Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon requested two weeks ago that the Shin Bet security agency and judicial officials determine if it were possible to outlaw the Lehava anti-assimilation organization, and even to label it a terrorist group. Sources close to Ya'alon said on Sunday that there are security officials who believe Lehava fits some of the criteria of a terrorist organization, making Ya'alon's request pertinent. In December, three Lehava activists were arrested for torching a Jewish-Arab bilingual school and spray-painting anti-Arab and anti-assimilation graffiti on its walls. The three group members, 18-year-old Yitzhak Gabay of Jerusalem, and brothers Nahman and Shlomo Twito, 18 and 20 respectively, from Beitar Illit, revealed in the investigation that they had carried out the attack because the school taught Jews and Arabs together. They claimed that their purpose in carrying out the attack was to raise awareness against coexistence initiatives and to put anti-assimilation on the agenda in the media and in society. According to the Shin Bet, Lehava teaches its activists the ideology of the late extremist militant Rabbi Meir Kahane, a fact reflected in the graffiti the three left on the school, reading "Kahane was right" and "There is no coexistence with cancer." Lehava director Benzi Gopstein responded to the defense minister's request, saying: "I suggest that Ya'alon look into making the Islamic Movement illegal instead, and later it can deal with a legitimate organization that works against assimilation, after the Israel Police and Shin Bet tried unsuccessfully to frame us. "Instead of the defense minister dealing with Israel's enemies, he is trying to gain the support of the Left and is fighting against Lehava. Lehava works to save the daughters of Israel and it deserves to win the Israel Prize."
