Meir Kahane | |
|---|---|
מאיר כהנא | |
 Kahane in New York in 1984 | |
| Faction represented in the Knesset | |
| 1984–1988 | Kach |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Martin David Kahane August 1, 1932 Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Died | November 5, 1990 (aged 58) Manhattan, New York, U.S. |
| Manner of death | Assassination by gunshot |
| Political party | Kach |
| Spouse |
Libby Blum (m. 1956) |
| Children | 4, including Binyamin |
| Education | |
Meir David HaKohen Kahane (/kəˈhɑːnə/ kə-HAH-nə; Hebrew: רבי מאיר דוד הכהן כהנא; born Martin David Kahane;[1] August 1, 1932 – November 5, 1990) was an American-born Israeli Orthodox ordained rabbi, writer, and ultra-nationalist politician who served one term in Israel's Knesset. Founder of the Israeli political party Kach—whose legacy continues to influence militant and far-right political groups active today in Israel,[2]—he was convicted of multiple acts of terrorism in the United States and in Israel.
Born in 1932 in Brooklyn, New York City, to an Orthodox Jewish family, Kahane received his education there, starting with Jewish scripture studies, and eventually gaining an M.A. in International Relations from New York University. In 1968, he founded the Jewish Defense League (JDL) in New York City, whose self-described purpose was to fight anti-Semitism. Several JDL members, including Kahane, were subsequently convicted of acts related to domestic terrorism, including leading the attack on the Soviet United Nations mission in 1975. Later that same year, Kahane was convicted of conspiring to kidnap a Soviet diplomat, bomb the Iraqi embassy in Washington, and ship arms abroad from Israel. He consequently served a one year imprisonment, albeit in a hotel.
In 1971, Kahane moved to Israel and became a citizen, where he initiated protests calling for the expulsion of both Palestinian citizens of Israel and Palestinians of the Israeli-occupied territories, which led to his arrest dozens of times. In the same year, he founded Kach, a political party that initially failed to gain any seats in the Knesset. In 1980, Kahane was arrested for the 62nd time since his emigration, and he was jailed for six months for planning armed attacks against Palestinians. Kahane was held in prison in Ramla, where he wrote the book They Must Go. In the 1984 elections, his Kach party gained one seat in the Knesset, which was taken by Kahane, but was later barred from running in 1988. In 1990, he was giving a speech to an audience of Orthodox Jews from Brooklyn, urging American Jews to emigrate to Israel, when he was assassinated by an Egyptian-American national. Kahane was eventually buried in West Jerusalem.
During his lifetime Kahane publicized his Kahanism ideology throughout the United States. In Israel, he proposed enforcing halakha (Jewish law) as codified by Maimonides[3] and hoped that Israel would eventually adopt it as state law.[4] While serving in the Knesset in the mid-1980s Kahane proposed numerous laws, none of which passed, to emphasize Judaism in public schools, reduce Israel's bureaucracy, forbid sexual relations between Jews and non-Jews, separate Jewish and Arab neighborhoods, and end cultural meetings between Jewish and Arab students.[5] He went so far as to demand that non-Jews in Israel either become slaves or face deportation.[6] He also popularized the slogan "For Every Jew a .22."[7] He supported the restriction of Israel's democracy to its Jewish citizens, and endorsed the annexation of the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.[8]
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Britannicawas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Why Racist Rabbi Meir Kahane Is Roiling Israeli Politics 30 Years After His Death". Haaretz. February 21, 2019. Retrieved October 1, 2019.
- ^ Maimonides. Mishne Torah, Laws of Kings, Ch. 6.
- ^ Meir Kahane. Uncomfortable Questions for Comfortable Jews. p. 265.
The pity is-the tragedy is-that most Jews do not believe that Judaism is Divine and therefore do not accept it as the foundation of the state. And so, because of that-but only because any attempt to establish a true Torah state would lead to bitter civil war among Jews-I would not be prepared to establish a state that would bar elections involving parties that do not accept Torah law as authority.
- ^ Brinkley, Joel. "Israel Bans Kahane Party From Election" Archived September 3, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times, October 6, 1988.
- ^ Zogby, James (March 23, 2021). "Netanyahu Is Letting Israel's Fascists Enter by the Front Door". ISSN 0027-8378. Archived from the original on October 27, 2023. Retrieved March 20, 2024.
- ^ "How some of extremist rabbi, onetime MK Kahane's ideas entered Jewish mainstream". The Times of Israel. October 16, 2021. Archived from the original on December 20, 2022. Retrieved December 20, 2022.
- ^ Meir Kahane (1987). Uncomfortable Questions for Comfortable Jews. Lyle Stuart. p. 270. ISBN 978-0818404382.
The Jew is forbidden to give up any part of the Land of Israel, which has been liberated. The land belongs to the G-d of Israel, and the Jew, given it by G-d, has no right to give away any part of it. All the areas liberated in 1967 will be annexed and made part of the State of Israel. Jewish settlement in every part of the land, including cities that today are sadly Judenrein, will be unlimited.