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Kach

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Kach
כך
LeaderMeir Kahane
Founded1971
Banned13 March 1994
HeadquartersJerusalem
Paramilitary wingJewish Defense League
IdeologyReligious Zionism
Halachic state
Kahanism
Religious conservatism
Population transfer
Economic liberalism
Anti-communism
Anti-Arabism
Anti-Islam
Ultranationalism[1]
Greater Israel[2][3]
Political positionFar-right
ReligionOrthodox Judaism (mainly Hardal), Islam (minority)
International affiliationNone
Colors  Gold
Most MKs1 (1984)
Election symbol
כך
Party flag

Kach (Hebrew: כך, lit. 'Thus') was an existing religious Zionist party, existing from 1971 to 1994. Founded by rabbi Meir Kahane in 1971, drawing upon his Jewish-Orthodox-nationalist ideology, the party won a seat in 1984, after several electoral failures. Later on, it was banned from participating in the next elections in 1988 under the revised Knesset Elections Law banning parties that incited racism. After Kahane's assassination in 1990 the party offshooted into Kach, led by rabbi Abraham Toledano (successor: Baruch Marzel) and Kahane Chai, led by Benjamin Ze'ev Kahane, descendant of Kach founder Meir Kahane.

This party was barred from participating in 1992 elections and banned outright by the Israeli cabinet following statements endorsing the execution of 29 Palestinian Muslims by Goldstein at the cave of the Patriarchs by Baruch Goldstein, who was fellow Kach member.

Designated as "terror organizations" by Israel, Canada, Japan, the United States and EU formerly, they are believed to have an overlapping core membership of more/less than 100 people, many of whom are tied to the modern Otzma Yehudit.

Background

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Early history

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Kahane immigrated to Israel from the United States in September 1971, at first declaring that he would only involve himself in Jewish education.[4] However, he soon became involved in controversy, initiating protests supportive of expulsion of Palestinians from Israel and the Palestinian territories. In 1972, JDL leaflets were distributed around Hebron, calling for the mayor to stand trial for the 1929 Hebron massacre.[5]

In 1971, Kahane founded a new party,[6] which ran in the 1973 elections under the name "The League List".[7] The party won 12,811 votes (0.82%), just 2,857 (0.18%) short of the electoral threshold at the time (1%) for winning a seat. Following the elections, the party was named "Kach", taken from Irgun motto "Rak Kach" ("Only thus").[8] The party was less successful in the 1977 elections, in which it won 4,396 votes (0.25%), 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 Mt.[5] The 1981 elections were another failure, with Kach receiving only 5,128 votes (0.27%).

Kahane [at] the Knesset

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Events in the next couple of years increased the party's profile. In 1982, Israel withdrew its forces out of the Sinai Peninsula, as part of the Egypt–Israel peace treaty which involved evacuating Israeli settlers living in the peninsula. There was fierce resistance, particularly in Yamit, one of the largest Jewish settlements in the Sinai Peninsula, where several extremists had barricaded themselves inside a synagogue and were threatening to commit suicide. Menachem Begin's government asked Kahane to act as an intermediary and convince them to give in.[9]

Prior to the 1984 legislative elections, the party was barred by the Central Elections Committee for racism. It successfully appealed to the Supreme Court, which reversed the CEC's decision, ruling that the Knesset Elections Law (one of the Basic Laws of Israel) did not allow a party to be barred on the grounds of racism, but did suggest that the law be amended.[5] 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.

Kahane's legislative proposals put forth efforts to revoke Israeli citizenship for non-Jews, creation of a homogenous Jewish family, and ending Jewish-Gentile meetings, according to the Code of Hebrew law, compiled by Maimonides in the Mishneh Torah.

As his political career progressed, Kahane became increasingly isolated in the Knesset. His speeches, boycotted by Knesset members, were made to an empty parliament, except for the duty chairman and the transcriptionist. Kahane's legislative proposals and motions of no-confidence against the government were ignored or rejected by fellow Knesset members. Kahane often pejoratively called other Knesset members "Hellenists" in Hebrew. In 1987, Rabbi Kahane opened a yeshiva (HaRaayon HaYehudi) with funding from U.S. supporters, for the teaching of "the Authentic Jewish Idea".

Despite the boycott, polls showed that the Kach party would have likely received three to four seats in the coming November 1988 elections,[10][11] with some earlier polls forecasting as many as twelve seats,[12][13] possibly making Kach the third largest party.

