Meir Kahane

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Meir Kahane
Date of birth 1 August 1932(1932-08-01)
Year of Aliyah 1971
Date of death 5 November 1990 (aged 58)
Knesset(s) 11th
Party Kach

Rabbi Meir David Kahane (Hebrew: מאיר דוד כהנא‎, also known by the pseudonyms Michael King and David Sinai, 1 August 1932 – 5 November 1990) was an American-Israeli Orthodox rabbi, a former member of the Israeli Knesset.[1]

Kahane was known in the United States and Israel for his strong political and nationalist views, exemplified in his promotion of a Greater Israel based on Jewish law. He founded two controversial movements: the Jewish Defense League (JDL) in the USA and Kach, an Israeli political party. In 1984, Kach gained one seat in the Knesset and Rabbi Meir Kahane became a member. In 1986, Kach was declared a racist party by the Israeli government and banned from the Knesset, and, in 1994, following the Cave of the Patriarchs massacre by Baruch Goldstein the movement was outlawed completely. Kahane's Knesset career was ended by section 7a of Basic Law: The Knesset (1958): "Prevention of Participation of Candidates List."

Kahane was assassinated in Manhattan in 1990, after concluding a speech in a New York hotel.[2]

Contents

[edit] Early life

Kahane was born in Brooklyn, New York City, New York in 1932 to an Orthodox Jewish family. His father, Rabbi Yechezkel Sharaga Kahane, was born in Safed, Israel, in 1905, and went to study in Polish and Czech yeshiva religious schools. Later, he emigrated to the USA, where he served as rabbi of two congregations. Meir received his rabbinical ordination from the Mir Yeshiva in Brooklyn. He was fully conversant with the Talmud and Tanakh (Jewish Bible), and worked as a pulpit Rabbi and teacher in the 1960s. During this period, he tutored famed Jewish folk musician Arlo Guthrie for his Bar Mitzvah.[3] Subsequently, he earned a JD from New York Law School and an L.L.M from New York University Law School.

As a teenager, he became an ardent admirer of Ze'ev Jabotinsky, who was a frequent guest in his parents' home, and joined the Betar (Brit Trumpeldor) youth wing of Revisionist Zionism. He was active in protests against Ernest Bevin, the British Foreign Secretary who blocked emigration of Nazi death camp survivors to the Jewish Homeland and opposed Israel's independence in favor of creating a Hashemite Arab monarchy dependent on British power. Kahane also organized and launched noisy public demonstrations in the USA against the Soviet Union's policy of persecuting Zionist activists and curbing Jewish emigration to Israel. He was active in the "Free Soviet (Russian) Jewry" movement and advocated policies designed to increase emigration of Russian refuseniks to Israel.

In the 1960s, Kahane was an editor of an American-Jewish weekly, Brooklyn's The Jewish Press, and was a regular correspondent for that paper.

[edit] Ideology

Main article: Kahanism

Kahane argued that observance of Torah was the only reason to be Jewish. He saw secular Jews as hypocritical racists:

The biggest racist is the Jew who doesn't see that to be a Jew is something special... Of course, a person born a Jew is a Jew. There’s no doubt about that. But if he doesn’t respect the Torah, he’s not a good Jew. The only reason to be Jewish is the Torah. There’s no other logical reason to be Jewish.[4]

Kahane advocated a Jewish State founded on Halakha. He believed that

democracy and Judaism are two opposite things. One absolutely cannot confuse them. The objective of a democratic state is to allow a person to do exactly as he wishes. The objective of Judaism is to serve God and to make people better. These are two totally opposite conceptions of life.[5]

Kahane advocated basing Israeli law on Halakha, including laws such as banning the sale of pork, outlawing missionary activities in Israel, and a ban on all sexual relations between Jews and non-Jews[6]. Supporters say Kahane was protecting Torah values and the integrity of the Jewish nation, but his detractors consider Kahane's views bigoted. See: Jewish view of marriage.

Kahane also believed that a Jewish democracy with non-Jewish citizens was self-contradictory because the non-Jewish citizens might someday become a numerical majority and vote to make the state non-Jewish:

I ask a question that sends Israelis crazy, both on the Left and on the Right. The question is as follows: if the Arabs settle among us and make enough children to become a majority, will Israel continue to be a Jewish state? Do we have to accept that the Arab majority will decide?
... Western democracy has to be ruled out. For me that's cut and dried: there's no question of setting up democracy in Israel, because democracy means equal rights for all, irrespective of racial or religious origins.[7]

Kahane claimed that historically there are no examples of Arab Muslims living peacefully alongside other non-Arab ethnic groups. Thus Kahane proposed the forcible deportation of nearly all Arabs from all lands controlled by the Israeli government. When he served as a Member of the Knesset he proposed a $40,000 compensation plan for the Arabs he was to evict. But he made it clear that Arabs who refused compensation would be expelled by force:

I’d offer financial compensation for those who want to leave the country voluntarily. I would only use force for those who don’t want to leave. I’d go all the way, and they know that... I’m going to hold the bridges on the Jordan river; we’ll hold them for two weeks. We’ll evacuate the Arabs and let Jordan go to the United Nations.[8]

To deter Arab terrorism and to frighten the Arab population into leaving, he advocated Jewish pressure:

I want to scare them and I want to make them realize that, contrary to what they have believed for fifteen years, time is not on their side... And I approve of anybody who commits such acts of violence. Really, I don’t think that we can sit back and watch Arabs throwing rocks at buses whenever they feel like it. They must understand that a bomb thrown at a Jewish bus is going to mean a bomb thrown at an Arab bus.[9]

Kahane proposed a Jewish state within its Biblical borders:

Let me tell you what the minimal borders are, and which the rabbis agree upon, according to the description given in the Bible. The southern boundary goes up to El Arish, which takes in all of northern Sinai, including Yamit. To the east, the frontier runs along the western part of the East Bank of the Jordan river, hence part of what is now Jordan. Eretz Yisrael also includes part of the Lebanon and certain parts of Syria, and part of Iraq, all the way to the Tigris river.[10]

To the objection that this would mean perpetual war, he replied, "There will be a perpetual war. With or without Kahane."

[edit] Supporters

In the early 1970s, Bob Dylan was accused of being a supporter of Rabbi Meir Kahane’s Jewish Defense League.[11] In a Time Magazine interview, Dylan said about Kahane, "He's a really sincere guy. He's really put it all together."[12]

According to Kahane, Dylan did attend several meetings of the Jewish Defense League in order to find out "what we're all about"[13] and started to have talks with the rabbi.[14]

[edit] Israel

In the U.S., the Jewish Defense League (JDL) engaged in militant activity and harassment of its political and intellectual opponents. Consequently, police pressure began to build upon Kahane, and, in 1971, he emigrated to Israel.

In Israel he established the Kach party. In 1980, Kahane stood unsuccessfully for election to the Knesset. Later, in 1980, Kahane served 6 months in prison following an detention order. According to Ehud Sprinzak, "the prevailing rumour was that a very provocative act of sabotage on the Temple Mount was planned by Kahane and a close associate of his, Baruch Green."[15]

In 1984, Kahane was elected as an MK - Member of the Knesset (Israel's Parliament). The Central Elections Committee had banned him from being a candidate on the grounds that Kach was a racist party, but the Israeli High Court determined that the Committee was not authorized to ban Kahane's candidacy. The High Court suggested that the Knesset should pass a law that would authorize the exclusion of racist parties from future elections (the Anti-Racist Law of 1988).

Kahane refused to take the oath of office for the Knesset and insisted that a Biblical verse from Psalms be added to it, to indicate that when the national laws and Torah conflict, Torah (Biblical) law should have supremacy over the laws of the Knesset.

Kahane's legislative proposals focused on revoking the Israeli citizenship for non-Jews and banning Jewish-Gentile marriages and sexual relations, based on his interpretation of the Code of Jewish Law compiled by Maimonides in the Mishneh Torah. None of Israel's mainstream religious parties or prominent rabbis publicly supported Kach legislation.

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 (a reference from Jewish religious texts describing ancient Jews who assimilated into Greek culture after Judea's occupation by Alexander the Great). In 1987, Rabbi Kahane opened a yeshiva (HaRaayon HaYehudi) with funding from US supporters, for the teaching of "the Authentic Jewish Idea".

In 1986, Kahane voted in favor of an anti-racism law that exempted "acts for purposes of religious worship or intended to preserve Israel's unique character."[citation needed]

In 1985, the Knesset passed an amendment to Israel's Basic Law, barring "racist" candidates from election. The committee banned Kahane a second time, and he appealed to the Israeli High Court. This time the court found in favor of the committee, declaring Kahane to be unsuitable for election. Kahane asserted that polls showed the Kach Party was about to become the 3rd largest party in Israel and this was the true reason that the party was banned[citation needed].

[edit] Assassination

In 1990, after a speech in a Manhattan, New York Marriott hotel, Kahane was assassinated. The prime suspect, El Sayyid Nosair, was subsequently acquitted of murder but convicted on gun possession charges.

Nosair later stood trial as a co-conspirator of Shaikh Omar Abdel Rahman. Both men received life sentences for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, conspiracy to use explosives against New York landmarks, and plotting to assassinate U.S. politicians. Nosair received life plus 15 years of imprisonment.[16] Nosair's relatives obtained funds to pay for Nosair's defense from Osama bin Laden.[17]

[edit] Political legacy

Graffiti in Herzliya: "כהנא צדק" ("Kahane was right")
Graffiti in Herzliya: "כהנא צדק" ("Kahane was right")

Following Kahane's murder, no charismatic leader emerged to replace him in the movement, and Kahane's ideology declined in popularity among Israelis. Two small Kahanist factions later emerged; one under the name of Kach and the other Kahane chai (Hebrew: כהנא חי, literally "Kahane lives [on]").

In 1994, following the murders in the Ibrahim Mosque/Cave of the Forefathers in Hebron by Kach supporter Dr. Baruch Goldstein, the Israeli government declared both parties to be terrorist organizations.[18][19] The U.S. State Department also added Kach and Kahane Chai to its list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations. Providing funds or material support to these organizations is a crime in both Israel and the USA.

In late 2000, as terrorist attacks on Israel during the Al-Aqsa Intifada began, Kahane supporters spray-painted graffiti on hundreds of bus shelters and bridges all across Israel. The message on each target was identical, simply reading: "Kahane Was Right".

Since the 1994 banning of Kach and Kahane Chai no party has officially represented the 'Kahanist' position in politics. There have been, however, several parties which have had clear ideological, if not personal, links to Rabbi Kahane.

The first, Herut, which split off from the National Union (Israel) list ran in 2002 with Michael Kleiner and Hebron resident Baruch Marzel taking the top two spots on the list. The joint effort narrowly missed the 1.5% minimum necessary for entry into the Knesset. The loss was due partly to heavy advertising by the larger National Union (Israel) party that Herut would only be a waste of votes for the right wing bloc.

In the 2006 elections to group split into two factions, with Herut running again under Michael Kleiner and number of nominally well-known Kahanists (such as David HaIvri and Daniel Pinner of Kfar Tapuach). Herut earned an embarrassingly low number of votes, not even approaching the newly raised 2% minimum. The second faction, named The Jewish National Front and led by Baruch Marzel, fared better but still failed to pass the minimum threshold. The latter group gained the support of former Shas Knesset member and prominent rabbinic leader Rabbi Yaakov Yosef, son of Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef.

[edit] Son murdered

On December 31, 2000, Meir Kahane's son, Kahane Chai leader rabbi Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane, and his wife Talya were murdered in their van as they were driving with their children from Jerusalem to their home in the Israeli settlement of Kfar Tapuach. Palestinian gunmen fired more than 60 machine-gun rounds into their van. A statement issued by the Prime Minister's Office in 2001 announced the arrest of 3 members of Fatah's Force 17 allegedly involved in the attack.

According to the statement, PLO activist Mahmoud Damra, also known as Abu Awad, was responsible for arming and training the three assassins, identified as Talal Ghassan, 37, a senior Force 17 member in Ramallah, Marzouk Abu Naim, 43, and Na'man Nofel.

