Kach ' onMouseout='HidePop("55918")' href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Israel">Israel
Israel officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
. Founded by Rabbi
Meir KahaneMeir David Kahane was an American-Israeli rabbi and ultra-nationalist writer and political figure...
in the early 1970s, and following his
KahanistKahanism is a term named after Israeli Rabbi Meir Kahane . It refers to an organization and, more generally, to other movements or groups that share a belief in the fundamental tenets of its ideology...
ideology, the party entered the
KnessetThe Knesset is the legislature of Israel, located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.-Operation of the Knesset:...
in 1984 after several electoral failures. However, it was barred from participating in the
next electionElections for the twelfth Knesset were held in Israel on 1 November 1988. Voter turnout was 78.9%.-Results:1 Five members of the Likud left to form the Party for the Advancement of the Zionist Idea; after two returned, the party was renamed the New Liberal Party...
in 1988 under the revised
Knesset Elections LawKnesset Elections Law is crucial legal document governing the process of elections in the Israeli parliament or the Knesset.The law was created in 1958 and updated in 1987.-References:* *...
banning parties that incited racism. After Kahane's assassination in 1990 the party split, with
Kahane Chai breaking away from the main Kach faction. The party was also barred from standing in the
1992 electionElections for the thirteenth Knesset were held in Israel on 23 June, 1992. The result was a victory for the left, led by Yitzhak Rabin's Labour Party, though their win was at least partially due to several small right-wing parties narrowly failing to cross the electoral threshold and thus...
, and both organisations were banned outright in 1994. Today both groups are considered terrorist organisations by
IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
,
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, the
European UnionThe European Union is an economic and political union of 27 Member States, located primarily in Europe. Committed to regional integration, the EU was established by the Treaty of Maastricht on 1 November 1993 upon the foundations of the pre-existing European Economic Community...
and the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Early history
Kahane emigrated to
IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
from the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in September 1969, declaring that he would not become involved in politics. However, he soon became involved in controversy, initiating protests advocating the expulsion of Arabs from Israel and the
Palestinian territoriesThe Palestinian territories are composed of two discontiguous regions, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, whose final status has yet to be determined. The territories, which were originally contained within the British Mandate of Palestine, were captured and occupied by Jordan and by Egypt in the...
. In 1972
Jewish Defense LeagueThe Jewish Defense League is a Jewish organization whose stated goal is to "protect Jews from antisemitism by whatever means necessary"....
leaflets were distributed around
HebronHebron is the largest city in the West Bank, located in the south, 30 kilometers south of Jerusalem. It is home to some 166,000 Palestinians, and over 500 Israelis living in and around the historic Jewish Quarter. Hebron lies 930 meters above sea level...
calling for the mayor to stand trial for the
1929 Hebron massacreThe Hebron massacre refers to the murder of sixty-seven Jews on 23 and 24 August, 1929 in Hebron, then part of the British Mandate of Palestine, by Arabs incited to violence by false rumors that Jews were massacring Arabs[ Segev, Tom p 319] in Jerusalem and seizing control of Muslim holy...
.
Kahane soon founded a new party, Kach, which ran in the
1973 electionsThe Elections for the eighth Knesset were held on 31 December 1973. Voter turnout was 76.9%-Results:1 Aryeh Eliav left the Alignment and merged with Ratz to form Ya'ad - Civil Rights Movement...
under the name "The League List". The party won 12,811 votes (0.82%), just 2,857 (0.18%) short of the
electoral thresholdIn party-list proportional representation systems, an election threshold is a clause that stipulates that a party must receive a minimum percentage of votes, either nationally or within a particular district, to get any seats in the parliament. The effect of the threshold is to deny small parties...
(1%) for winning a seat. The party was less successful in the
1977 electionsThe Elections for the ninth Knesset were held on 17 May 1977. For the first time in Israeli political history, the right-wing, led by Likud, won the election, ending almost 30 years of rule by the left-wing Alignment and its predecessor, Mapai...
, in which it won 4,396 votes, and in 1980 Kahane was sentenced to six months in prison for his involvement in a plan to commit an "act of provocation" on the
Temple MountThe Temple Mount , also known as Mount Moriah and by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary , is a religious site in the Old City of Jerusalem. Due to its importance for Judaism and Islam it is one of the most contested religious sites in the world.The Temple Mount contains the holiest site in Judaism...
