Eden Natan-Zada, the nineteen year old terrorist who murdered four Israelis before being lynched in the northern Israeli town of Shfaram on Thursday, had ties to the Revava movement. As I explained in a previous posting, Revava is an offshoot of Kahane Chai.

In January of 2005, Yaakov Ish Tam, the moderator of the English language Revava discussion board, gave his views on attacking Israeli Arabs. His position was that Revava, as a movement, could not support such things, but that personally he was in favor, and "kol hakavod" (literally, "all of the glory") to those who went ahead and did this on their own. One should note that the type of violence referred to in this discussion was rock throwing, spitting, etc., which, while criminal, is not the same thing as shooting with an assault rifle.

Later in this discussion, Yaakov Ish Tam argued that it is acceptable to violently fight other Jews. He seemed to be referring specifically to the soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces who will be charged with executing the disengagement plan. (He may as well be referring to their leaders and/or their supporters. You can read this exchange for yourself.)

Yaakov Ish Tam gave his views in a dialogue on the Revava discussion board which he started last January. In his initial posting he laid out Revava's official strategy for stopping the disengagement.

How To Stop the Withdrawal

With the Israeli government determined to dismantle outposts and settlements, it is the duty of every God-fearing Jew to try to prevent this outrage – and there are many practical measures we can take to accomplish this.

When the government decides to dismantle a settlement, it is forced to allocate massive IDF and police manpower to the locale in question. Forces are mustered from all over the country to carry out the government order, and because of that, the government is left vulnerable.

While the army and police are attempting to evacuate a settlement, simultaneous, large-scale disruptions throughout the country can have a powerful effect as they would simply be unmanageable by the forces remaining. The IDF would have no other choice than to scale back the soldiers used to carry out the dismantlement. This is the only realistic and effective measure that concerned citizens can take, considering the often long travel times and army blockades which prevent Jews from physically being present in the settlements they wish to defend.

An up-and-coming movement called "Revava" has begun organizing a series of meetings throughout the country. The goal of the movement is to initiate nationwide disobedience on the day the government enacts its plan of destroying outposts.

"Revava" is allowing every member to decide for himself how active he can be when that moment comes. Whether it is being physically present at the outpost in question to help locals resist, blocking the intersection closest to their place of residence along with other local activists, or merely demonstrating by roadsides – everyone can take part. Pay attention to notices of upcoming meetings that will feature speakers who explain tactics relevant to a range of issues, from how to reach an outpost under army blockade, to methods that can be used to resist evacuations as they happen.

As its name implies, "Revava" has set for itself a goal of 10,000 members to be recruited over the next year.

Illegal, but ostensibly non-violent. Within two hours there was a reply from a member who felt that the strategy did not go far enough.

Why not take it one step further.Offensive is the best defence why should the leftests and Arabs set the agenda ,and we just react .Let settlements be set up in as many places as possible encouraging Jews inside and outside of Israel to settle in large numbers to show our love,strength and numbers.Also why should we be made to feel uncomfortable in our homeland of Israel ,Let the Arab get a taste of his own medicine .Boycott doing business with Arabs and those that employ them .If every Jew will just yell at every Arab on the street or wherever he encounters them ,with words such as Terrorist ,murders get out of our G-D given Israel ,imagine what can be.

This was followed a half-hour later by a post arguing that "revava is too soft" and that, following the example in that week's issue of Darka Shel Torah, activists should form cells to take part in seriously violent actions. Some contributors thought that this post went too far, in that it did not show the proper respect for the Revava leadership. Then, on January 13, another participant, a high school student living somewhere in the diaspora, suggested violence towards Israeli Arabs:

Y not also, attack arabs in pre-1967 Israel on that day? kids and teens should throw rocks and spitt, etc,. at arabs on that day. if there willing to get arrested and cause trouble y not do it against arabs. (they would be knocking 2 birds with 1 stone)

The next day, Yaakov Ish Tam responded:

I am in favor, but I don't participate in such activities,

You realize legally as a movement you can not advocate or encourage such things.

It is bad enough that we are openly encouraging people to break the law, once we call for attacking Arabs we will be closed down before we finish our sentence.

If people went ahead and did this on their own, kol hakavod to them but it can't be a part of Revava for obvious reasons.

One more exchange on this thread seems to be worth posting here. In this posting, from February, an American planning to travel to Israel to protest the disengagement asked: "Does not the Torah say not to strike a fellow Jew?"