Rabbi Meir Kahane

Rabbi Meir David Kahane was born in August 1st, 1932 in Brooklyn, New York. As a young rabbi in Howard Beach in the years 1958-1960, he succeeded in bringing many of the younger members of his congregation to strict religious observance. Fired in 1960 by the assimilated parents of these youngsters who were not pleased with the Rabbi's "influence" upon their children, he eventually found work in a Jewish Anglo-Saxon newspaper called "The Jewish Press." He wrote at least one column a week for almost thirty years. Debate: Rabbi Meir Kahane Vs. Ehud Olmert

In the early 60's he also established a political think tank with under the pseudo name "Michael King", and established a movement called "July 4 th ", which supported America's participation in the Vietnam War. In 1967, he co-wrote a book called "The Jewish Stake in Vietnam," in which he opposed the leftist stance of withdrawing American troops from Vietnam, feeling that a defeat for America would result in an emboldened Soviet Union - and an emboldened Soviet Union would spell trouble for Israel. As editor of the Jewish Press, the Rabbi began receiving numerous letters from American Jews lamenting the unbearable levels of anti-Semitism, and the lack of any official help or even acknowledgement of the problem. The Rabbi heard many "horror stories" of beatings, muggings, extortion, threats and vandalism, and was appalled at the lack of any kind of response by the relevant authorities. He turned to the major Jewish organizations to inform them of these incidents, and found to his chagrin that they too were "aware of the problem," but preferred to either react "quietly," or - more often than not - deny the problem altogether. He came to the conclusion that a new Jewish organization must be formed - a grassroots organization which would really engage with the problem. In 1968 he put an ad in the Jewish Press declaring the establishment of a new organization called "The Jewish Defense League," or "JDL" for short. The JDL began by taking on local anti-Semitism in the city school systems. Soon after, JDL members began guarding Jewish cemeteries from young hoodlums who would vandalize and desecrate Jewish tombstones annually on Halloween. In 1969, the JDL received its first major publicity when a black militant named James Forman began demanding compensation from churches and synagogues, for the slavery and other injustices committed against the black people. Forman contacted Temple Emmanuelle, a reform synagogue, and announced that he would be arriving on Friday night to highlight his grievances, and demand "compensation". The JDL announced that if Forman show up, they would "break both his legs." Jewish Defense League members stood in front of Temple Emmanuelle with sticks and chains to await Forman's arrival. He never showed up. The media was stunned at such a response from a Jewish organization. While this reputation garnered them much hatred from the Jewish Establishment groups, it also gained them the admiration and respect of the Jewish public in general. In 1969 the JDL opened up a summer camp, where for the first time - instead of going kayaking and horse-riding - Jewish youngsters underwent an intense course of military and firearms training, karate classes, and Torah classes. That year, the JDL continued defendeding Jewish teachers who were being attacked by black anti-Semites, claiming that the Jewish teachers were "castrating" their children educationally. As time went by and their membership grew, the JDL also organized patrols (sometimes legally armed) in neighborhoods where Jews were being victimized and physically attacked and offered regular courses in self-defense, as well as dealing with day to day anti-Semitism in schools and campuses across the country. As JDL membership grew, the Rabbi felt it was possible to start helping the Jews languishing behind the "Iron Curtain." The JDL, led by Rabbi Kahane, began the struggle for the release of the Jews of the Soviet Union. On December 29, 1969, the JDL simultaneously raided the offices of Intourist (a Soviet tourist agency) and Aeroflot (the official Soviet airline) and leaped aboard a Soviet airliner that had just landed at Kennedy Airport in New York. At that same time, Rabbi Kahane himself, along with three young militants, took over the TASS office (Soviet News Agency). The next day, having only just been released on bail, Rabbi Kahane and 200 JDL members held a full-scale riot opposite the Soviet mission, breaking through a police barrier, effectively ending the policy of silence that the Jewish Establishment groups had so long kept in place. Many other high-profile demonstrations and activities were to follow, including the JDL's disruption in January, 1970, of a performance by the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra who were playing a concert at Brooklyn College. This was just a small part