. The
1981 electionsElections for the tenth Knesset were held in Israel on 30 June 1981. Despite last minute polls suggesting a victory for Shimon Peres's Alignment, Menachem Begin's Likud won by just one seat.Voter turnout was 77.8%.-Results:...
were another failure, with Kach receiving only 5,128 votes.
Electoral success
However, events in the next couple of years increased the party's popularity. In 1982 Israel returned the
Sinai PeninsulaThe Sinai Peninsula or Sinai The Sinai Peninsula or Sinai The Sinai Peninsula or Sinai (sina; Egyptian Arabic: سينا sina; sina'a; is a triangular peninsula in Egypt. It lies between the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Red Sea to the south, forming a land bridge between Africa and Southwest...
to
EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia...
as part of the
Israel-Egypt Peace TreatyThe 1979 Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty was signed in Washington, DC, United States, on March 26, 1979, following the 1978 Camp David Accords...
which involved evacuating Israeli settlers living in the peninsula. There was fierce resistance, particularly in
YamitYamit was an Israeli settlement. It was home to about 2,500 people in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula that was established during Israel's occupation of the peninsula from the end of the 1967 Six-Day War, until that part of the Sinai was handed over to Egypt in 1982 as part of the terms...
, the largest
settlementIsraeli settlements are Israeli civilian communities in the Israeli-occupied territories . Such settlements currently exist in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights...
, where several extremists had barricaded themselves inside a synagogue and were threatening to commit suicide.
Menachem Begin' was an Israel politician and the sixth prime minister of the State of Israel. Before the independence, he was the leader of the Irgun, a revisionist breakaway from the larger mainstream Jewish paramilitary organization Haganah...
's government asked Kahane to act as an intermediary and convince them to give in.
Prior to the
1984 electionsElections for the eleventh Knesset were held in Israel on 23 July 1984. Voter turnout was 78.1%.-Results:1 Mapam and the Arab Democratic Party broke away from the Alignment, whilst one MK defected to Ratz and one to Shinui....
the party was barred by the
Central Elections CommitteeThe Israeli Central Elections Committee is the body charged under the Knesset Elections Law of 1969 to carry out the elections for the upcoming Knesset. The committee is composed of Knesset members representating various parliamentary groups and is chaired by a Supreme Court Justice...
for racism. It successfully appealed to the
Supreme CourtThe Supreme Court is at the head of the court system in the State of Israel. It is the highest judicial instance. The Supreme Court sits in Jerusalem. The area of its jurisdiction is the entire State. A ruling of the Supreme Court is binding upon every court, other than the Supreme Court itself...
, which reversed the CEC's decision, ruling that the
Knesset Elections LawKnesset Elections Law is crucial legal document governing the process of elections in the Israeli parliament or the Knesset.The law was created in 1958 and updated in 1987.-References:* *...
(one of the
Basic Laws of IsraelThe Basic Laws of Israel are a key component of Israel's constitutional law. These laws deal with the formation and role of the principal state's institutions, and the relations between the state's authorities. Some of them also protect civil rights...
) did not allow a party to be barred on the grounds of racism, but did suggest that the law be amended. In the elections the party won 25,907 votes (1.2%), passing the electoral threshold for the first time, and winning one seat, which was duly taken by Kahane.
In response to Kach's election and following up on the recommendation of the Supreme Court, the Knesset passed an amendment to the Elections Law, which stated:
A candidates list shall not participate in elections to the Knesset if its objects or actions, expressly or by implication, include one of the following:
-
- negation of the existence of the State of Israel as the state of the Jewish people;
- negation of the democratic character of the State
- incitement to racism
As a result, Kach was disqualified from running in the
1988 electionsElections for the twelfth Knesset were held in Israel on 1 November 1988. Voter turnout was 78.9%.-Results:1 Five members of the Likud left to form the Party for the Advancement of the Zionist Idea; after two returned, the party was renamed the New Liberal Party...
by the Central Elections Committee. The party once again appealed the decision, with Kahane claiming that security needs were justification for discrimination against Arabs. This time the appeal was unsuccessful, with the court stating that the aims and action of Kach were "manifestly racist."
