Meir Kahane

Rabbi Meir David HaKohen Kahane (/kəˈhɑːnə/; Hebrew: רבי מאיר דוד הכהן כהנא‎; August 1, 1932 – November 5, 1990) was an American-born Israeli ordained Orthodox rabbi, writer, and Zionist politician who served one term in Israel's Knesset.[1] A cofounder of the Jewish Defense League and founder of the Israeli political party Kach, he espoused militant views and actions to combat anti-Semitism that led to a 1971 criminal conviction in the United States for conspiracy to manufacture explosives intended for the Soviet Mission to the United Nations in New York City, and in Israel for plotting to blow up the Libyan embassy in Brussels in revenge for the massacre of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich; in each case he received a suspended sentence and probation.[2]

Meir Kahane
Faction represented in the Knesset
1984–1988Kach
Personal details
Born(1932-08-01)August 1, 1932
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
DiedNovember 5, 1990(1990-11-05) (aged 58)
Manhattan, New York, U.S.

His legacy continues to influence militant and far-right political groups active today in Israel.[3]

Kahane publicized his "Kahanism" ideology, which he claimed was simply Torah Judaism based on Halakha (Jewish law), through published works, weekly articles, speeches, debates on college campuses and in synagogues throughout the United States, and appearances on various televised programs and radio shows. He was an intense advocate for Jewish causes, such as organizing defense squads and patrols in Jewish neighborhoods and demanding for the Soviet Union to "release its oppressed Jews".[4] He supported violence against those he regarded as enemies of the Jewish people, called for immediate Jewish mass migration to Israel to avoid a potential "Holocaust" in the United States, supported the restriction of Israel's democracy to its Jewish citizens, hoped that Israel would eventually adopt Halakha,[5] and endorsed the annexation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.[6]

Kahane proposed enforcing Halakha as codified by Maimonides.[7] Non-Jews wishing to dwell in Israel would have three options: remain as "resident strangers" with limited rights,[8] leave Israel and receive compensation for their property, or be forcibly removed without compensation.[9] While serving in the Knesset in the mid-1980s Kahane proposed numerous laws, none of which passed, to emphasize Judaism in public schools, reduce Israel's bureaucracy, forbid sexual relations between Jews and non-Jews, and end cultural meetings between Jewish and Arab students.[10]

In 1968, Kahane was one of the co-founders of the Jewish Defense League (JDL) in the United States. In 1971, he co-founded Kach ("Thus"), a new political party in Israel. The same year, he was convicted in New York for conspiracy to manufacture explosives and received a suspended sentence of five years.[11] In 1984, he became a member of the Knesset, when Kach gained its only-ever seat in parliamentary elections. In 1988, after polls showed Kach gaining popularity, the Israeli government banned Kach for being "racist" and "anti-democratic" under the terms of a law that it had just passed.[10]

Kahane was assassinated in a New York City hotel by an Egyptian-born U.S. citizen in November 1990.

Personal life

Martin David Kahane[12] was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1932 to an Orthodox Jewish family. His father, Yechezkel (Charles) Kahane, the author of the "Torah Yesharah", studied at Polish and Czech yeshivas, was involved in the Revisionist Zionist movement, and was a close friend of Ze'ev Jabotinsky.[13]

As a teenager, Kahane became an ardent admirer of Jabotinsky and Peter Bergson, who were frequent guests in his parents' home. He joined the Betar (Brit Trumpeldor) youth wing of Revisionist Zionism. He was active in protests against Ernest Bevin, the British Foreign Secretary who maintained restrictions on the immigration of Jews, even Nazi death camp survivors, to Palestine after the end of the Second World War. In 1947, Kahane was arrested for throwing eggs and tomatoes at Bevin, who was disembarking at Pier 84 on a visit to New York. A photo of the arrest appeared in the New York Daily News.[14] In 1954, he became the Mazkir (Secretary) of Greater New York City's 16 Bnei Akiva chapters.

Kahane's formal education included elementary school at the Yeshiva of Flatbush, and he attended high school at both Abraham Lincoln High School and the Brooklyn Talmudical Academy. Kahane received his rabbinical ordination from the Mir Yeshiva, in Brooklyn, where he was especially admired by the head Rabbi Abraham Kalmanowitz,[15] and he began going by his Hebrew name, Meir.[12] He was fully conversant in the Tanakh (Jewish Bible), the Talmud, the Midrash and Jewish law. Subsequently, Kahane earned a B.A. in Political Science from Brooklyn College in 1954, a Bachelor of Law – LL.B. from New York Law School, and an M.A. in International Relations from New York University.[16][17]

In 1956, Kahane married Libby Blum, with whom he had four children:[18] Tzipporah, Tova, Baruch, and Binyamin.[19][20]

Journalists Michael T. Kaufman and Robert I. Friedman have separately said that Kahane, under the alias of Michael King and while already married, had an affair and proposed to 21-year-old model Gloria Jean D'Argenio (who used the stage name Estelle Donna Evans) in 1966.[21] Kahane allegedly sent a letter to D'Argenio in which he unilaterally ended their relationship. In response, D'Argenio jumped off the Queensboro Bridge and died of her injuries the next day.[22][23] In 2008, Kahane's wife dismissed the incident as lacking proof.[24]

