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Biography:
Rabbi Meir Kahane (1932-1990) was an militant extremist when it came both to Judaism
and Israel. In 1968 he founded the Jewish Defense League, an organization which has
been linked to violence in the United States. The official goal of the JDL is to fight
anti-semitism in America and it became the forerunner of Kahane's Kach movement (Kach
is Hebrew for "Only Thus").
In 1969 Kahane emigrated to Israel and he started his Kach movement to fill political offices in 1973 - but even at this time he received little public support. During the 1984 elections his group was barred from participating, but the decision was reversed and he was elected to the Knesset. He was successfully barred from the following elections, however, due to his extreme racism against Arabs.
The basic ideology of Kach is that the biblical Israel should be reestablished today in its entirety and that any Arabs who currently occupy those lands should be evicted to make room for Jews. Kahane also expressed opposition to Western-style democracy, arguing that it was incompatible with authentic Judaism. He advocated the consistent application of orthodox Jewish laws and standards to the whole of society, even if that meant undermining liberal democratic institutions. Kahane said that "secular government is the enemy" and that the existence of a secular Jewish state was terrible.
Supporters of such a state were, for Kahane, a major obstacle to the coming of the Messiah - an obstacle which could not be tolerated passively. It was an important principle of Kahane and his followers that "Miracles don't just happen, they are made." They believe that their own efforts will be fundamental in changing the course of world history - even if it requires violence.
Kahane's beliefs were predicated upon what might be called "catastrophic messianism." According to Kahane, the Messiah will only arrive during some great conflict between Israel and its enemies, a conflict in which the Jews will triumph. Included with this was the idea of kiddush haShem, which means "the sanctification of God." This was the idea that anything which humiliated Jews in any fashion was not simply a public embarrassment, but also pushed the Jews one step backwards in their quest to control biblical Israel.
On November 5, 1990, Meir Kahane was murdered in New York by Egyptian Islamist El Sayyid Nosair. His assassination helped to inspire new violence and intransigence among orthodox Jews in Israel, especially those who lived in Jewish settlements in Palestinian areas. His death seems to have been an important factor in the decision of Dr. Baruch Goldstein to attack Muslim worshippers in February 1994 on the al-Ibrahimi Mosque. This, along with other attacks by Jewish extremists, encouraged the militant Hamas movement to escalate their violence, especially against civilian targets.
Meir Kahane's son Binyamin then founded Kahane Chai, which mean "Kahane Lives." Both it and Kach were declared terrorist organizations by the Israeli government in 1994. This decision was a result of the groups' support for Dr. Baruch Goldstein's attack.
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Alternate Spellings: none
Common Misspellings: none
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A system of human beliefs, ideals and practices which is harder to define than it may at first appear.
