Meir Kahane

Meir David Kahane (Hebrew: מאיר דוד כהנא‎) (/kəˈhɑːnə/; August 1, 1932 – November 5, 1990) was an American-Israeli rabbi, ultra-Zionist political figure, teacher and writer, whose work became either the direct or indirect foundation of most modern Jewish militant and far right-wing political groups. He was an ordained Orthodox rabbi and later served as a member of the Israeli Knesset.

Kahane spent years reaching out to Jews through published works, weekly articles, speeches and debates on college campuses and in synagogues throughout the United States, and appearances on various televised programs and radio shows. He gained recognition as an extreme advocate for Jewish causes, such as organizing defense squads and patrols in Jewish neighborhoods and demanding the Soviet Union release its oppressed Jews. He later became known in the United States and Israel for supporting violence against enemies of the Jewish people, calls for emergency Jewish mass migration to Israel due to a potential "second Holocaust" in the United States, proposing that Israel's democracy be reserved for its Jewish citizens and, hopefully, eventually adopt Jewish religious law, and endorsing the annexation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.