After D'Argenio's death, Kahane started the Estelle Donna Evans Foundation in her name.[21][24] Kahane claimed D'Argenio had been his former secretary in his failed consulting operation, she had died of terminal cancer, and her "well-to-do" family had endowed the foundation.[21] Robert Friedman reported, "In reality, Kahane used the money to help finance the JDL." That meant two different things: funding the purchase of supplies for bombings and fattening his own wallet, spending lavishly on trips for himself.[21]

Early career

Pulpit rabbi

In 1958, Kahane became the rabbi of the Howard Beach Jewish Center in Queens, New York City. Although the synagogue was originally Conservative, rather than strictly Orthodox, the board of directors agreed to Kahane's conditions, which included resigning from the Conservative movement's United Synagogue of America, installing a partition separating men and women during prayer, instituting traditional prayers, and maintaining a kosher kitchen.[25] At the Jewish Center, Kahane influenced many of the synagogue's youngsters to adopt a more observant lifestyle, which often troubled parents.[26][27] He trained Arlo Guthrie for his bar mitzvah.[28] When his contract was not renewed, he soon published an article entitled "End of the Miracle of Howard Beach". That was Kahane's first article in The Jewish Press, an American Orthodox Jewish weekly for which he would continue to write for the rest of his life.[29] Kahane also used the pen name David Sinai, and the pseudonyms Michael King, David Borac, and Martin Keene.[30]

Infiltrating the John Birch Society

In the late 1950s and the early 1960s, Kahane's life of secrecy and his strong anticommunism landed him a position as a consultant with the FBI. According to his wife, Libby, his assignment was to infiltrate the anticommunist John Birch Society and report his findings to the FBI.[18]

Collaboration with Joseph Churba
Never Again! A Program for Survival (1972)

At some time in the late 1950s, Kahane assumed the persona of a Gentile, along with the pseudonym Michael King.[31] Kahane began openly expressing his anticommunism. He and Joseph Churba created the July Fourth Movement, which was formed to counteract widespread opposition towards U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.[32] Subsequently, they coauthored the book The Jewish Stake in Vietnam, an attempt to convince American Jews of the "evil of Communism".[33] The introduction states that, "All Americans have a stake in this grim war against Communism... It is vital that Jews realize the threat to their very survival [should Communism succeed]." Churba had a major falling out with Kahane over the use of paramilitary activities, and they parted ways permanently. Churba went on to pursue his own career, joining the U.S. Air Force, writing many books on the Middle East, and eventually becoming one of Ronald Reagan's consultants. Kahane chose to fight for Jewish rights, and was willing to use extreme measures. He even attempted to acquire and grow biological weapons to use on a Soviet military installation.[34] He began using the phrase "Never again"[35] and conceived the Jewish Star and fist insignia, a symbol resembling that of the Black Panther Party. However, Kahane himself opposed the Black Panthers because they had supported anti-Jewish riots in Massachusetts and had left-wing views.

Jewish Defense League

Kahane founded the Jewish Defense League (JDL) in New York City in 1968. Its self-described purpose was to protect Jews from local manifestations of anti-Semitism.[36] The JDL said it was committed to five fundamental principles:

  • Love of Jewry: One Jewish people, indivisible and united, from which flows the love for, and the feeling of pain of, all Jews.
  • Dignity and Pride: Pride in and knowledge of Jewish tradition, faith, culture, land, history, strength, pain, and peoplehood.
  • Iron: The need to both move to help Jews everywhere and to change the Jewish image through sacrifice and all necessary means—even strength, force, and violence.
  • Discipline and Unity: The knowledge that he (or she) can and will do whatever must be done, and the unity and strength of willpower to bring this into reality.
  • Faith in the Indestructibility of the Jewish People: Faith in the greatness and indestructibility of the Jewish people, our religion, and our Land of Israel.

The JDL favored civil rights for blacks, but opposed black anti-Semites[37] and racism of any form.[38] In 1971, the JDL formed an alliance with a black rights group in what Kahane termed "a turning point in Black-Jewish relations".[39] The Anti-Defamation League claimed that Kahane "preached a radical form of Jewish nationalism which reflected racism, violence and political extremism"[36] that was replicated by Irv Rubin, the JDL's successor to Kahane.[40]

Terrorism and convictions

A number of the JDL's members and leaders, including Kahane, were convicted of acts related to domestic terrorism.[41] In 1971, Kahane was sentenced to a suspended five-year prison sentence for conspiring to manufacture explosives.[11] In 1975, Kahane was arrested for leading the attack on the Soviet United Nations mission and injuring two officers, but he was released after being given summonses for disorderly conduct. Later the same year, Kahane was accused of conspiring to kidnap a Soviet diplomat, bomb the Iraqi embassy in Washington, and ship arms abroad from Israel. He was convicted of violating his probation for the 1971 bombing conviction and was sentenced to one year in prison.[42] However, he served most of it in a hotel, with frequent unsupervised absences, because of a concession over the provision of kosher food.[43]