of the overall JDL policy of threatening to fracture the already delicate "détente" between the Soviet Union and the USA, unless the Soviet Jewish issue was dealt with. Already by 1971, the Soviet Jewry issue was being publicized, and the Soviet Union finally began granting exit visas to Jews living there, who were previously unable to leave. In March, 1971, a massive rally was held for Soviet Jews in Washington DC. Thousands of demonstrators marched from the White House towards the Soviet embassy. Against police orders, they blocked traffic, yelled out slogans, and sang Jewish songs. Over a thousand people were arrested, in a unique display of Jewish pride and activism that was to rock the American Jewish community to its core. In April of 1971, the JDL celebrated Passover with a unique version of the ten plagues: 50 frogs were released into the offices of Aeroflot, and quantities of mice were let loose in the offices of "Amtorg" (a company dealing in commerce between American and Russian.)! Such dynamic, creative protests were to become the trademark of the ever more popular - and increasingly successful - Jewish Defense League…Statistically, the JDL's success can be measured by the drastic increase in the number of Jews released from the Soviet Union during the JDL's active years. For decades earlier, only a few hundred had been released. Since JDL began its activities, however, the statistics read far more positively: 15,000 Jews left the Soviet Union in 1971, 34,000 left in 1972, and 37,000 in 1973.On September 14, 1971, Rabbi Kahane made aliyah to Israel and continued the struggle to free Soviet Jews such as the known refusenik Siliva Zalmanson. In Israel, the Rabbi also started to take on the local problems. He came out strongly against the "Black Hebrews," a group of black Americans who reside illegally in the southern Israeli town of Dimona. The Rabbi was also active against Christian Missionaries in Israel, who were preying on the impoverished, simple Jewish immigrants from the USSR and Northern Africa. He also organized demonstrations against US pressure that was being put on Israel to accept territorial concessions to the Arabs. He dedicated a great deal of his time appearing before students and young people to spread his message of Torah and activism.He dedicated much time to the subject of American aliyah. During these early years he was in Israel, he would go to America for months at a time to speak to Jews and influence them to learn Judaism and make aliyah, and succeeded in influencing tens of thousands of Jews in this direction. In May of 1972, he began a movement in the U.S. called "Homeward" which was to encourage aliyah from America to Israel. During this time, he published his book "Time to Go Home," which dealt strictly with the subject of aliyah. He had already finished writing "Never Again" a year earlier.Towards the end of 1972, the Rabbi began to deal increasingly with the Arab problem. He arrived at the conclusion that the only way to prevent a "northern Ireland in Israel" was through encouraging the Arab population to leave Israel.The Rabbi wrote thousands of letters to Arabs within the state, as well as to those Arabs living within the territories liberated in 1967, offering financial compensation to any Arab who was willing to leave the country. Many Arabs responded in the positive, and in actual fact an entire village in the Galillee, Gush Chalav, proposed transferring its entire population to Canada, on the condition that they be provided with their own replacement village to reside in.In June of 1973 Rabbi Kahane was arrested by Israeli police. He sat for thirty days in prison for sending letters and telegrams to his supporters in American, calling upon them to do everything to disrupt the Soviet leader Brezhnev's visit to the US. He also called for actions against the Russian and Iraqi embassies, for the persecution of the Jewish minorities within those respective countries.Running on a JDL ticket emphasizing Jewish education and pride, the Rabbi ran for the Israeli Knesset in 1973. The election committee gave the party the letters "kaf" and "kaf." Later on, these letters became the name of Rabbi Kahane's movement – Kach. The name is reminiscent of the Irgun slogan: "Rak Kach!" which means " Only This Way!" "Rak Kach!" became the JDL's official slogan for the elections. The Kach list received 12,811 votes - 3,000 votes short of receiving a mandate.From 1972-1975, the Rabbi had to attend to the many charges levied against him by the Israeli authorities. He also began a campaign against Israeli policy to concede the lands won in the Yom Kippur War to the Arabs, and against the immense American pressure exerted on Israel to do so. A few days before being sentenced to jail for his political activities, he published the English book, "The Story of the JDL." In the summer of 1976, Rabbi Kahane was interrogated