- Victor Vancier
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Victor Vancier 
Victor Vancier, commonly referred to by his Hebrew name, Chaim Ben PesachBorn 25 December 1956
United StatesResidence Queens, New York Ethnicity Jewish Occupation Political activist Religion Jewish Victor Vancier (born December 25, 1956), commonly referred to by his Hebrew name, Chaim Ben Pesach (Hebrew: חיים בן פסח) is an American political activist and the founder and director[citation needed] of the United States-based Kahanist organization, Jewish Task Force (JTF)[citation needed] and the former National Chairman of the Jewish Defense League (JDL) in the United States.[1] In 1987, he was convicted on charges related to a series of bombings conducted in order to free Soviet Jews during his time with the JDL.[1] He served over five years in federal prison for his involvement in 18 bombings in New York and Washington.[2]
Contents
Activities and imprisonment
Vancier was the National Chairman of the Jewish Defense League, but resigned in December 1978 after he went to jail for bombing Egyptian targets in an effort to stop the Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula. After his release and upon the completion of his probation in July 1983, Rabbi Meir Kahane again appointed Vancier to be National Chairman of the JDL.[3] During the 1980s, Vancier was arrested again, along with two other JDL members in connection with six incidents; a 1984 firebombing of an automobile at a Soviet diplomatic residence, the 1985 and 1986 fire and pipe bombings of an FBI informer's car, the 1986 firebombing at a hall where the Soviet State Symphony Orchestra was performing, and two 1986 detonations of tear gas grenades to protest performances by Soviet dance companies.[4][5] On November 26, 1986 he was arrested outside the Penta Hotel with a tear gas grenade after a fire broke out in the tunnels under the hotel where the Soviet Moiseyev Dance Company, was staying. He was charged with a federal weapons violation and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.[1] Vancier did this in the hopes of influencing the Soviet Union to allow Jewish emigration. According to Vancier, while he was in jail, he became very thin because they wouldn't give him any kosher food until Republican Senator Jesse Helms intervened on his behalf.
Jewish Task Force
Vancier is currently the head of the Jewish Task Force, a Kahanist organization[6] in the United States which he created in 1991. The Jewish Task Force raises money for the claimed purpose of funding Jewish settlers in Judea and Samaria,[7] puts on television programs through Public-access television cable TV and runs a website with the stated goal of saving Israel, America, and the West.[7] Vancier is banned from entering Israel because of his support of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane's Kach Party, which has been outlawed in Israel and[6] were proclaimed illegal terrorist organizations in 1994 and the groups subsequently officially disbanded.[8]
Vancier has described Baruch Goldstein, who perpetrated the 1994 Cave of the Patriarchs massacre, as "a great hero".[9]
Criticism
Jewish Task Force aired on public access television in the mid-1990s, in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens.[9] Vancier, who had by that time been convicted on three separate occasions for his involvement in terrorist bombings, became notorious for his criticisms of black culture and views on homosexuality and was heavily criticized in local magazines and newspapers for his controversial opinions.[9] In the context of state comptroller elections, in one instance, after lauding one candidate, Herbert London, as "a real Jewish man", he derided London's opponent, an African American, as "a low, Jew-hating, Jew-killing cockroach".[9] He further described attorney general candidate Karen Burstein as a "disgusting, ugly lesbian".[9] He continued,
The God of Israel will not tolerate homosexuality or lesbianism. It is an abomination onto the Lord... I have a cure for AIDS that doesn't cost one penny. Stop being fags![9]
Vancier has referred to Nelson Mandela as a "Black Nazi", Yasser Arafat as the "Arab Hitler" and a "Muslim terrorist pedophile who died of AIDS".[10] He has also targeted former First Lady and senator Hillary Clinton and former U.S. President George W. Bush on his website, calling Clinton "Hillary Sodom Arafat" and Bush "Jorge Wahabi Bush" whom he calls a "low, disgusting traitor" and "excrement".[10] He also uses language such as "schvartze" when referring to African-Americans and "kike" for Jews he considers to be traitors.[10] JTF's messages have been condemned for "racism" by the Anti-Defamation League and the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
Family and personal life
Victor Vancier is the son of a Ashkenazi Jewish father, Pesach Ben Dov, and an Sephardic Jewish mother, Malkah Bat Meir. Vancier is fluent in both English and Hebrew.
See also
- Kahanism
- Rabbi Meir Kahane
- Jewish Defense League
- Domestic terrorism in the United States
References
- ^ a b c Buder, Leonard (October 27, 1987). "Prison for Ex-J.D.L. Chief in Bombing". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1987/10/27/nyregion/prison-for-ex-jdl-chief-in-bombing.html. Retrieved May 27, 2010.
- ^ Bumiller, Elisabeth (March 17, 1996). "The Gladiators of Borough Park; Rivals Compete for Power in an Orthodox Arena". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1996/03/17/nyregion/the-gladiators-of-borough-park-rivals-compete-for-power-in-an-orthodox-arena.html?scp=9&sq=Victor%20Vancier&st=cse&pagewanted=2. Retrieved May 27, 2010.
- ^ http://www.jtf.org/israel/israel.ben.pesach.speech.interrupted.part.three.htm
- ^ http://www.adl.org/extremism/jdl_chron.asp
- ^ French, Howard W. (May 9, 1987). "3 J.D.L. Members Seized In Bombings". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1987/05/09/nyregion/3-jdl-members-seized-in-bombings.html?scp=3&sq=victor%20vancier&st=cse. Retrieved May 27, 2010.
- ^ a b New York Times
- ^ a b Jewish Task Force website
- ^ UN report on the use of the Internet for incitement to racial hatred
- ^ a b c d e f New York Magazine. November 14, 1994. page 22
- ^ a b c http://www.jtf.org/yyy.10032006.chaim.jtf.daily.news.article.jpg
Further reading
- Sanchez, Juan (2007). 'Terrorism & Its Effects'. Global Media. ISBN 8189940937.
- Smith, Brent L. (1994). 'Terrorism in America: Pipe Bombs and Pipe Dreams'. State University of New York Press. pp. 256. ISBN 0791417603.
External links
Categories:- 1956 births
- Living people
- American activists
- American anti-communists
- American Internet personalities
- American Kahanists
- American Orthodox Jews
- Commentators
- Criticism of feminism
- Jewish activists
- Kahanism
- People from Queens
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