In a 1984 interview with Washington Post correspondent Carla Hall, Kahane admitted that the JDL "bombed the Russian [Soviet] mission in New York, the Russian cultural mission here [Washington] in 1971, the Soviet trade offices".[44][45]

Immigration to Israel
Main article: Kach and Kahane Chai

In 1971, Kahane moved to Israel. At the time, he declared that he would focus on Jewish education.[46] He later began gathering lists of Arab citizens of the State of Israel who were willing to emigrate for compensation, and eventually, he initiated protests that advocated the expulsion of Arabs from that country, and Israeli-occupied territories. In 1972, Jewish Defense League leaflets were distributed in Hebron, calling for the mayor to stand trial for the 1929 Hebron massacre.[47] Kahane was arrested dozens of times.[48] In 1971, he founded Kach, a political party that ran for the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament, during the 1973 general elections under the name "The League List". It won 12,811 votes (0.82%), just 2,857 (0.18%) short of the electoral threshold at the time (1%) for winning a Knesset seat. The party was even less successful in the 1977 elections, winning only 4,836 votes.

In 1980, Kahane was arrested for the 62nd time since his emigration, and he was jailed for six months after a detention order that was based on allegations of him planning armed attacks against Palestinians in response to the killings of Jewish settlers.[49] Kahane was held in prison in Ramla, where he wrote the book They Must Go. Kahane was banned from entering the United Kingdom in 1981.[50]

In 1981, Kahane's party again ran for the Knesset during the 1981 elections, but it did not win a seat and received only 5,128 votes. In 1984, the Israeli Central Elections Committee banned him from being a candidate on the grounds that Kach was a racist party, but the Supreme Court of Israel overturned the ban on the grounds that the committee was not authorized to ban Kahane's candidacy.[51] The Supreme Court suggested that the Knesset pass a law excluding racist parties from future elections. The Knesset responded in 1985 by amending the "Basic Law: Knesset" to include a prohibition (paragraph 7a) against the registration of parties that explicitly or implicitly incite racism.

Election to Knesset

In the 1984 legislative elections, Kahane's Kach party received 25,907 votes, gaining one seat in the Knesset, which was taken by Kahane. He refused to take the standard oath of office and insisted on adding a Biblical verse from Psalms to indicate that national laws were overruled by the Torah if they conflict. Kahane's legislative proposals focused on Jewish education, an open economy, transferring the Arab population out of the Land of Israel, revoking Israeli citizenship from non-Jews, and banning Jewish-Gentile marriages and sexual relations.

While his popularity in Israel grew, Kahane was boycotted in the Knesset, where his speeches were often made to an empty assembly except for the duty chairman and the transcriptionist. Kahane's legislative proposals and motions of no-confidence against the government were ignored or rejected. Kahane often pejoratively called other Knesset members "Hellenists," a reference to Jews who assimilated into Greek culture after Judea's occupation by Alexander the Great. In 1987, Kahane opened a yeshiva ("HaRaayon HaYehudi") with funding from US supporters to teach "the Authentic Jewish Idea". Despite the boycott, his popularity grew among the Israeli public, especially for working-class Sephardi Jews.[52] Polls showed that Kach would have likely received anywhere from four to twelve seats in the coming November 1988 elections.[53][54]

In 1985, the Knesset passed an amendment to the Basic Law of Israel, barring political parties that incited to racism. The Central Elections Committee banned Kahane a second time, and he appealed to the Israeli Supreme Court. However, the Supreme Court this time ruled in favor of the Committee, disqualifying Kach from running in the 1988 legislative elections. Kahane was thus the first candidate in Israel to be barred from election for racism. The move was criticized as being anti-democratic by Alan M. Dershowitz.[55]

After Kahane's election to the Knesset in 1984, the United States government attempted to revoke his U.S. citizenship, which Kahane successfully challenged in court.[56][57] However, in 1987, the Knesset passed a law declaring that a Knesset member could only be an Israeli citizen.[58] To remain eligible for office, Kahane renounced his United States citizenship, but after being banned from the Knesset for his politics, he again filed suit to get his U.S. citizenship reinstated based on the argument that he was compelled to relinquish it by the Knesset. The court rejected this argument, but he was permitted to continue travelling to the United States.[59][60]

Assassination
Main article: Assassination of Meir Kahane

In November 1990, Kahane gave a speech to an audience of mostly Orthodox Jews from Brooklyn,[61] where he warned American Jews to immigrate to Israel before it was "too late".[61][62] As a crowd gathered around Kahane in the second-floor lecture hall in Midtown Manhattan's New York Marriott East Side, Kahane was assassinated[63][64][65] by El Sayyid Nosair, an Egyptian-born U.S. citizen who had trained in Pakistan. He was initially charged and acquitted of the murder.[66] Nosair was later convicted of the murder in U.S. District Court for his involvement in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Prosecutors were able to try Nosair again for the murder because the federal indictment included the killing as part of the alleged terrorist conspiracy.[67] He was sentenced to life imprisonment and later made a confession to federal agents.[68]

