Kach

A radical Orthodox Jewish, religious Zionist political party in Israel, existing from 1971 to 1994. Founded by Rabbi Meir Kahane in 1971 based on his Jewish-Orthodox-nationalist ideology (subsequently dubbed Kahanism), the party won a single seat in the Knesset in the 1984 elections, after several electoral failures. However, it was barred from participating in the next elections 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 ("Kahane Lives") breaking away from the main Kach faction.

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

Both groups are designated as terrorist organisations by Israel, Canada, Japan, and formerly the European Union, as well as the United States. They are believed to have an overlapping core membership of fewer than 100 people, with links to the modern party Otzma Yehudit.

Following the outlawing of the Kach movement, some of the movement's activists chose to abandon the radical messages that led to the movement's disqualification and return to the legitimate political arena. The most prominent of these activists was Baruch Marzel, who, in the run-up to the 16th Knesset elections, joined Michael Kleiner in the Herut party. Applications to disqualify Marzel from running for the Knesset were rejected by the High Court of Justice, which accepted Marzel's claim that he had abandoned those parts of Kach's platform that were prohibited by law. Marzel ran again in the 17th Knesset elections as part of the Jewish National Front (later Otzma Yehudit).

Leader: Meir Kahane (until 5 November 1990), disputed between Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane (Kahane Chai) and Avraham Toledano (Kach) (1990−1994).