Meir Kahane

Meir Kahane (1932–1990) was an American-born Israeli rabbi and far-right political activist who founded the Jewish Defense League and the Kach party.

Yitzhak Shamir: An Israeli politician who served as prime minister and led the Likud party. As prime minister, he opposed Kahane’s entry into the Knesset and backed efforts to exclude racist parties.
Jewish Defense League: A Jewish militant organization founded in the United States in 1968 to combat antisemitism. Kahane founded the JDL, which used confrontational activism and self-defense rhetoric.
Brooklyn: A borough of New York City, home to diverse immigrant and religious communities. Kahane was born and raised in Brooklyn, where he began organizing Jewish activists.
Israeli Political Party Law: Israeli legislation governing party registration, including grounds for disqualifying a party from elections. Amendments used against Kach barred parties that incited racism or denied Israel’s democratic character.
Religious Zionism: A movement that combines Jewish religious commitments with support for Jewish national self-determination in the Land of Israel. Kahane shared its religious-national vocabulary but advanced a more radical, exclusionary political program.
Benjamin Netanyahu: An Israeli politician who has served multiple terms as prime minister. Netanyahu’s political career unfolded amid debates over the legitimacy of Kahanist politics.
Kach party: An Israeli far-right political party founded by Meir Kahane in 1971. Kach carried Kahane’s platform into electoral politics and won a Knesset seat in 1984.
Orthodox Judaism: A movement within Judaism that upholds the authority of traditional Jewish law and practice. Kahane’s rabbinic identity and political language drew on Orthodox Jewish commitments.
Kach and Kahane Chai: Two Kahanist organizations designated as terrorist organizations by Israel and the United States. Both organizations emerged from Kahane’s movement and were outlawed after his assassination.
Revisionist Zionism: A Zionist current associated with Ze’ev Jabotinsky that emphasized Jewish statehood, national strength, and territorial claims. Kahane drew on themes of national strength while advocating policies outside mainstream Revisionist politics.

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Uri AvneryCompared with: Avnery opposed Kahane’s ethnonationalist politics, a direct antithesis to his advocacy of Arab-Jewish partnership.