Kahane was buried on Har HaMenuchot, in Jerusalem. He was eulogized by a number of prominent supporters in both the U.S. and in Israel, including Rabbi Moshe Tendler and the Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel, Mordechai Eliyahu, who spoke of how little the people understood of Kahane's "true value".[69]

Ideology
Main article: Kahanism

Kahane argued that there was a glory in Jewish destiny, which came through the observance of the Torah and halakha (Jewish law). He also noted, "Democracy and Judaism are not the same thing."[70] Kahane also stressed the view that a Jewish state and a Western democracy were incompatible, since Western democracy is religion-blind, and a Jewish state is religion-oriented by its very name. He also warned of the danger of non-Jewish citizens becoming a majority and voting against the Jewish character of the state: "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?"[71] "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."

Kahane proposed an "exchange of populations" that would continue the Jewish exodus from Arab lands: "A total of some 750,000 Jews fled Arab lands since 1948. Surely it is time for Jews, worried over the huge growth of Arabs in Israel, to consider finishing the exchange of populations that began 35 years ago." Kahane proposed a $40,000 compensation plan for Arabs who would leave voluntarily, and forcible expulsion for those who "don't want to leave".[71] He encouraged retaliatory violence against Arabs who attacked Jews: "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."[71]

In some of his writings, Kahane argued that Israel should never start a war for territory but that if a war were launched against Israel, Biblical territory should be annexed.[72] However, in an interview, he defined Israel's "minimal borders" as follows: "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 Lebanon and certain parts of Syria, and part of Iraq, all the way to the Euphrates River."[71] When critics suggested that following Kahane's plans would mean a perpetual war between Jews and Arabs, Kahane responded, "There will be a perpetual war. With or without Kahane."

Support
  • Shlomo Aviner stated that Kahane was a righteous man who displayed self-sacrifice for the Jewish nation and also referred to him as a "Torah hero" whose every word was rooted in Torah sources.[73]
  • Herbert Bomzer referred to Kahane as "truly immersed in Torah all the time."[73]
  • Irving M. Bunim was a strong supporter and admirer of Kahane.[74]
  • Shlomo Carlebach was known for declaring that the Jewish people owed a great debt to Kahane. Together, Carlebach and Kahane organized one of the first Noahide conferences in the 1980s for non-Jews wishing to accept upon themselves the Noahide laws.[75]
  • Bob Dylan made positive comments about Kahane. In a 1971 interview for Time magazine, Dylan said, "He's a really sincere guy. He's really put it all together."[76] According to Kahane, Dylan attended several meetings of the Jewish Defense League to find out "what we're all about",[77] and he started to have talks with the rabbi.[78] Subsequently, Dylan downplayed the extent of his contact with Kahane.[79]
  • Mordechai Eliyahu was Kahane's personal mentor, and one of Kahane's staunchest supporters. Eliyahu wrote an approbation to Kahane's Tanakh commentary, "Perush Hamacabee", where he refers to Kahane as "HaRav HaGaon" ("the rabbinic genius"), a praiseworthy title attributed to the very saintly. Eliyahu wrote, "Only the Torah way interested Kahane, which he constantly toiled over and which served as his strength... When one considers the depth and clarity of [Kahane's] works, one is astonished at how he had the time to compile such. The answer is that... all his time and thoughts were invested in Torah while other matters were secondary. Fortunate is the family that publishes his works for others to learn from." At Kahane's funeral, Eliyahu stated that Kahane was a reincarnation of a fearless biblical character.[80]
  • Kahane was endorsed in his bid for a Knesset seat by Zvi Yehuda Kook. In his letter of support for Kahane, Kook stated: "The presence of Rabbi Meir Kahane and his uncompromising words from the Knesset platform will undoubtedly add strength and value to the obligatory struggle on behalf of the entire Land of Israel." The announcement of Kook's support of Kahane and his letter were made available to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
  • Yosef Mendelevitch stated, "Kahane was a representative for us. His activities made us feel good. His actions showed that Jews cared. His actions may have been controversial, but his role was very important. He was a symbol for Russian Jews."[81]
  • Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff said, "You can’t imagine the influence Kahane had on so many young people. Kahane was a talmid chacham (Torah scholar) that we all looked up to."[73]
  • Menachem Mendel Schneerson supported Kahane on many issues concerning Israel, including the issue of Arabs, relinquishing land, building settlements and the incorporation of Jewish law into Israeli policy. After hearing of Kahane's death, Schneerson remarked that "one of the greatest Jewish leaders in history has fallen." He later blessed Kahane's son to be successful in fulfilling his "holy father's" work.[73]
  • Avraham Shapira stated that Kahane was an inseparable part of Orthodox Judaism. He later openly backed Kahane's State of Judea movement.[73]
  • After the Kach party was outlawed, a member of the Sicarii terrorist group pledged allegiance to Kahane and his political party during a phone call.[82]
  • Ahron Soloveichik stated, "What Kahane said was absolutely correct, just we don’t say it because the world will criticize us, but somebody had to say it."[73]
  • Noach Weinberg sought to place Kahane on his staff, believing him to be just what the kiruv movement needed.[73]
  • Ya'akov Yosef described Kahane as one who fulfilled his role faithfully. He declared that "we must learn from his great actions in order that we learn the way of the Torah."[73]