Kahane's death and party split
On 5 November 1990, Kahane was assassinated after making a speech in
New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. The party subsequently split in two, with
Binyamin Ze'ev KahaneBinyamin Ze'ev Kahane was a rabbi and the son of Rabbi Meir Kahane.Born in New York City, he emigrated to Israel with his family at the age of four, in 1971...
(Kahane's son) leading a breakaway faction, Kahane Chai, based in
Kfar TapuachKfar Tapuach is an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, founded in 1978. It is one of a collection of Jewish towns in the Samaria region, south of Nablus/Shechem, and sits astride one of the major traffic junctions in the West Bank. The executive director of the village council is Yisrael Blunder....
(an Israeli settlement in the
West BankThe West Bank is a landlocked territory and is the eastern part of the Palestinian territories; on the west bank of the River Jordan in the Middle East. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel, which maintains the security of this area. To the east,...
) and Kach initially under the leadership of
RabbiRabbi is the term in Judaism for a religious teacher. The word rabbi derives from the Hebrew root word , rav, which in biblical Hebrew means ‘great’ in many senses, including "revered." The word comes from the Semitic root R-B-B, and is cognate to Arabic ربّ rabb, meaning "lord" Rabbi ' onMouseout='HidePop("78898")' href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Avraham_Toledano">Avraham Toledano
Avraham Toledano was the Mashgiach ruchani of the Yeshivat Haraayon Hayehudi and was number four on the Kach Knesset list in 1988. He was briefly the leader of Kach after Rabbi Meir Kahane was murdered and before Baruch Marzel took over.-Biography:...
(later replaced by
Baruch MarzelBaruch Marzel is an Israeli politician. Marzel, an American-born Orthodox Jew, lives in the Jewish community of Hebron in Tel Rumeida with his wife and nine children. He is the leader of the Religious Zionism-orientated Jewish National Front party...
) in
Kiryat ArbaKiryat Arba or Qiryat Arba is an Israeli settlement with local council status in the Judean Mountains region of the West Bank adjoining the city of Hebron. In 2008 it has a population of 7,200.-Name:...
. Both parties were banned from participating in the
1992 electionsElections for the thirteenth Knesset were held in Israel on 23 June, 1992. The result was a victory for the left, led by Yitzhak Rabin's Labour Party, though their win was at least partially due to several small right-wing parties narrowly failing to cross the electoral threshold and thus...
on the basis that they were followers of the original Kach.
Following both parties noting their support of a grenade attack in
JerusalemJerusalem is the capital of Israel and its largest city in both population and area, with a population of 747,600 residents over an area of if disputed East Jerusalem is included...
's Old City,
government ministerThe Cabinet of Israel is a formal body composed of government officials, ministers, chosen and led by a Prime Minister. Its composition must be approved by a vote in the Knesset. Under Israeli law, the Prime Minister may remove members of the Cabinet, but must do so in writing, and new appointees...
Amnon RubinsteinAmnon Rubinstein is an Israeli law scholar, politician, and columnist. A member of the Knesset between 1977 and 2002, he served in several ministerial positions. He is currently dean of the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya and a patron of Liberal International.-Early life:Rubinstein was born...
asked the
Attorney GeneralThe Attorney General of Israel stands at the head of the legal system of the executive branch and the head of the public legal establishment, in charge of protecting the rule of law and as such entrusted with protecting the public interest from possible harm by government authorities...
to launch criminal proceedings against both Kahane and Marzel on the charges of incitement to terrorism.
In 1994 both groups were banned outright by the
Israeli cabinetThe Cabinet of Israel is a formal body composed of government officials, ministers, chosen and led by a Prime Minister. Its composition must be approved by a vote in the Knesset. Under Israeli law, the Prime Minister may remove members of the Cabinet, but must do so in writing, and new appointees...
under 1948 anti-
terrorismTerrorism is the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion.At present, there is no internationally agreed definition of terrorism...
laws following statements in support of
Baruch GoldsteinBaruch Kappel Goldstein was an American born Israeli physician who perpetrated the 1994 Cave of the Patriarchs massacre in the city of Hebron, killing 29 Muslims at prayer in the Ibrahimi Mosque and wounding another 150 in a shooting attack.-Biography:Goldstein was born in Brooklyn, New York to an...
