Kahanism

Ideology

While it is difficult to define Kahanism in an official manner, the term has come to denote the controversial positions espoused by Rabbi Meir Kahane. Kahane's positions spanned a broad range of subjects.

The central claim of Kahanism is that the vast majority of the Arabs of Israel are now, and will continue to be, enemies of Jews and Israel itself, and that a Jewish theocratic state, governed by Halakha, absent of a voting non-Jewish population and including Israel, Palestine, areas of modern-day Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq, should be created.

According to Kahane, the term "Kahanism" is used primarily by those ignorant of Torah Judaism to discredit his ideology, which he asserted to be rooted in Halakha and the same as Torah Judaism. "Meir Kahane did not hate the Arabs – he just loved the Jews", said his widow Libby in her November 20, 2010 TV interview.

Criticism and legal action

Since 1985, the Israeli government has outlawed political parties espousing Kahane's ideology as being "racist", and forbids their participation in the Israeli government. The Kach party was banned from running for the Knesset in 1988, while the existence of the two Kahanist movements formed following Kahane's assassination in 1990 were proclaimed illegal terrorist organizations in 1994 and the groups were subsequently officially disbanded. Activities by followers with militant Kahanist beliefs continue to the present today, however, as seen below. In 2001, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights described the official Kahanist website, which was kahane.org at the time, as a hate site espousing prejudiced views in which 'Arabs generally and Palestinians in particular are vilified.'

Kahanist groups

Baruch Goldstein

The deadliest Jewish terrorist attack was when Dr. Baruch Goldstein, supporter of Kach, shot and killed 29 Muslim worshipers, and wounded another 150, at the Cave of the Patriarchs massacre in Hebron, in 1994. This was described as a case of Jewish religious terrorism by Mark Juergensmeyer.Goldstein was a medical doctor who grew up in Brooklyn and was educated at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx. He resettled to the Kiryat Arba settlement in the West Bank, and was politically active for years – he saw Rabbi Meir Kahane as a hero, and had been Kahane's campaign manager when he ran for the Israeli parliament through Kahane's Kach party. When Goldstein was threatened with court-martial for refusing to treat non-Jewish soldiers in the Israeli Defence Force, he declared: "I am not willing to treat any non-Jew. I recognize as legitimate only two religious authorities: Maimonides and Kahane."

Goldstein was denounced "with shocked horror" by Orthodox Judaism, and most in Israel denounced Goldstein as insane. Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin condemned the attack, describing Goldstein as a "degenerate murderer", "a shame on Zionism and an embarrassment to Judaism". At the same time, Goldstein's actions were praised by some extremist settlers; Yochay Ron said that he "felt good" when he heard the news, and stated that Jews were "at war with the Arabs" and "all Arabs who live here are a danger to us... they threaten the very existence of the Jewish community on the West Bank." Goldstein and other religious settlers at Beit Hadassah (both Kahanist and Gush Emunim) believe that the biblical lands on the West Bank are sacred, that Jews are required by God to occupy them, and that the presence of Muslims desecrates the holy land. After this attack, members of the Kach Party praised Goldstein's actions, and in the ensuing political turmoil, the Knesset banned Kach in Israel. The Shamgar Commission in Israel concluded that Baruch Goldstein acted alone.

Yoel Lerner

In October 1982 Yoel Lerner, a member of Meir Kahane's Kach, attempted to blow up the Dome of the Rock in order to rebuild the Temple Mount site. He was sentenced to two and a half years in prison. Mark Juergensmeyer identified him as a Jewish religious terrorist, writing that he "yearned for a Jewish society in Israel. He hoped for the restoration of the ancient temple in Jerusalem, the exclusive right of Jews to settle on the West Bank of the Jordan River, and the creation of a state based on biblical law." Lerner had previously served a three-year sentence for heading a group that plotted to overthrow the government and establish a state based upon religious law.

Eden Natan-Zada

On August 4, 2005, Eden Natan-Zada, an AWOL Israel Defense Forces soldier, killed four Israeli Arab citizens and wounded several others when he opened fire on a bus in the northern Israeli town of Shfaram. Natan-Zada had recently moved to the settlement of Tapuach, site of a Kahanist yeshiva.[3] Zada was handcuffed by the Israeli police who arrived to the scene but then lynched by the mob.

Alleged Kahanist violence

Roadside shootings, stabbings and grenade attacks against Palestinians have been carried out in Jerusalem and the West Bank by individuals or groups suspected of having ties to the former Kach group. Aliases such as "The Committee for the Safety of the Roads" [4], "The Sword of David" and "The Repression of Traitors" have been used. The US government claims that these are all aliases of "Kach", [5]. In 2002, a Kahanist group known as "Revenge of the Toddlers" claimed responsibility for a bombing attack at Tzur Baher, an East Jerusalem secondary school for Arab boys, that wounded seven. The group also claimed credit for the 2003 bombing of a Palestinian school in Jaba that injured 20 and was thought to be linked to the 2002 Zil Elementary school bombing.

Kahanist groups and organizations in the United States are largely inactive, with the bulk of their supporters immigrating to Israel over the years. Kahane Net, the Jewish Defense League and B'nai Elim (formed by former JDL activists) are occasionally associated with Kahanism.

James David Manning support

James David Manning has endorsed aspects of Kahane's ideology.