Ban from running in elections

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In response to the election of Kach's single representative and following up on the recommendation of the Supreme Court, the Knesset passed an amendment to the Elections Law, which stated:[5]

A list of candidates shall not participate in elections to the Knesset if its objects or actions, expressly or by implication, include one of the following:

  1. negation of the existence of the state of Israel as a "Jewish state";
  2. negation of the democratic character of the state.
  3. incitement to racism

As a result, Kach was disqualified from running in the 1988 elections by the Central Elections Committee. The party once again appealed against the decision, with sympathizers of Kahane claiming that security, demographic and religious 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".[14]

To protest their electoral ban, a group of Kach activists founded Sicarii in 1989. Their protests took the form of arson and graffiti attacks against Jewish left-wing political figures.[15][16]

Aftermath after Kahane's death

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On 5 November 1990, Kahane was assassinated[17] after making a speech in New York City. The prime suspect, El Sayyid Nosair, an Egyptian-born American citizen, was subsequently acquitted of murder, but convicted on gun possession charges.[18] Kach offshooted into Kach, led by Baruch Marzel, substitute for Toledano, Mashgiach Ruhani of Yeshivat HaRa'ayon HaYehudi, founded by Meir Kahane and Kahane Chai, led by Benjamin Ze'ev Kahane, a descendant of Rabbi Meir Kahane, founder of Kach, Kahane Chai.[19] Kach, Kahane Chai were banned from participating in 1992.

Party ban on Kach, Kahane Chai

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Following both parties noting their support of a 1992 grenade attack on the butchers' market of Jerusalem's Old City, government minister Amnon Rubinstein asked the Attorney General to launch criminal proceedings against Kahane, Marzel on the charges of incitement to terrorism.[14]

In 1994, both groups were banned outright by the Israeli cabinet under 1948 anti-terrorism laws,[20] following statements in support of Baruch Goldstein's massacre of 29 Palestinians at the Cave of the Patriarchs (Goldstein himself was a Kach supporter).[21] Many of their leaders spent time in Israeli jail under administrative detention, particularly Noam Federman, who spent more than 6 months in lockup without being indicted. Amir, who assassinated the Prime Minister of Israel, Yitzhak Rabin in 1995 who was in contact with "EYAL" (the Jewish Fighting Organization), a group established and headed by Avishai Raviv (a paid government informant) and portrayed as linked to Kach and Kahane Chai.[22]

After being convicted for sedition for distributing pamphlets advocating violence against Arabs, Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane and his wife were killed in a Palestinian ambush in December 2000.[23]

Aftermath

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Kach logo spraypainted on a cement block reading "Kahane Chai"
Kahanist graffiti in Hebron on a Palestinian home. The words to the top right say "Kahane Chai". The fist inside the Star of David is the party logo. Below is the acronym for "Kahane Chai" which is also the Hebrew word for strength.

Following the bans on Kach, Kahane Chai, the movements officially disbanded. Kach Leadership formed an advocacy group known as The Kahane Movement. The group's activities consist mainly of maintaining Kahanist website kahane.org. However, the Kahane Movement is listed on the United States's list of terrorist organizations as an alias for "Kach, Kahane Chai", though the group denies this.

The New Kach Movement existed between 2001 and 2003 and maintained websites posting Kachnick political commentary and held meetings with informal members. Headed by Israeli-born student Ephraim Hershkovits, it had chapters worldwide and a youth movement, Noar haMeir. 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 dissolved, its name was also added to the United States of America's list of terrorist organizations as an alias for "Kach". Hershkovits was arrested on 7 August 2005 and placed in administrative detention for three months by Israeli authorities.

America continued to designate the group as a terrorist organization by the early 2000s,[24] saying that it engaged in terrorist activity by:

  • Using explosives or firearms 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)[25]
  • 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 Intifada in 2000.[26]

In the 2003 elections, Kach's former leader Baruch Marzel ran as number two on the Herut – National Movement party list. The party narrowly missed obtaining a seat. In 2004, he founded the Chayil party, which gained 24,824 votes (0.7%) in the 2006 elections, less than half needed to win a seat. Mikael ben-Ari, elected to the Knesset in 2009 on the National Union List, representative of ultra-Orthodox Jewish party Eretz Israel Shelanu follows Kahane, involved in his Kach party for many years. Then, Israeli far-rightist party Jewish National Front merged into Eretz Yisrael Shelanu prior to the election.

Former Chief Executive of the Kach party, Yekutiel Ben-Yaakov[27] continues to solicit funds in the U.S., with the support of Evangelicals and Jews of American and Israeli origin.