by the Shin Bet (Israeli General Security Services) in Tel Aviv. The Rabbi talked about his experience in 1988: "I was given an invitation to appear to the Shin Bet office in Tel Aviv. There, someone named Brenner introduced himself and said: "Rabbi Kahane, you have to stop." I asked him: "To stop what? Breathing?" He answered: "Sir, we only warn once…" " A few months later, the Rabbi was attacked by the Shin Bet, who violently beat him and attempted to bundle him into a large sack. Only through a miracle did he escape their clutches, but with a broken hand and serious head-wounds.In 1977, the Kach Movement participated in the elections for the 9 th Knesset, which took place on May 17 th . In his election campaign, he attacked the National Religious Party for their long time participation in leftist governments, their willingness to give up land, and their compromising on the subject of "Who is a Jew?" (The controversy was over how the State of Israel defined who was a Jew.) Rabbi Kahane (along with many other religious voices) demanded that this definition be given only according to the strict Halachic (Jewish Law) requirements. The Rabbi only received 4,396 votes, falling 13,000 votes short of a Knesset mandate. During these 1976 elections, Menachem Begin was voted Prime Minister of Israel. Rabbi Kahane had always admired Begin from the days that Begin fought the British in the pre-state days, and was happy to see him as Prime Minister. But it quickly became evident that Menachem Begin the Prime Minister was not the same Menachem Begin that everyone knew and voted into office. In an interview in 1983 to the Israeli newspaper "Yideot Achronot," he spoke of his disappointment: "The evening he was elected, it was like a holiday for me. This was a man who I expected would make the revolutionary changes in Israel. He didn't do it…"
In 1977, the Rabbi published yet another book, called "Why Be Jewish?", and in 1978, he completed "Listen World, Listen Jew!" Together with his book writing, Rabbi Kahane continued his political endeavors and activism, this time coming out strongly against the supposedly "right-wing" government's policy concerning the liberated lands of 1967, and their concession of the Sinai to Egypt in the Camp David Accords.
In April of 1978, he was again arrested for trying to enter Beit Hadassah in Hebron. In June of 1979, Rabbi Kahane publicly tore up a restriction order preventing him from entering Hebron, and together with his supporters marched towards Kiryat Arba-Hebron and was soon arrested. On July 5 th , he passed through police barriers with a group of supporters and reached the city of Shchem in order to demand from the mayor and the rest of the Shchem residents that they move to an Arab country. However, he was prevented from entering the city hall and was arrested once again. On August 29 th , Rabbi Kahane and three other supporters were sentenced to three months in prison for entering Hebron in violation of a restriction order. He sat in the Maasiyahu prison and, while there, wrote the Hebrew book "On Faith and Redemption."On May 13 th , 1980, the Likud government of Menachem Begin set a precedent by ordering the administrative detention of Rabbi Kahane. Administrative detention is a procedure instituted by the British authorities in mandatory Palestine enabling the government to arrest anyone for up to six months without trial or charges. The order was signed by the then Security Minister, Ezer Weizman. While in Ramle prison, he wrote "They Must Go!", his first book dealing strictly with the Arab threat to Israel from a historical, demographic, and Jewish point of view.When Rabbi Kahane finally left the jail, he prepared for the 10 th Knesset elections. The elections were held on June 30 th , 1981. Heading the list was Rabbi Kahane, followed by Rabbi Yisrael Ariel who was the Rabbi of the Jewish community of Yamit in the Sinai. The list received only 5,128 votes, far short of the necessary 19,373 to win a mandate. After the elections, the Rabbi focused on the struggle over Yamit (and the struggle for the Sinai in general), and many of his people went there to fight the evacuation. With moment of the evacuation looming imminently, eleven of the Rabbi's supporters fortified themselves in a bunker in Yamit, and announced that they would commit suicide if the city was uprooted. This caused great alarm throughout the country, and the government pleaded with Rabbi Kahane to talk his people out of it. The young men listened to their rabbi, and removed their threat of suicide. Menachem Begin sent Rabbi Kahane a personal thank you letter for his efforts. Nevertheless, Rabbi Kahane joined his supporters inside the bunker, and together they fought off the soldiers, who were only able to break through after many numerous attempts. This bunker served to be the only real opposition to the destruction of the community of Yamit.