Legacy
Stickers in Hebrew: "Today Everybody Knows: Kahane was Right"

Following Kahane's death, no leader emerged to replace him in the movement. However, the idea of transferring populations, attributed mainly to Kahane, was subsequently incorporated into the political platform of various political parties in Israel, such as Moledet (applying to Arab non-citizen residents of the West Bank) and Yisrael Beiteinu (in the form of population exchange). Two small Kahanist factions later emerged; one under the name Kach, and the other under the name Kahane chai (Hebrew: כהנא חי, literally "Kahane lives [on]"), the second one being led by his younger son, Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane. Neither one was permitted to participate in the Knesset elections by the Central Elections Committee.

In 1994, following the Cave of the Patriarchs massacre of Palestinian Muslim worshippers in Hebron by Kach supporter Baruch Goldstein, in which 29 Muslim worshipers were killed, the Israeli government declared both parties to be terrorist organizations.[83][84] The US State Department also added Kach and Kahane Chai to its list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations.

In the 2003 Knesset elections, Herut, which had split off from the National Union list, ran with Michael Kleiner and former Kach activist Baruch Marzel taking the top two spots on the list. The joint effort narrowly missed the 1.5% barrier. In the following 2006 elections, the Jewish National Front, led by Baruch Marzel, fared better, but it also failed to pass the minimum threshold. A follower of Kahane who was involved with Kach for many years, Michael Ben-Ari, was elected to the Knesset in the 2009 elections on renewed National Union list. He stood again in the 2013 elections as the second candidate on the list of Otzma LeYisrael, but the party failed to pass the minimum threshold.

In 2007, the FBI released over a thousand documents relating to its daily surveillance of Kahane since the early 1960s.[85]

In 2015, Kahane's grandson, Meir Ettinger, was detained by Israeli law enforcement. He was the alleged leader of the radical Jewish group "The Revolt".[86] In an online "manifesto" echoing some of his grandfather's teachings, Ettinger promotes the "dispossession of gentiles" who live in Israel and the establishment of a new "kingdom of Israel", a theocracy ruled according to the Halacha. Ettinger's writings condemned Israel's government, mainstream rabbis, and the IDF, and also have denounced Christian churches as "idolatry".[87]

In 2016, Kahane's widow claimed that modern Jewish extremists in Israel do not follow the ideology of her late husband, Rabbi Meir Kahane. She justified that claim by arguing that unlike modern Jewish extremists, Rabbi Kahane had a more mature approach that did not encourage illegal activities.[88]

"Gas the Arabs! JDL" graffiti in Hebron.[89][90] The persistent graffiti in Hebron that calls for the expulsion or killing of Arabs has been characterized as Kahane's legacy.[91][92]

The prosecution argued that Arab MK Haneen Zoabi should be banned for denying the Jewish people's existence, and she was banned by the Central Elections Committee, which uses the Kahane precedent. A week later, the ruling was unanimously overturned by the Supreme Court. Attempts to ban the Strong Israel and Balad political parties by using the Kahane precedent were also overturned.[93][94]

In 2017, The Forward reported that some of Kahane's followers were aligning themselves with white nationalists and the alt-right.[95] Other Kahanists declared that such moves did not reflect Kahane's teachings, and they supported that declaration by arguing that Kahane worked together with African Americans.[96]

See also

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
  • Forty Years, Institute of the Jewish Idea, 2nd edition, 1983
  • 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
  • Pirush HaMaccabee: 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
  • Beyond Words, 1st edition, Institute for the Publication of the Writings of Rabbi Meir Kahane (Jerusalem), 2010.
  • 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)..

For supplementary information and insights
  • Goldberg, Lenny, The Wit and Wisdom of Rabbi Meir Kahane, archived from the original on November 11, 2007, retrieved August 28, 2007.
  • Miracle Man, Yeshivat "HaRaayon HaYehudi" (Jerusalem), 2010[97]
  • Bar Itzhak, Shulamith, Kahane et le Kahanisme (in French).
  • Breslauer, Daniel (1986), Meir Kahane: Ideologue, Hero, Thinker, Lewiston/Queenston: Edwin Mellen Press.
  • The Boundaries of Liberty and Tolerance: The Struggle Against Kahanism in Israel, Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 1994.
  • Friedman, Robert I (1990), The False Prophet: Rabbi Meir Kahane, from FBI Informant to Knesset Member, Brooklyn, NY: Lawrence Hill.
  • Mergui, Raphael; Simonnot, Phillipe, Israel's Ayatollahs: Meir Kahane and the Far Right in Israel.
  • Ravitzky, Aviezer, The Roots of Kahanism: Consciousness and Political Reality, archived from the original on January 9, 2013.
  • Sprinzak, Ehud, Kach and Meir Kahane: The Emergence of Jewish Quasi-Fascism, archived from the original on December 10, 2012.
  • Kahane, Libby (2008), Rabbi Meir Kahane: His Life and Thought.

