment. Ehud Barak and all those who support him are small and myopic people, paralyzed by fear and in denial of the truth and reality of the situation in Israel, who vehemently refuse to remove the malignant Arab population from our midst, thereby leaving us open to be murdered by them. They are the parties who are responsible for this murder and the murders of many, many other Jews throughout the years since the intifada.

At the funeral of Binyamin Kahane and his wife, Binyamin's brother Baruch told the mourners to "take their fate into their own hands and topple the government who is now in power." Let us heed these words. Let the government in Israel and the Arabs and the powers that be in Washington and throughout the world know very clearly that they cannot murder an idea. An idea whose time has come. Let us scream from the rooftops that they can murder one Kahane, they can murder two Kahanes, but we send them a promise that for every Kahane they murder, thousands will rise up to replace them. You can never dim our faith, you can never destroy our hope and vision. You can never crush the spirit of the Jewish people because we have faith in and cleave to the God of Israel Who has saved us from destruction from time immemorial. No power or force in the world is greater than Hashem Yisborach, the Holy One Blessed be He, the avenger of the blood of Israel. It is up to us to do His will. To gird our loins, to prepare to defend our faith. This was indeed the message of Binyamin Zev Kahane, zt'l, HY"D.

Ms. Sidman served as JDL's national director from 1983 to 1985.

A fund has been set up for the benefit of the children of Binyamin and Talia Kahane