In 1983, Rabbi Kahane published yet another work; a book called "40 Years," which was released in Hebrew the following year. In the meantime, the elections for the 11th Knesset took place on July, 1984. The list received 25,907 votes, well over the 20,733-vote threshold to enter the Knesset, and only 7, 665 votes short of a second mandate. More than 2.5% of soldiers and 5% of Russian immigrants voted Kach, with the majority of the Rabbi's support coming from Sephardic Jews (Jews primarily from North Africa and the Middle East). The Likud party offered portfolios and money, and in return asked for Kach's support of the government coalition; but Rabbi Kahane stressed that he would only do so if the Jewish underground was released and granted an official pardon, and if the "Who Is a Jew" law was amended, adding Jewish content to the Jewish state. The Rabbi doggedly pursued this issue beyond the elections, and was adamant that the State of Israel should be a "Jewish State," instead of a "State of the Jews," which would imply a "Hebrew-speaking America or Portugal," as the Rabbi would often put it.Both the left and right were deeply worried by Rabbi Kahane's entry to the Knesset. The left disagreed ideologically, and the right was worried in terms of diminished electoral support for their parties. The Israeli media decided to totally boycott reporting Rabbi Kahane and his activities, excluding some rare exceptions - and even then, they would only select certain stories that they knew they would be able to manipulate to reflect badly on the Rabbi (clashes with the police, etc.)In his four years as member of Knesset, there was virtually a complete media blackout and he was not invited once to any TV programs, nor given a forum in any newspapers. Besides small newspapers like "Erev Shabbat," he was never even interviewed. In America, however, things were rather different. Rabbi Kahane was invited to speak on numerous radio and T.V. programs. He spoke twice at the National Press club in Washington - something very few Israeli government officials had done.To combat the growing "Kahanism", as they called it, the army had a mandatory course on "democracy". Knesset members from left to right, and from the religious parties as well, exited the Knesset hall when he spoke. He was constantly demonized by the media, without any chance for rebuttal. Despite this, he was one of the most active members of Knesset. He proposed hundreds of bills and motions, and gave hundreds of speeches, all of which are recorded in the Knesset protocols.Numerous obstacles were thrown his way: His parliamentary right to send letters free of postage was removed, and his public rallies were violently heckled and harassed. Knesset Member Geula Cohen of the far-right Techiya party raised a bill making it illegal for a dual citizen to be a Member of Knesset. As a result, Rabbi Kahane was eventually forced to relinquish his American citizenship. In 1986, a bill was passed that forbid any Knesset list which "incites to racism" from running for Knesset.In addition to his political activity, Rabbi Kahane dedicated much of his time to charitable causes. Many needy families were in fact dependent on him for charity. The then Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu said that on the Rosh HaShana before the Rabbi's death (in 1990), the Rabbi distributed more than $34,000 in charity. The Rabbi also helped battered Jewish women trapped in Arab villages - often with children. A shelter in Kiryat Arba was provided to help these women rehabilitate their lives.In 1986, "The Black Book" was published, which outlined and documented the spiritual holocaust that befell the Sephardic Jews (from the Middle East and North Africa) when they came to Israel. The Rabbi was very outspoken on this issue. In 1987, yet another booklet - called "I am my Brother's Keeper" - was published, dealing specifically with the disappearance of the children of many Yemenite Jews who were brought to Israel primarily by the "Jewish Agency." That same year, the book "Uncomfortable Questions for Comfortable Jews" was printed in the U.S.A.As the 12 th Knesset elections approached, all surveys showed a sharp rise in support for the Kach movement and the ideas of Rabbi Kahane. According to results of surveys that appeared in all the newspapers, the Kach movement was projected to receive 11% of the vote. This was equal to 13 Knesset mandates. As the 1988 elections approached, six parties proposed to the Central Election Committee of the Knesset that the Kach party be banned. The right-wing Likud - worried about losing voters to the Kach party - spearheaded the campaign. 