Kach (political party)

Kach כך‎
Leader	Meir Kahane
Founded	1971
Banned	13 March 1994
Headquarters	Jerusalem
Paramilitary wing	Jewish Defense League
Ideology	Religious Zionism Halachic state Kahanism Religious conservatism Population transfer Economic liberalism Anti-communism Anti-Arabism Anti-Islam Ultranationalism[1] Greater Israel[2][3]
Political position	Far-right
Religion	Orthodox Judaism (mainly Hardal)
International affiliation	None
Colors	Gold
Most MKs	1 (1984)
Election symbol
כך‎
Party flag
Politics of Israel Political parties Elections

Kach (Hebrew: כך, lit. 'Thus') was a radical Orthodox Jewish, religious Zionist political party in Israel, existing from 1971 to 1994.^[1] Founded by Rabbi Meir Kahane in 1971, based on his Jewish-Orthodox-nationalist ideology (subsequently dubbed Kahanism), the party earned a single seat in the Knesset in the 1984 election, after several electoral failures.^[4] However, it was barred from participating in the next election in 1988 under the revised Knesset Elections Law banning parties that incited racism. After Kahane's assassination in 1990, the party split, with Kahane Chai (כהנא חי‎, "Kahane Lives") breaking away from the main Kach faction.

The party was ultimately also barred from standing in the 1992 election, and both organisations were banned outright in 1994 by the Israeli cabinet under 1948 anti-terrorism laws,^[5] following statements in support of Baruch Goldstein's massacre of 29 Palestinians at the Cave of the Patriarchs (Goldstein himself was a Kach supporter).^[6]

Both groups are designated as terrorist organisations by Israel,^[7] Canada,^[8] Japan,^[9] and formerly the European Union,^[10][11][12] as well as the United States.^[13][14] They are believed to have an overlapping core membership of fewer than 100 people,^[15][16] with links to the modern party Otzma Yehudit.^[17][18]