The short version
Six things, one minute. Click a card or a tab for more.
TL;DR
- What it is: the ideology of Rabbi Meir Kahane, founder of the Jewish Defense League (US, 1968) and the Kach party (Israel).
- The core: Arabs out of the land, no full rights for non-Jews, a ban on Jewish and non-Jewish marriage and sex. Kahane: "There's no question of setting up democracy in Israel."
- The violence: a 1972 bombing in New York, a 1985 mail-bomb murder the FBI linked to the JDL, and the 1994 Hebron massacre of 29 Muslim worshippers by Kach supporter Baruch Goldstein.
- Banned, then back: Israel barred Kach from elections in 1988 for racism and outlawed it as terrorist in 1994. Its heirs, led by Itamar Ben-Gvir, joined the government in 2022.
- Sanctioned: in June 2025 the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Norway sanctioned Ben-Gvir for inciting violence against Palestinians.
- Why watch: a movement once outlawed as terrorist now holds a security ministry.
Real movement
JDL in 1968, Kach in Israel, Otzma Yehudit today.
Real words
Expel Arabs, ban mixed marriage, no democracy. Said and written openly.
Real killings
29 worshippers shot dead in Hebron, 1994. Bombs in the US.
Real limits
Banned by Israel's own courts and government. Condemned by Rabin and the US.
This page is about one political and religious movement. It is not about Jews, Judaism or Israelis as a whole; Israel itself banned Kach, and most Jews and Israelis reject it.
Who they are
One rabbi, two countries, three generations of followers.
Meir Kahane (1932 to 1990)
A Brooklyn rabbi. In 1968 he founded the Jewish Defense League to "protect Jews from antisemitism by whatever means necessary," under the slogan "Never again!" He moved to Israel and founded Kach.
In 1984 Kach won one Knesset seat with 25,907 votes. Kahane was shot dead in New York on 5 Nov 1990 by El Sayyid Nosair, later convicted in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing conspiracy.
Meir Kahane in New York, 1984. Image: Wikipedia.
🗽 JDL
US street group. The FBI called it a "right-wing terrorist group" in 2001. Inactive in the US by 2021; a French branch remains.
🗳️ Kach
Kahane's party. Barred from the 1988 election, outlawed as terrorist in 1994 with its offshoot Kahane Chai.
🏛️ Otzma Yehudit
"Jewish Power." Wikipedia calls it Kach's ideological successor. Six seats in 2022, then into government.
🔥 Lehava
Street group led by Kahane disciple Bentzi Gopstein. Fights Jewish and non-Jewish relationships. Shares a headquarters with Otzma Yehudit.
Itamar Ben-Gvir
Youth coordinator of Kach. In 2007 convicted of incitement to racism and supporting a terrorist organisation. Kept a portrait of Baruch Goldstein in his living room until 2020. National Security Minister since late 2022, apart from a break in early 2025.
Itamar Ben-Gvir, 2022. Image: Wikipedia.
In their own words
Quoted from Kahane's books and speeches and from his followers.
🚫 Mixed love banned
Kahane's Knesset bills would have banned marriage and sexual relations between Jews and non-Jews, and split Jewish and Arab neighbourhoods.
🪪 Second-class by law
Non-Jews who stayed would be "resident strangers": personal rights, no national rights.
📕 They Must Go
The title of his 1981 book, written in an Israeli jail, about the Arabs of Israel.
His followers
Baruch Goldstein
"I am not willing to treat any non-Jew." Kahane's former campaign manager (Yediot Aharonot, 1 Mar 1994).
Ben-Gvir, 2007
Chanted "Death to Arabs" after a Jerusalem bombing. Convicted of incitement to racism.
Ben-Gvir, 2019
Arab citizens not loyal to Israel "must be expelled."
Bentzi Gopstein
On Christians: "Let's throw the vampires out of our land before they drink our blood again."
What they have done
Dated and documented, in the US and in Israel.
25 Feb 1994: the Hebron massacre
Baruch Goldstein, a Kach supporter and former JDL activist, opened fire on Muslims at prayer in the Cave of the Patriarchs. 29 were killed and about 150 wounded. Prime Minister Rabin condemned it. Israel then outlawed Kach and Kahane Chai as terrorist groups. The JDL website later called Goldstein "a charter member of the Jewish Defense League."