References
  1. "Rabbi Meir Kahane", Jewish Virtual Library (biography)
  2. "Kahane's Money Tree". November 8, 1987. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
  3. "Why Racist Rabbi Meir Kahane Is Roiling Israeli Politics 30 Years After His Death". February 21, 2019. Retrieved October 1, 2019.
  4. Kahane, Libby (2008), Rabbi Meir Kahane: His Life and Thought, archived from the original (abstract) on August 13, 2010
  5. Meir Kahane. Uncomfortable Questions for Comfortable Jews. p. 265. The pity is-the tragedy is-that most Jews do not believe that Judaism is Divine and therefore do not accept it as the foundation of the state. And so, because of that-but only because any attempt to establish a true Torah state would lead to bitter civil war among Jews-I would not be prepared to establish a state that would bar elections involving parties that do not accept Torah law as authority.
  6. Meir Kahane (1987). Uncomfortable Questions for Comfortable Jews. Lyle Stuart. p. 270. ISBN 978-0818404382. The Jew is forbidden to give up any part of the Land of Israel, which has been liberated. The land belongs to the G-d of Israel, and the Jew, given it by G-d, has no right to give away any part of it. All the areas liberated in 1967 will be annexed and made part of the State of Israel. Jewish settlement in every part of the land, including cities that today are sadly Judenrein, will be unlimited.
  7. Maimonides. Mishne Torah, Laws of Kings, Ch. 6.
  8. Meir Kahane. Uncomfortable Questions for Comfortable Jews. p. 250. All Arabs who are prepared to accept the State of Israel as the exclusive state of the Jewish people and of no one else, will be allowed to remain in the land with the status of "resident stranger", as per Jewish laws. They will be granted personal rights, but no national ones. They will have general economic, social, cultural, and religious freedom, but will not be citizens of the Jewish State and will have nothing to say in its future in any way. Accepting this status, they are welcome to remain, and are entitled to all the respect and decency that Judaism demands we grant to all humans who are resident strangers in our land and who bow to its laws and concepts.
  9. Meir Kahane. They Must Go. Those who refuse to accept noncitizen status shall be compensated for property, but not given a bonus, and shall be transferred only to Arab – not Western – lands. The transfer shall be effected peacefully, if possible, but if the Arab still refuses, then forcibly and without compensation.
  10. Brinkley, Joel. "Israel Bans Kahane Party From Election", The New York Times, October 6, 1988.
  11. Morris Kaplan (July 24, 1971). "Kahane Gets 5-Year Suspended Sentence in Bomb Plot". New York Times. p. 26.
  12. Beckerman, Gal (2010). When They Come for Us, We'll Be Gone: The Epic Struggle to Save Soviet Jewry. ISBN 9780547504438.
  13. "Rabbi Meir Kahane". Jewishvirtuallibrary.org. August 1, 1932. Retrieved October 13, 2012.
  14. Friedman, Robert I. The false prophet – Rabbi Meir Kahane – from FBI informant to Knesset member, New York, 1990, p.9. ISBN 1-55652-078-6
  15. Libby Kahane. Rabbi Meir Kahane: His Life and Thought (Vol. 1). p. 50. Rabbi Abraham Kalmanowitz had a great love for Meir... [He once told Meir:] 'Because you sanctified G-d's name... your name and fame shall spread far and wide.'
  16. Libby Kahane, "Rabbi Meir Kahane: His Life and Thought" vol. 2, chap 6, note 3 p. 577.
  17. The Editors (November 1, 2019). "Meir Kahane | Israeli political extremist and rabbi". Britannica. Retrieved December 25, 2019.
  18. Nathan-Kazis, Josh. "Carrying a Torch", Ha'Aretz, January 6, 2009.
  19. Nathan-Kazis, Josh (January 6, 2009). "Carrying a torch". Haaretz. Retrieved June 23, 2014.
  20. Miskin, Maayana (November 30, 2010). "Kahane Family Sues as Radio Ads Pulled over Peace Now Pressure". Arutz Sheva. Retrieved June 23, 2014.
  21. Weinman, Sarah (April 12, 2020). "The Woman on the Bridge". The Cut. Retrieved April 15, 2020.
  22. Remembering Kahane, and the Woman on the Bridge New York Times; March 6, 1994
  23. Hewitt, Bill; Podolsky, J.D.; Avrech, Mira (November 19, 1990). "After a Career of Preaching Hatred for Arabs, Rabbi Meir Kahane Is Cut Down by An Assassin's Bullet". People. Retrieved January 5, 2020.
  24. Gross, Netty C. (September 1, 2008). "Never Again, Indeed (Extract)". The Jerusalem Report. Retrieved January 5, 2020 – via jpost.com.
  25. Kahane, Libby (2008). Rabbi Meir Kahane: His Life and Thought Vol. One: 1932–1975. Israel: Urim Publications. p. 42. ISBN 978-965-524-008-5. Meir accepted the rabbinical position at the Howard Beach Jewish Center (HBJC) with certain conditions. He demanded Orthodox practices, even though none of the synagogue's members were observant: a kosher kitchen, traditional prayers, and separate seating for men and women with a mechitza (partition) between them. Another condition was that the synagogue resign from the Conservative movement's United Synagogues of America. Remarkably, the board of directors agreed to all these terms, perhaps because the salary which Meir accepted was far lower than that of a Reform or Conservative rabbi.
  26. Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff (2011). From Washington Avenue to Washington Street. Gefen Books. ISBN 978-965-229-5651. Meir's primary success in this position was to be his undoing. Many of the youngsters were enchanted by the new rabbi and his mesmerizing personality. Much to their parents’ chagrin, some of these children began to observe the dietary and Sabbath laws.
  27. "Rabbi Meir Kahane: His Life and Thought", pp. 48, 49.
  28. Tugend, Tom (December 2, 2004). "A Jewish Visit to Guthrie's Land". JewishJournal.com. Tribe Media Corp. Retrieved January 1, 2012.
  29. Rakeffet-Rothkoff, Aaron. Review of Rabbi Meir Kahane: His Life and Thought He also served as an assistant rabbi in the Young Israel of Laurelton, and as rabbi of the Rochdale Village Jewish Center.Archived September 13, 2009, at the Wayback Machine, Jewish Action.
  30. "Rabbi Meir Kahane: His Life and Thought", Jewish Action, OU, 2008, archived from the original on September 13, 2009
  31. When They Come for Us, We'll Be Gone: The Epic Struggle to Save Soviet Jewry at Google Books
  32. Libby Kahane. Rabbi Meir Kahane: His Life and Thought (Vol. 1). p. 79.
  33. The Jewish stake in Vietnam at Google Books
  34. "Informant: Meir Kahane Planned Biological Terror Attack On USSR". October 6, 2007. Archived from the original on June 29, 2013. Retrieved November 16, 2013.
  35. "But Meir Kahane's Message Refuses to Die; Source of 'Never Again'". The New York Times. November 19, 1990. Retrieved November 16, 2013.
  36. "Anti-Defamation League on JDL". Adl.org. Archived from the original on April 14, 2010. Retrieved November 23, 2011.
  37. Kahane, Libby (2008). Rabbi Meir Kahane: His Life and Thought, Volume 1. Urim Publications. p. 106. ISBN 978-965-524-008-5. The JDL favored civil rights for blacks, and opposed only black anti-Semites.
  38. Kahane, Libby (2008). Rabbi Meir Kahane: His Life and Thought, Volume 1. Urim Publications. p. 80. ISBN 978-965-524-008-5.
  39. "Black Group, Jdl Pledge Common Action for Soviet Jews, Black-jewish Relations". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. May 19, 1971. The leader of a black self help group and the national chairman of the Jewish Defense League met today and pledged "brotherhood". The unprecedented meeting between a black organization and the JDL, termed by Rabbi Kahane as a "turning point in Black-Jewish relations", took place in the Harlem headquarters of NEGRO (National Economic Growth and Reconstruction Organization).
  40. "ADL Commends FBI for Thwarting Alleged Bombing Plot By Jewish Extremists". Adl.org. Archived from the original on September 26, 2011. Retrieved November 23, 2011.
  41. "Middle East History: Jewish Defense League Unleashes Campaign of Violence in America". Wrmea.com. Archived from the original on April 23, 2005. Retrieved November 23, 2011.
  42. "Kahane gets year in '71 conviction". New York Times. February 22, 1975. p. 18.
  43. Deirdre Carmody (November 15, 1975). "Kahane enjoys freedom as an Inmate". New York Times. p. 56.
  44. Kushner, Harvey W. (2003). Encyclopedia of Terrorism. SAGE. pp. 192–193. ISBN 978-0-7619-2408-1.
  45. Hall, Carla (September 11, 1984). "The Message of Meir Kahane: In Silver Spring, Boos and Applause for the Knesset Member Meir Kahane". The Washington Post.
  46. Ehud Sprinzak (1999). Brother against Brother. The Free Press. p. 189
  47. The Kach Movement – Background. Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs Archived January 17, 2009, at the Wayback Machine: March 3, 1994
  48. 60 Minutes – Meir Kahane
  49. Israelis arrest rabbi on terrorism charges, The Montreal Gazette May 15, 1980
  50. "The Spokesman-Review – Google News Archive Search". news.google.com.
  51. Israel Court Drops Ban on 2 Political Parties, New York Times, June 29, 1984, p. 3
  52. After a Career of Preaching Hatred for Arabs, Rabbi Meir Kahane Is Cut Down by An Assassin's Bullet People Magazine
  53. Jewish Defense League Unleashes Campaign of Violence in America New York Times, October 17, 1988
  54. Jew vs. Jew: the struggle for the soul of American Jewry, p. 196, at Google Books, Samuel G. Freedman
  55. Alan M. Dershowitz (1992). Chutzpah. Touchstone. pp. 191–192. ISBN 978-0-671-76089-2.
