Kahanism

Kahanism

Universal Kahanist symbol
Type	Far-right, Jewish extremism, Religious Zionism, Anti-Arabism, Islamophobia, Anti-Christian sentiment
Key people	Rabbi Meir Kahane Irv Rubin Baruch Goldstein Meir Weinstein Chaim Ben Pesach (Victor Vancier)

Kahanism is an extremist Jewish ideology based on the views of Rabbi Meir Kahane, founder of the Jewish Defense League and the Kach party in Israel. Kahane maintains that the majority of Arabs living in Israel are enemies of Jews and Israel itself, and that a Jewish theocratic state, where non-Jews have no voting rights, should be created. The Kach party has been banned by Israel and labeled a terrorist group by the U.S. State Department.

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.

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.'