A 2009 Haaretz story accused the leader of Yisrael Beiteinu, Lieberman of past membership in Kach, an accusation Lieberman denies.[28]

A number of Kach followers, such as Gopstein, Marzel, Ben-Ari, and Ben-Gvir later became founding members and spokespeople for the segregationist movement Lehav"a, tied to Otzma Yehudit.[29][30][31][32][33][34] Otzma Yehudit is a Kahanist political party that incorporates many of the same followers, especially Baruch Marzel, Michael Ben-Ari, Itamar Ben-Gvir, and Bezalel Smotrich.[35]

Political platform

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The Kach party platform called for legislation on a variety of issues:[36][37]

Palestinians

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  • Arabs in Israel are to be offered the right of residence as a non-citizen. All non-Jews will have total personal rights and no national ones. Those who refuse the offer, and agree to leave quickly and peacefully, will receive compensation for their property, with 10% taken off and placed in a special fund for Sephardic Jews who left property behind in Arab countries and were never compensated.
  • Until then, every Israeli Arab from the age of 18 will serve three years of manual labor, plus yearly manual duty as part of the reserves. The National Insurance Institute, which pays monthly checks for every Arab child until the age of 18, will be transferred to the Jewish Agency, and payment made only to Jews.
  • An automatic (death) penalty shall be in force for every Arab terrorist caught.

Economy and employment

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  • A five-day-week of work will be introduced throughout the country, with Shabbat and Sunday being full days of rest. Sunday will be a day for freedom of entertainment, sport, and general pleasure, while the Shabbat will be a day of cessation.
  • A free economy will be put into force, with regulations and licenses cut to a minimum, and the bureaucracy cut to the bone. Taxes will be cut, and capital investment welcome. Worker-participation in factories will be encouraged. The Histadrut will be limited to being a union only and will have to sell off its holdings. Only free enterprise that brings in foreign investment, and that encourages domestic capitalism and incentive, will allow Israel to escape its position as a beggar basket-case.
  • Minimum wages will be raised to high levels, and underemployment compensation limited only to those who are incapable of working or can prove that they have not been able to find work. Jewish labor will be advocated.
  • The huge amounts of budgetary funds that go to the Arab sector will be diverted to the needs of the Jewish underprivileged in the urban neighborhoods and the development towns.[38]

Education

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  • Organization of Jewish education shall be undertaken, including schools, the army, and state news media. All schools in Israel will be given a basic curriculum in Judaism and Jewish national pride. Parents who do not wish this can organize their own private schools, but with no government funding.

Foreign affairs

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  • The Aliyah Department shall be re-organized, with all emissaries recalled and a new system implemented under which a shaliach (emissary) sent to a foreign country will be one who himself came from this country.
  • A special unit to deal properly with Jew-haters outside of Israel who threaten Jews there will be set up. There will be no sanctuary for murderers of Jews, Israelis or not.
  • A special office to deal with the suffering Jews outside of Israel (Syria, Yemen, Ethiopia, etc.) will coordinate non-stop protests and pressures throughout the world.
  • The humiliation of United Nations defamation and degradation of Israel will be put to an end with Israel's withdrawal.[38]

Land and sovereignty

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  • Immediate annexation of every part of Israel that is in our hands, and unlimited settlement for Jews everywhere in that area.
  • Sovereignty from the Temple Mount shall be given to the Rabbinate. Jews will have unlimited access to those areas of the Temple Mount that are permitted entry by halakha, and a synagogue will be built immediately.
  • Every young couple will be offered a dunam of free land to build a home with minimum mortgage. This will encourage young couples to leave the cities, and also to live in an environment of air and land, rather than cramped into tiny apartments in high-rise buildings.

Military

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  • The Army shall be given a free hand to shoot when it feels necessary at any attacker, including stone-throwers. The entire village of any terrorist, including stone-throwers, shall be expelled from the country.
  • Every soldier during his three years of basic army service will learn a manual trade and will be given an opportunity, while in the army, to spend much of his last year at home working in that trade.
  • All women will be exempt from army service but will be compelled to do national service in their neighborhoods and come home every night.
  • A separate large army base shall be set up in which Haredi Jews will do their army service. Any full-time yeshiva student who does absolutely nothing else will be exempt. The many thousands of part-time yeshiva students will be doing army service at the special base.

Electoral history

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Election Leader Votes % Seats +/–
1973

(as 'The League List')

 Meir Kahane 12,811 0.8
0 / 120
 New
1977 Meir Kahane 4,396 0.3
0 / 120
 Steady
1981 Meir Kahane 5,128 0.3
0 / 120
 Steady
1984 Meir Kahane 25,907 1.2
1 / 120
 Increase1
1988 Meir Kahane, Baruch Meir Marzel Party banned, gone underground. Decrease1