's massacre of 29 Palestinians at the
Cave of the PatriarchsThe Cave of the Patriarchs or the Cave of Machpelah is a series of subterranean caves located in a complex called by Muslims the Ibrahimi Mosque or Sanctuary of Abraham...
(Goldstein himself was a Kach supporter). Many of their leaders spent time in Israeli jail under
administrative detentionAdministrative detention is arrest and detention of individuals by the state without trial, usually for security reasons. A large number of countries , both democratic and undemocratic, resort to administrative detention as a means to combat terrorism, control illegal immigration, or to protect the...
, particularly
Noam FedermanNoam Federman is a religious right-wing Israeli Jew in Hebron and a former leader of the Kach Party which he has been involved with since he was 14. Federman is married to Elisheva...
, who spent more than 6 months in lockup without being indicted.
Yigal AmirYigal Amir is the Israeli assassin of Prime Minister of Israel Yitzhak Rabin. The assassination took place November 4, 1995 at the conclusion of a rally in Tel Aviv...
, who
assassinatedThe assassination of Yitzhak Rabin took place on November 4, 1995 at 21:30, at the end of a rally in support of the Oslo Accords at the Kings of Israel Square in Tel Aviv...
Yitzhak Rabin' was an Israeli politician and general. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–1977 and 1992 until his assassination in 1995. In 1994, Rabin won the Nobel Peace Prize together with Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat...
in 1995 was a member of Eyal (the Jewish Fighting Organization), linked to Kach and Kahane Chai and established and headed by
Avishai RavivAvishai Raviv was an agent of Israel's Shin Bet or Shabak, Israel's domestic intelligence service whose mission was to monitor the activities of right-wing extremists. His code name was 'Champagne'....
(a paid government informant).
After being convicted for sedition for distributing pamphlets advocating violence against Arabs, Binyamin Kahane and his wife were both killed in a Palestinian ambush in December 2000.
Aftermath
Following the banning of Kach and Kahane Chai, the movements officially disbanded. The leadership of the former Kahane Chai formed an advocacy group known as
The Kahane Movement. The group's activities consist mainly of maintaining the Kahane website, kahane.org. However, the Kahane Movement is listed on the United States' list of terrorist organizations as an alias for "Kach", though the group denies this.
The
New Kach Movement existed during between 2001 and 2003 and maintained websites posting Kahanist political commentary and held meetings with informal members. Headed by Israeli-born student Efraim Hershkovits, it had chapters worldwide as well as a youth movement,
Noar Meir. Upon returning to live in Israel in 2003, Hershkovits disbanded the movement to avoid harassment by the Israeli government, advising its former members to support the Kahane Movement. After the organization had disbanded, its name was also added to the United States' list of terrorist organizations as an alias for "Kach". Hershkovits was arrested on August 7, 2005 and placed in administrative detention for three months by Israeli authorities.
Today the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
continues to designate the group a
terrorist organization and says that it has engaged in terrorist activity by
- using explosives or fire arms with intent to endanger the safety of individuals or cause substantial damage to property (including an attempt to car bomb a Palestinian girls school in East Jerusalem)
- threatening and conspiring to carry out assassinations
- soliciting funds and members for a terrorist organization
The State Department also says that the group is suspected of involvement in a number of low-level attacks since the start of the
Second IntifadaThe Second Intifada, also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada was the second Palestinian uprising, a period of intensified Palestinian-Israeli violence, which began in late September 2000...
in 2000.
In the 2003 elections former Kach leader Baruch Marzel ran as number two on the Herut – The National Movement party list. The party narrowly missed obtaining a seat. In 2004 he founded the Jewish National Front, which gained 24,824 votes (0.7%) in the 2006 elections, less than half needed to win a seat.
Former Kahane Chai chief executive Mike Guzofsky continues to solicit funds in the US, with the support of US Kahanists.
External links
Kach Knesset website