The Cave of the Patriarchs, Hebron. Image: Wikipedia.
1972, New York
A bomb at impresario Sol Hurok's office killed employee Iris Kones. Kahane later admitted his part.
Oct 1982, Jerusalem
Kach member Yoel Lerner tried to blow up the Dome of the Rock. He got two and a half years.
11 Oct 1985, California
Alex Odeh of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee killed by a mail bomb. The FBI linked it to the JDL, which denied it.
Dec 2001, Los Angeles
JDL leaders Irv Rubin and Earl Krugel charged with planning to bomb a mosque, a Muslim group's office and a congressman's office. Krugel pleaded guilty.
4 Aug 2005, Shfaram
Eden Natan-Zada, a Kahanist AWOL soldier, shot dead four Arab citizens of Israel on a bus.
29 Nov 2014, Jerusalem
Three Lehava members charged over arson at a bilingual Jewish and Arab school.
Who said no
⚖️ Israel
A 1985 law against parties that incite racism was used to bar Kach; the Supreme Court upheld it. Kach was outlawed in 1994.
🌐 Abroad
The US listed Kahane Chai (1997) and Kach (2004) as terrorist groups; Canada listed Kahane Chai in 2005.
What is happening now
Kahane's heirs are inside government, and other countries are acting against them.
From the street to the cabinet
Otzma Yehudit won six seats in 2022 and joined the government. Ben-Gvir runs the National Security Ministry, which oversees police. In Sheikh Jarrah in Oct 2022 he told Palestinian residents: "We're the landlords here, remember that, I am your landlord."
Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem, 2023. Image: Wikipedia.
Nov 2022
After Ben-Gvir attended a Kahane memorial, the US State Department: "Celebrating the legacy of a terrorist organization is abhorrent."
10 Jun 2025
UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Norway sanction Ben-Gvir and Smotrich, who "have incited extremist violence and serious abuses of Palestinian human rights."
30 Mar 2026
The Knesset passes Otzma Yehudit's death penalty bill for terrorism. Ben-Gvir: "May we execute as many terrorists as possible."
19 Jun 2026
On X, about Lebanon: "For every tear of an Israeli mother, a thousand Lebanese mothers must weep."
📋 US sanctions come and go
2024: the US sanctioned Lehava and Gopstein, calling Lehava "the largest violent extremist organization in Israel." 20 Jan 2025: Trump revoked the West Bank sanctions order.
📋 Off one list, on another
2022: the US took Kach off its Foreign Terrorist Organization list for "insufficient evidence" of activity. It stays a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.
🚔 New arrests
Feb 2025, Toronto: a self-described Kahane Chai member charged with threats. Mar 2026, New Jersey: a member of a JDL-inspired group arrested over an alleged firebomb plot.
Myths online, and why watch
Both sides of the internet get this wrong.
🗣️ "Kahanism is just Zionism" or "is Judaism"
Used to paint all Jews or all Israelis with it.
✅ Fact
Israel's own election law, Supreme Court and government banned Kach, and Rabin condemned Goldstein. It is one movement, not a people.
🗣️ "It's a dead fringe from the 80s"
Used to wave the whole thing away.
✅ Fact
Its successor party sits in government, and five countries sanctioned its leader in 2025.
Why watch
🏛️ Power, not the street
A movement once banned for racism now controls police policy.
🔥 Street violence
Settler attacks are what five countries cited when they sanctioned its leader.
🦊 Used by everyone
Antisemites use it to smear all Jews; its fans use criticism of it to cry antisemitism. Both dodge the facts.
Red flags to watch for
🚩 Calls to "expel" Arab citizens or Palestinians, or "They Must Go" slogans.
🚩 Praise for Baruch Goldstein or "Kahane was right."
🚩 Campaigns against Jewish and non-Jewish couples.
🚩 Officials talking about rights for Jews only.
🚩 Police or ministries going easy on settler violence.
🚩 And the reverse: using Kahanism to blame all Jews.
Bottom line
A movement whose founder called for removing Arabs and ending democracy, whose follower murdered 29 worshippers, and which Israel itself outlawed. Its heirs now hold power and face sanctions abroad. Say what it says plainly, and refuse both the people who would carry it out and the people who would use it to hate all Jews.
The Supreme Court of Israel, Jerusalem. Image: Wikipedia.