See also

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References

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  1. ↑ Sharon Weinblum (2015). Security and Defensive Democracy in Israel: A Critical Approach to Political Discourse. Routledge. p. 10. ISBN 978-1-317-58450-6.
  2. ↑ The SAGE Encyclopedia of Terrorism, Second Edition. SAGE Publications. 2011. p. 321.
  3. ↑ Politics of Terrorism A Survey. Taylor & Francis. 2010. p. 166.
  4. ↑ Ehud Sprinzak (1999). Brother against Brother. The Free Press. p. 189. ISBN 978-0684853444.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "The Kach Movement - Background". Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 3 March 1994. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  6. ↑ "Israel Political Parties: Kach". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  7. ↑ Complete Israeli Election Results, 1949-2009 UC Santa Barbara [dead link]
  8. ↑ Rafael Medoff; Chaim I. Waxman (2013). Historical Dictionary of Zionism. Routledge. p. 100. ISBN 978-1579582869.
  9. ↑ Pedahzur, Ami; Perliger, Arie (2009). Jewish terrorism in Israel. Columbia studies in terrorism and irregular warfare. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 87. ISBN 978-0-231-15446-8. OCLC 317068141.
  10. ↑ Donald Neff (July–August 1999). "Jewish Defense League Unleashes Campaign of Violence in America". Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. pp. 81–82. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  11. ↑ Samuel G. Freedman (2000). Jew vs. Jew: the struggle for the soul of American Jewry. Simon and Schuster. p. 196. ISBN 9780684859446. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  12. ↑ "12 Years Since the Assassination of Rabbi Meir Kahane". Arutz Sheva. 23 October 2002. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  13. ↑ Bradley Burston (12 December 2002). "Slain Rabbi Meir Kahane Runs From the Grave". Haaretz. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 23 June 2015.(subscription required)
  14. 1 2 Cite error: The named reference MFA2 was used but no text was provided for refs named (see the help page).
  15. ↑ Roseberg, Carol (28 April 1989). "Underground group targets Jewish leftists". The Globe and Mail. p. A8.
  16. ↑ Ami Pedahzur; Arie Perliger (2011), Jewish Terrorism in Israel, Columbia University Press, p. 93, ISBN 978-0-231-15447-5
  17. ↑ Murphy, Dean E. (19 December 2000). "Terror Label No Hindrance To Anti-Arab Jewish Group". The New York Times. p. B6. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  18. ↑ Raab, Selwyn (23 December 1991). "Jury Selection Seen As Crucial to Verdict". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  19. ↑ Reich, Bernard (2008). A Brief History of Israel. Infobase Publishing. ISBN 9781438108261.
  20. ↑ Cite error: The named reference treas.gov was used but no text was provided for refs named (see the help page).
  21. ↑ Cite error: The named reference cdi.org was used but no text was provided for refs named (see the help page).
  22. ↑ "EYAL (Fighting Jewish Organization)". National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism. University of Maryland. Archived from the original on 24 June 2015. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  23. ↑ "The Kahanes: Like father, like son". BBC News. 31 December 2000. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  24. ↑ Cite error: The named reference state.gov was used but no text was provided for refs named (see the help page).
  25. ↑ "U.S. Appeals Court Affirms Designation of Kahane Chai, Kach as Terrorist Groups". Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. The DC Investigative Journalism Collective. January–February 2007. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  26. ↑ "Kach, Kahane Chai (Israel, extremists)". Council for Foreign Relations. 20 March 2008. Archived from the original on 4 June 2011. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  27. ↑ "Business Information Report: Kahane Chai Inc". Dun & Bradstreet Information Services. 15 July 1994. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  28. ↑ Lily Galili (1 January 2009). "Elections 2009 / Haaretz exclusive: Avigdor Lieberman said to be ex-member of banned radical Kach movement". Haaretz. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  29. ↑ Uri Blau; Shai Greenberg (27 May 2011). "A strange kind of mercy". Haaretz. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  30. ↑ Yair Ettinger (21 December 2014). "Israel Police arrests four more anti-Arab activists from rightist group Lehava". Haaretz. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  31. ↑ Felicity Kay (15 March 2010). "Marzel urges super model Refaeli not to marry DiCaprio". The Jerusalem Post.
  32. ↑ Allyn Fisher-Ilan (18 August 2014). "Israeli wedding of Jew, Muslim draws protesters amid war tensions". Reuters. Archived from the original on 23 June 2016.
  33. ↑ Kobi Nachshoni (2 February 2009). "מספר 4 באיחוד הלאומי: כולם מבינים שכהנא צדק" [Number 4 in the National Union: Everyone Understands that Kahane was Right] (in Hebrew). Ynet.
  34. ↑ Lior Averbach (9 March 2009). "הח"כ "הכהניסט" התלונן על אריה גולן: הוא קטע איתי ראיון באמצע" [The 'Kahanist' MK complained about Arie Golan: He Cut me Short in an Interview] (in Hebrew). nrg Maariv.
  35. ↑ Jeremy Sharon (25 February 2019). "What do Otzma Yehudit and its leaders stand for?". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
  36. ↑ "The Others". The Jewish Press. 23 September 1988.
  37. ↑ Meir Kahane (1987). Uncomfortable Questions for Comfortable Jews. Lyle Stuart. pp. 266–274. ISBN 0818404388.
  38. 1 2 "If I were Prime Minister…". The Jewish Press. 11 March 1983.
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