  56. Weissbrodt, David and Danielson, Laura (2004). "Concepts of Citizenship". University of Minnesota Human Rights Library. Retrieved July 28, 2019. Kahane was a U.S. citizen at birth. He moved to Israel where he became active in politics and was elected to the Israeli Parliament. Kahane, aware of the fact that accepting an office under a foreign government was an expatriating act listed in INA 349 (a)(4), communicated on several occasions with the State Department that he did not intend to give up his U.S. citizenship. The State Department nonetheless claimed that Kahane committed the expatriating act by shifting his allegiance to Israel. The court rejected this argument because an actor who contemporaneously with the expatriating act declares his intent to stay a U.S. citizen automatically preserves his citizenship. Kahane v. Shultz (E.D.N.Y.1987).CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  57. "Kahane v. Shultz". 1987. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
  58. "Israel: Basic Law of 1958, The Knesset (with amendments)". United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Retrieved August 17, 2020. ... added by the Amendment No. 10, passed by the Knesset on 19 May 1987 and published in Sefer Ha-Chukkim No. 1215 dated 27 May 1987.
  59. Weissbrodt, David and Danielson, Laura (2004). "Concepts of Citizenship". University of Minnesota Human Rights Library. Retrieved July 28, 2019. One year later, the Israeli Parliament passed a law providing that its members could only be Israeli citizens. Kahane executed a formal oath of renunciation of his U.S. citizenship to remain eligible for a seat in the Parliament. After Kahane's party was barred, on different grounds, from running in the elections, Kahane tried to revoke his renunciation of U.S. citizenship claiming that the Israeli law compelled his act. The court ruled against Kahane, who remained expatriated, although he was permitted to visit the United States and was eventually assassinated in New York City. Kahane v. Secretary of State (D.D.C.1988).CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  60. "Kahane v. Secretary of State". 1988. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
  61. Specter, Michael (November 6, 1990). "Jewish Leader Kahane Slain in New York". The Washington Post.
  62. Goldman, John J. (November 6, 1990), "Militant Rabbi Kahane Slain by N.Y. Gunman", Los Angeles Times
  63. Juergensmeyer, Mark (2003). Terror in the Mind of God. University of California Press. p. 59.
  64. Katz, Samuel M. "Relentless Pursuit: The DSS and the manhunt for the al-Qaeda terrorists", 2002
  65. Hamm, Mark S (2007). Terrorism as Crime: From Oklahoma City to Al-Qaeda and Beyond. NYU Press, p 29
  66. SELWYN RAABPublished: December 23, 1991 (December 23, 1991). "Jury Selection Seen As Crucial to Verdict". New York Times. Retrieved March 30, 2013.
  67. CNN Jenkins, Brian. "Sheik, others convicted in New York", October 1, 1995, CNN
  68. Scheffler, Gil. "Sharon was Kahane killer's target", August 15, 2010, The Jerusalem Post
  69. "Gentlemen, not everyone knows Rabbi Meir! They do not know his true value! His fear of heaven! His learning! His kindness! The help he gave in secret! How many families receive food products from him on the eve of Passover, the eve of Sukkoth, the eve of Rosh HaShana; how many poor people got money from him – and all this, giving in secret! I can tell you that just recently, before Rosh HaShana, Rabbi Meir handed out some 34,000 dollars. There was a family that needed money, so he took money from his private funds and gave them! This is kindness! This is fear of heaven! This is charity! This is giving in secret! His inner qualities, the delicacy of his soul, his inner fear of heaven! This, people do not know, with this they are not familiar. Gentlemen! As if we know how carefully he used to fix times for Torah study! Who was the first to speak of Russian Jewry? Who awakened the Israeli people and the entire world from their slumbers, with regard to Russian Jewry? Who was it who predicted that Russian Jews would yet come out of their exile? It was Rabbi Meir Kahane – may God avenge his blood! I can mention now the number of agunoth I asked him to act on behalf of – thanks to his efforts we succeeded in saving a goodly number of agunoth. He saved many Jewish women from non-Jewish hands! Rabbi Meir, Rabbi Meir! I ask of you to rise up to heaven and to awaken all those who were put to death by the authorities, so that they can act in heaven for the benefit of all of Israel, so that we need not mourn any more, and so that your own sacrifice will be the last one, so that crying and screaming shall no longer be heard in our day, and so that we be found worthy of the final redemption, speedily and in our day. Amen."Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu's Eulogy of Rabbi Meir Kahane
  70. "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.""God's Law: an Interview with Rabbi Meir Kahane". Archived from the original on February 19, 2009. Retrieved December 18, 2012.CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
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  74. Chana Bunim Rubin Ausubel (2015). As Long as the Candle Burns. Mazo Publishers. p. 188. ISBN 978-1936778423. As an activist he was an admirer and supporter of Rav Meir Kahane, when very few people were.
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