[edit] See also

[edit] Publications

  • (Partially under pseudonym Michael King; with Joseph Churba) The Jewish Stake in Vietnam, Crossroads, 1967
  • Never Again! A Program for Survival, Pyramid Books, 1972
  • Time to Go Home, Nash, 1972.
  • Letters from Prison, Jewish Identity Center, 1974
  • Our Challenge: The Chosen Land, Chilton, 1974
  • The Story of the Jewish Defense League, Chilton, 1975, 2nd edition, Institute for Publication of the Writings of Rabbi Meir Kahane, (Brooklyn, NY), 2000
  • Why Be Jewish? Intermarriage, Assimilation, and Alienation, Stein & Day, 1977
  • Listen, Vanessa, I Am a Zionist, Institute of the Authentic Jewish Idea, 1978
  • They Must Go, Grosset & Dunlop, 1981
  • Uncomfortable Questions for Comfortable Jews, Lyle Stuart, 1987
  • Israel: Revolution or Referendum, Barricade Books (Secaucus, NJ), 1990
  • Or ha-ra'yon, English title: The Jewish Idea, n.p. (Jerusalem), 1992, translated from the Hebrew by Raphael Blumberg, Institute for Publication of the Writings of Rabbi Meir Kahane (Jerusalem), 1996
  • On Jews and Judaism: Selected Articles 1961–1990, Institute for Publication of the Writings of Rabbi Meir Kahane (Jerusalem), 1993
  • Perush ha-Makabi: al Sefer Devarim, Institute for Publication of the Writings of Rabbi Meir Kahane (Jerusalem), 1993, 1995
  • Perush ha-Makabi: al Sefer Shemu'el u-Nevi'im rishonim, Institute for Publication of the Writings of Rabbi Meir Kahane (Jerusalem), 1994
  • Listen World, Listen Jew, 3rd edition, Institute for the Publication of the Writings of Rabbi Meir Kahane (Jerusalem), 1995
  • Kohen ve-navi: osef ma'amarim, ha-Makhon le-hotsa'at kitve ha-Rav Kahana (Jerusalem), 2000
  • Cuckooland, illustrated by Shulamith bar Itzhak (yet unpublished).

Also author of Numbers 23:9: "... lo, it is a people that shall dwell alone and shall not be reckoned among the nations," I. Block, 1970s. Contributor—sometimes under pseudonym Michael King—to periodicals, including New York Times. Editor of Jewish Press, 1968.

For supplementary information and insights:

  • The Wit and Wisdom of Rabbi Meir Kahane by Lenny Goldberg
  • Kahane et le Kahanisme" by Shulamith Bar Itzhak.
  • Meir Kahane: Ideologue, Hero, Thinker by Daniel Breslauer. Lewiston/Queenston: Edwin Mellen Press, 1986.
  • The Boundaries of Liberty and Tolerance: The Struggle Against Kahanism in Israel by Raphael Cohen-Almagor. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 1994.
  • The False Prophet: Rabbi Meir Kahane, from FBI Informant to Knesset Member by Robert I. Friedman. Brooklyn, NY: Lawrence Hill Books, 1990.
  • Heil Kahane by Yair Kotler. New York: Adama Books, 1986.
  • Israel’s Ayatollahs: Meir Kahane and the Far Right in Israel by Raphael Mergui and Phillipe Simonnot.
  • The Roots of Kahanism: Consciousness and Political Reality by Aviezer Ravitzky.
  • Kach and Meir Kahane: The Emergence of Jewish Quasi-Fascism by Ehud Sprinzak.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Rabbi Meir Kahane Jewish Virtual Library
  2. ^ Jewish militant faces bomb trial BBC News, 15 June 2004
  3. ^ A Jewish Visit to Guthrie’s Land.
  4. ^ God's Law: an Interview with Rabbi Meir Kahane
  5. ^ God's Law: an Interview with Rabbi Meir Kahane
  6. ^ New York Times, 12 June 1981
  7. ^ God's Law: an Interview with Rabbi Meir Kahane
  8. ^ God's Law: an Interview with Rabbi Meir Kahane
  9. ^ God's Law: an Interview with Rabbi Meir Kahane
  10. ^ God's Law: an Interview with Rabbi Meir Kahane
  11. ^ Talkin' Hava Nagilah Blues by Seth Rogovoy
  12. ^ Bob Dylan interview
  13. ^ The Wandering Kind by Douglas Wolk
  14. ^ Heylin, Clinton (2001). Bob Dylan Behind the Shades. The Biography-Take Two. London: Penguin Books, 328. ISBN 0-1402-8146-0. 
  15. ^ Kach and Meir Kahane: The Emergence of Jewish Quasi-Fascism by Ehud Sprinzak, published by The American Jewish Committee.
  16. ^ USA v. Omar Ahmad Ali Abdel-Rahman et al: 93-CR-181-KTD.
  17. ^ Smith, Greg B.. "Bin Laden bankrolled Kahane killer defense", New York Daily News, October 9, 2002. 
  18. ^ Kach and Kahane Chai.
  19. ^ Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT).

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Persondata
NAME Kahane, Meir David
ALTERNATIVE NAMES מאיר דוד כהנא (Hebrew); King, Michael
SHORT DESCRIPTION American/Israeli political activist and rabbi
DATE OF BIRTH August 1, 1932
PLACE OF BIRTH Brooklyn, New York
DATE OF DEATH November 5, 1990
PLACE OF DEATH New York, New York