28 members of the Election Committee voted to ban Kach, with 5 opposed, and 3 abstentions. The Rabbi appealed the decision to the Supreme Court, but on October 18, the Supreme Court upheld the Knesset decision that the Kach party was "racist" and "anti-democratic," and as a result they upheld the disqualification of the party. Following the court decision, Rabbi Kahane said: "We won. We didn't change our platform. Today, the Supreme Court of Israel banned Judaism, Zionism, and Democracy all at once."After the elections of 1988, Rabbi Kahane established the "First Zionist Congress of the State of Judea." The function of the congress was to plant the seeds that would one day allow for a Torah-true "State of Judea" to one day arise in the territories of Judea, Samaria and Gaza, in the event that the State of Israel would decide to withdraw from those areas - as the Rabbi predicted they would.With the Rabbi's Knesset option blocked, he started a referendum campaign, posing the following question: If Israel is truly a democracy, let the people vote on the following issues, yes or no: Shall the present Knesset be immediately dissolved, new elections held within a month which shall be open to all parties, including Kach, and shall all parties be bound to implement the following minimal program of crushing the Arab "intifada", the annexation of Judea-Samaria-Gaza, and the removal of all Arabs who are not prepared to accept the exclusive sovereignty and ownership of the Jewish people over all of the Land of Israel. To publicize the idea, the Rabbi held rallies demanding such a referendum. In 1990 he published a book on the subject: "Israel: Revolution or Referendum." The book gives the historical, legal, and logical justification for a referendum in Israel, and sets out to prove that a government that cannot protect its citizens, loses its right to exist. After the banning, the Rabbi concentrated his energies on his yeshiva, and on finishing his Torah scholarly book, "The Jewish Idea."Following Succot, 1990, the Rabbi traveled to America with the intention of establishing a new organization: ZEERO (Zionist Emergency Evacuation Organization). The purpose of the organization was to convince Jews to "liquidate the exile before the exile liquidates them." On November 11 th 1990, he gave a lecture at the Marriott Hotel in New York, underlining this burning issue, and explaining the importance in the Jewish people leaving the lands of the exile and coming home to the Land of Israel. When he finished speaking, he took personal questions from the crowd when he was approached small, tubby, nondescript man with a scruffy beard lurking close by. As the Rabbi continued to address his supporters and other members of the crowd he was suddenly shot twice and fell bleeding to the ground. The murderer, Arab Egyptian terrorist El Said Nossair, tried to escape (wounding a civilian and a policeman in the process,) but was shot and caught.Despite all the flashing lights that pointed towards Nossair's involvement in international Islamic terrorism, and the existence of something much more sinister than an isolated murder committed by a crazed lone gunman, the FBI treated the case as an ordinary homicide, ruling out any idea of a conspiracy. At the trial, the jury found Nossair not-guilty of murder on a technicality, but sent him to jail for illegal possession of weapons. In 1993, however, the short-sightedness of the FBI in their investigation of the murder of Rabbi Kahane was exposed to the world when the Twin Towers was detonated by members of the Al Qaeda terrorist organization, killing six people and wounding over a hundred. Only at this point were federal charges finally opened against Nossair, and in 1995 he was sentenced to life imprisonment for belonging to the same cell which blew up the Twin Towers in 1993. The continued neglect of the FBI during the Kahane murder case in fact contributed to the WTC attack on September 11, 2001. If Nossair had been properly investigated following the Rabbi's murder, the full extent of the plot would have been unraveled, and he and his cohorts never would have managed to carry it out.Rabbi Kahane was buried in the Har Haminuchot cemetery in Jerusalem, near his father, his father in law, and his mother in law. The Rabbi's funeral was one of the largest in Israel's history, where approximately 150,000 participated.