Why is Meir Kahane trending on social media?

In recent days, a significant controversy has erupted in the Jewish and pro-Israel social media discourse regarding the use by some activists of quotes and videos of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane. Kahane, leader of the Jewish Defense League, a radical extremist, and later founder of the Kach party in Israel, remains, even today – 35 years after his assassination by an Egyptian-born American linked to al-Qaeda – perhaps the most controversial figure in contemporary Zionism.

Yet, in a context where the staunch detractors of the Israeli American extremist rabbi accuse social media activists of radicalism and Islamophobia, I believe a deeper and less ideological analysis of the phenomenon would be useful, which becomes crucial given the current political climate in the Jewish world. In other words, what does this return of Kahane’s figure tell us – both regarding those who are appalled by posts that share some of his political ideas and those who share those ideas on social media?

To begin this analysis, it is worth starting with some points expressed in Shaul Magid’s excellent book Meir Kahane: The Public Life and Political Thought of an American Jewish Radical. This meticulous historical work is perhaps the most comprehensive analysis of Rabbi Kahane’s historical arc and Kahanist political thought, from his beginnings in New York to his political activity in Israel.

Shaul Magid emphasizes two fundamental points in his writing: Meir Kahane was fundamentally a product of American Judaism, and the influence of certain of his ideas – such as the danger to Jewish survival in the face of systemic antisemitism – spread far beyond his relatively marginal political following in the United States and Israel. Essentially, as we see even more clearly today in the climate created in the Diaspora and the broader Jewish world post-October 7, the uncertainty about the future and disillusionment regarding peace with the Palestinians allow certain ideas of Kahane – not Kahanism itself – to linger like a ghost in the Jewish conscience. And this is a ghost worth analyzing seriously, without apologies or paranoia, to take the pulse of the state of contemporary Judaism and its worldview.

Personally, I own a copy of Never Again! A Program for Survival and Or haRa’ayon in my library, and I have always been curious about how many peace-championing and politically ultra-progressive Jews – those entirely distant from Kahane’s figure – would react if I read them certain statements about antisemitism, the relationship with the Western majority society, or fears for their own safety without revealing that they were written by Meir Kahane. Very likely – perhaps certainly – they would agree, demonstrating the indirect influence of some ideas also propagated by Kahane, especially during his American period, within mainstream Judaism.

On the other hand, regarding the Kahane “social phenomenon,” another relevant comparison made by Magid in his book must be considered. To quote directly: “Kahane should be placed alongside Malcolm X and Stokely Carmichael, and the Jewish Defense League should be viewed alongside the Black Panthers and the Young Lords.” As Shaul Magid explains, the JDL phenomenon must be read and understood within the expressions of identity radicalism in the United States during the 60s and 70s. Why, then, does it become relevant again today?

In recent years, particularly after the brutal murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police in 2020, the anti-racist activism of the African American community around the Black Lives Matter movement has progressively brought back to the forefront the ideas of militants such as Dr. Huey P. Newton and Angela Davis in discussions about racial discrimination. This did not mean a return to the Black Panthers’ militant strategies of the 1970s but rather an expression of radical exasperation in the face of systemic American racism that brings maximalist visions back into focus.

Ordinary Jews facing a terrible historical moment

I believe we are witnessing the same phenomenon in the Jewish world: in the face of open, discriminatory, and violent antisemitism, the response is not so much a return to Kahanist tactics and ideological systems but a push towards maximalism that, in its development, also includes an interest in certain expressions and points of Kahane’s thought. Far from being a particularly worrying phenomenon, it should instead prompt us to reflect on what many Jews feel in 2025, what their fears and disillusions are, and their desire to oppose systemic and exponentially growing antisemitism.

In fact, we are facing a complex historical period for the Jewish people and Zionism, and identifying the resurgence of Kahane with the danger of a wave of religious-messianic and ultra-nationalist extremism means refusing to see the underlying problem. Israeli Zionist activist Lily Dayton expressed this well in a recent post when she described the discourse around Meir Kahane as an expression of a widespread shift in ideas regarding the state of the peace process and the concept of two peoples and two states.

There is no denying it: since October 7, disillusionment with the Palestinians’ willingness for peace has become a significant reality in the Jewish world, and not only on the right. Most of those who share fragments of Kahane’s speeches or quotes on social media are not religious extremists, or some radicalized youth planning a Tag Mechir attack on Palestinians in Judea and Samaria. The reality, which many may not like but remains a fact, is that these are ordinary Jews facing a terrible historical moment for the Jewish people and Israel. Crying extremism does not solve the issue, does not help us analyze it, but only fosters a low-level debate to the detriment of any possibility of a serious and honest confrontation about our national future, beyond political divisions, and potentially capable of further polarizing the internal debate within the Jewish world.

Those who speak out vehemently against this phenomenon today cannot ignore that we, too, as a community, have our own skeletons in the closet. Jewish history, even recent history, is not exempt from shadows and contradictions, from episodes we often prefer to remove or reinterpret in an exculpatory light. Confronting these aspects honestly does not mean legitimizing extreme positions but rather recognizing that facing our past and our vulnerabilities is a necessary step to avoid hypocrisy and build an authentic and respectful dialogue.

Only by intellectually addressing these dynamics and understanding the reasons behind certain extreme reactions can we avoid sterile polarization and build a genuine dialogue. It is time to abandon instinctive reactions and embrace a collective and sincere reflection, capable of guiding our community beyond the current ideological and political storm, toward a shared and pragmatic vision of our future.