Kahanism

Kahanism (Hebrew: [ka.haˈn.izm]; Hebrew: כַּהַנִּיזְם) is a religious Zionist ideology based on the views of Rabbi Meir Kahane, founder of the Jewish Defense League and the Israeli political party Kach. Kahane believed that most Arabs living in Israel are the enemies of Jews and Israel itself, and that a Jewish, Halakhic state, in which non-Jews would have no voting rights, should be created. The Kach party has been banned by the Israeli government. In 2004, the United States Department of State designated it a Foreign Terrorist Organization. In 2022, it was removed from the US terror blacklist due to "insufficient evidence" of the group's ongoing activity, but it remains a Specially Designated Global Terrorist entity. The Kahanist Otzma Yehudit party won six seats in the 2022 Israeli legislative election and is a member of the thirty-seventh government of Israel, save for a withdrawal between 21 January and 19 March 2025 because the government had agreed to the January 2025 ceasefire in the Gaza war. The party, and the Kahanist movement as a whole, have been accused of espousing Jewish supremacy and fascism.