Betar
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- This article is about the Zionist youth movement Betar.
- For other uses, see Betar (disambiguation).
The Betar Movement (בית"ר, also spelled Beitar) is a Revisionist Zionist youth movement founded in 1923 in Riga, Latvia, by Ze'ev Jabotinsky. Betar members played important roles in the fight against the British during the Mandate, and in the creation of Israel. It has been linked to Herut and Likud and is part of the secular right of Israeli politics.
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[edit] History
The name Betar בית"ר stands for "Brit Yosef Trumpeldor" ( ברית יוסף תרומפלדור ). Joseph Trumpeldor was a Jewish fighter who fell in the battle of Tel Hai coining the phrase: "Never mind, it is good to die for our country".
Jabotinsky also wanted to connect the name of the first Jewish fighter after 2000 years to the name of the last fort of Jewish uprising against the Roman Empire in the Bar Kokhba's revolt, showing that Betar was intent to create a new generation of Jewish warriors. In order to produce the needed acronym, the normal spelling of Trumpeldor's name in Hebrew was changed - תרומפלדור instead of טרומפלדור.
During World War II, Betar members, former Polish officers, founded Żydowski Związek Walki (Jewish Fighting Union) which fought in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
In the campaign for Israel's creation in British controlled Palestine, many Betar members fought in the Irgun underground militia against British rule. Some graduates from Betar Poland even joined Abraham Stern's more radical Lehi group. Members of Betar were also instrumental in setting up Israel's navy.
Many of Israel's most prominent public figures have been graduates of Betar, including former Prime Ministers Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir, current Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and former Defence Minister Moshe Arens.
Today, the Betar Movement is primarily involved in Jewish and Zionist activism. Tagar, Betar's young adult movement, has been a leader of Zionist activity on many university campuses throughout North America. Although Betar has suffered a slight decline in membership and activities since the 1970s, they continue to boast several strong branches. The most notable of these is the Betar chapter of Cleaveland, Ohio, and of London UK.
[edit] Regional Activities
[edit] France
In France, the Betar offices were bombed by the terrorist organization FLNC. In retaliation, members of the Betar clashed with pro-Arab supporters.
[edit] Israel
Once a vibrant movement tied to the opposition Herut Party, Betar's following in Israel has declined since the 1970s as a result of a changing political situation. One important change was the rise of the religious right-wing in the 1970s. Though Betar had many of the same political goals as the rapidly growing Gush Emunim (Believers' Bloc) and Bnei Akiva youth movements (tied to the National Religious Party; Mafdal), they remained a secular movement and never took the initiative that their counterparts did in settling the West Bank and Gaza. During the 1980s as a result of the Camp David Accords negotiated by Menachem Begin (the leader of Herut and its successor movement, Likud), a similar effect began with the secular right, as more extreme movements appeared there and drew away youth.
As the Likud party, under Benjamin Netanyahu's leadership, moved away from the traditional values of Revisionist Zionism, Betar drew criticism from many on the political right. Old-time Herut supporters, viewing themselves as ideological purists, have claimed that Betar had turned into a breeding grounds for opportunistic youth seeking political careers. In the late 1990s, when Benny Begin led the right-wing Herut faction out of the Likud, Betar lost many of its more ideological members to the Magshimey Herut Movement. This trend has continued in many countries until today. As Betar has been forced to close several branches throughout the world, Magshimey Herut has attracted young Zionists in search of a movement true to Jabotinsky's teachings.
Betar's chief disadvantage, which was only made worse by Bnei Akiva's rise in the 1970s and Magshimey Herut's rise in the 1990s, was the predominance of other youth groups. Belonging to the left wing and theKibbutz movement, Hashomer Hatzair ("Young Guard" - Socialist Zionist), HaNoar haOved vehaLomed ("the Working and Student Youth" - Labor Zionist), and Habonim Dror (Free Builders), had taken most Israeli youth in throughout the 1950s-70s. Alongside them were the Tzofim (Scouts, affiliated with the international Scouting movement) and Bnei Akiva. Today Betar remains a marginal youth movement in both Israel and the Diaspora, and has remained far from the power that its parent movement, the Likud, had on the country.
Betar sponsors sports clubs, the most notable is the popular Beitar Jerusalem (or sometimes spelt Betar Jerusalem) football (soccer) club.
[edit] Canada
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Betar in Toronto opposes the propagation of allegations of Israeli apartheid by advocacy organizations in Canada. In February 2006, Tagar at the University of Toronto produced "Know Radical Islam Week" featuring civil rights activist Nonie Darwish, former Sudanese slave Simon Deng, a Muslim activist speaking on gay rights in the Middle East, Dr. Salim Mansur and presentations by Honest Reporting and Palestinian Media Watch.[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]. The event portrayed Islamism as "an abuse of the religion Islam." [8]
Betar-Tagar was active in Montreal and Toronto during the 1980s Lebanon-Israel conflict. A revival of Betar Montreal occurred at McGill University on November 9th, 2006. Entitled "Taking Liberties: Terrorism in the West," the event featured keynote speaker Dr. Salim Mansur and film screening of Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West. It was co-organized with Conservative McGill students. [9][10]
[edit] United States
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Betar has Shaliachs in Cleveland and New York City. It offers a fall and spring camp.
Betar offers summer and winter tours of Israel. It is one of the few movements that offer students a change to visit the administered territories. Both programs allow students to spend time at Kedumin, Itamar, Alon Moreh and Hebron. They have officially adopted Kedumin as a sister city and spend an extensive time volunteering in that city.
In addition to its programs for younger students it also has an affiliated program for college age students called Tagar.
Betar strongly promotes the idea of Aliya, Jewish immigration to Israel. [11] [12]
[edit] UK
Betar UK is an active movement with the main branch being located in London with over 100 members and 500+ supporters. It is involved in pro-Israel activism including self defence classes for youths, government lobbying, correcting UK media bias against Israel and has held regular weekly demonstrations on Thursday evenings for the past 5 years outside Marks and Spencers in Oxford Street to counter the weekly anti Israel demonstrations/pickets boycotting Israeli goods and distributing anti Israel literature.
[edit] Australia
Betar Australia is an active movement which has branches in Queensland, Sydney and Melbourne. Each of these branches conducts activities and functions and holds camps for Jewish youth in each state.
Betar Australia was established in 1941 and the Queensland branch celebrates its 50th Reunion in 2006.
[edit] Protests
[edit] Russia
Dr. Michael Shtern was imprisoned by the Russian Communists becuase his sons were openly Zionists. In an effort to free Shtern due to his sickening condition, a group of seven people from Betar, led by Fred Pierce, offered to exchange themselves and serve out his sentence instead of Shtern. The Russian government later deported all of the peacefull protestors.
