Kach and Kahane Chai: Encyclopedia II - Kach and Kahane Chai - Split of Kach

Kach and Kahane Chai - Split of Kach

Following Kahane's assassination in 1990 by an Arab, the movement split into two groups with similar ideologies and somewhat overlapping membership: Kach and Kahane Chai. Kach was originally led by Rabbi Avraham Toledano and later by Baruch Marzel out of Hebron. Kahane Chai was led by Meir's son Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane out of Kfar Tapuach until he and his wife were murdered in a random ambush by Palestinians in 2000. Both groups were outlawed by Israel in 1994 under anti-terrorism laws following statements in support of Baruch Goldstein's killing of Arabs at the Cave of the Patriarchs. Many of their leaders spent time in Israeli jail under administrative detention, particularly Noam Federman, who spent more than 6 months in lockup, even though he was charged with no crime. They still retain several hundred hardcore supporters, including support from individuals in the United States, Canada, Europe, South Africa and Australia. Presumably, most of Kach's electorate moved to other parties such as Rehavam Zeevi's Moledet.

Following the banning of Kach and Kahane Chai the movements officially disbanded. The leadership of the former Kahane Chai formed an advocacy group known as The Kahane Movement. The group's activities consist mainly of maintaining the "Official Kahane Website". The Kahane Movement is listed on the United States' list of terrorist organizations as an alias for "Kach" though the group denies this.

The New Kach Movement existed during the period 2001 – 2003. It maintained websites posting Kahanist political commentary and held meetings with informal members. The organization was headed by Israeli-born student Efraim Hershkovits, who lived in Montreal, Canada. It had chapters worldwide as well as a youth movement, Noar Meir. Upon returning to live in Israel in 2003, Hershkovits disbanded the movement to avoid harassment by the Israeli government, advising its former members to support the Kahane Movement. After the organization had disbanded, its name was added to the United States' list of terrorist organizations as an alias for "Kach". Hershkovits was arrested on August 7, 2005 and placed in administrative detention for three months by Israeli authorities. Since Israel has no writ of habeous corpus, people in Israel may be incarcerated for months or years without any charges being brought.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Split of Kach", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki