 | |
| Author | Rabbi Meir Kahane |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Political |
| Publisher | Lyle Stuart |
Publication date | 1987 |
| ISBN | 9780818404382 |
Uncomfortable Questions for Comfortable Jews is an English-language book created by Rabbi Meir Kahane in 1987 and published via Lyle Stuart. [1]
The book is a manifesto that espouses oppositional beliefs against modern-day Israel, including the formation of the Israeli government as a Western-styled democracy and the allowing of non-Jews, especially Arabs, to become a majority ethnic group in the Jewish state of Israel where, Meir Kahane states, that the ideology of Zionism can not exist without the sentiments of Kahanism. [2] He also writes against the crime of racism he was charged with in 1980, stating that without the beliefs of racism and anti-Arabism a Jewish state can not thrive and deems it hypocritical that he was charged with racism for wanting a majority Jewish state with the implications of apartheid in Israel. [3] As in his book, They Must Go , Kahane calls for complete racial segregation of Palestinian Arabs and Arabs in general with Jews in Israel, but in this book he also puts out the ideas that Arabs may attempt to get with young Jewish women to either convert them to Islam or rape them. [4] Kahane also states in the book that Israel is "schizophrenic" for wanting both a Zionist state and a democratic state while maintaining its Jewish majority. [5] It's urged in the book that American Jews make aliyah and emigrate to Israel as a mitzvah and is considered obligated by all Jews around the world. [6]
The Jewish Defense League (JDL) is a far-right religious and political organization in the United States and Canada. Its stated goal is to "protect Jews from antisemitism by whatever means necessary"; it has been classified as "right-wing terrorist group" by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) since 2001, and is also designated as hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. According to the FBI, the JDL has been involved in plotting and executing acts of terrorism within the United States. Most terrorist watch groups classify the group as inactive as of 2015.
Meir David HaKohen Kahane was an American-born Israeli Orthodox ordained rabbi, writer, and ultra-nationalist politician who served one term in Israel's Knesset. Founder of the Israeli political party Kach—whose legacy continues to influence militant and far-right political groups active today in Israel,—he was convicted of multiple acts of terrorism in the United States and in Israel.
Baruch Kopel Goldstein was an American-Israeli mass murderer, religious extremist, and physician who perpetrated the 1994 Cave of the Patriarchs massacre in Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, an incident of Jewish terrorism. Goldstein was a supporter of Kach, a religious Zionist party that the United States, the European Union and other countries designate as a terrorist organization.
Supremacism is the belief that a certain group of people should have supreme authority over all others. The presumed superior people can be defined by age, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, language, social class, ideology, nationality, culture, generation or belong to any other part of a particular population.
Zvi Yehuda Kook was an ultranationalist Orthodox rabbi. He was the son of Abraham Isaac Kook, the first Ashkenazi chief rabbi of British Mandatory Palestine. Both father and son are credited with developing Kookian Zionism, which became the dominant form of Religious Zionism. He was Rosh Yeshiva (dean) of the Mercaz HaRav yeshiva.
Jewish extremist terrorism is terrorism, including religious terrorism, committed by extremists within Judaism.
Harold M. Schulweis was an American rabbi and author. He was the longtime spiritual Leader at Valley Beth Shalom in Encino, California.
Marvin Weinstein known as Meir Weinstein and previously known as Meir Halevi is the former national director of the Canadian branch of the Jewish Defense League (JDL) and in 2017 claimed to also be the leader of the JDL in North America. He announced on July 9, 2021, that he was leaving the JDL.
Mike Guzovsky, also known as Mike Guzofsky and Yekutiel Ben-Ya'acov, is an American-Israeli follower of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane. He lives in the settlement of Kfar Tapuach in the West Bank.
Yitzhak Shapira is an Israeli rabbi who lived in Kiryat Moshe neighborhood in Jerusalem, and is head of the Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva.
The Haggada of the Jewish Idea, or Haggadah of the Jewish Idea is a book written by Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane based on his commentary of the classic Passover Haggada, which is based on his father, Rabbi Meir Kahane's teachings of the "Jewish Idea". The book's commentary focuses on the "Jewish Idea" in general, particularly the concept of faith in God. It also focuses on the approach to Passover, and the nighttime Seder which would, "define the faith of the Jew."
Racism in Israel encompasses all forms and manifestations of racism experienced in Israel, irrespective of the colour or creed of the perpetrator and victim, or their citizenship, residency, or visitor status. More specifically in the Israeli context, racism in Israel refers to racism directed against Israeli Arabs by Israeli Jews, intra-Jewish racism between the various Jewish ethnic divisions, historic and current racism towards Mizrahi Jews although some believe the dynamics have reversed, and racism on the part of Israeli Arabs against Israeli Jews.
Judaism's doctrines and texts have sometimes been associated with violence or anti-violence. Laws requiring the eradication of evil, sometimes using violent means, exist in the Jewish tradition. However, Judaism also contains peaceful texts and doctrines. There is often a juxtaposition of Judaic law and theology to violence and nonviolence by groups and individuals. Attitudes and laws towards both peace and violence exist within the Jewish tradition. Throughout history, Judaism's religious texts or precepts have been used to promote as well as oppose violence.
Lehava is a far-right and Jewish supremacist organization based in Israel that strictly opposes Jewish assimilation, objecting to most personal relationships between Jews and non-Jews. It is opposed to the Christian presence in Israel. It has an anti-intermarriage focus, denouncing marriages between Jews and non-Jews forbidden by Orthodox Jewish law. The group has over 10,000 members. In 2024, the United States placed Lehava and its leader, Bentzi Gopstein, on a sanctions list for their role in fomenting Israeli settler violence against Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, labeling Lehava "the largest violent extremist organization in Israel."
Kahanism is a religious Zionist ideology based on the views of Rabbi Meir Kahane, founder of the Jewish Defense League and the Kach party in Israel.
Kach was 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, 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 breaking away from the main Kach faction.
David Ha'ivri is an Israeli independent political strategist, who focuses on foreign relations, working closely with Christian Zionists and leading politicians in Washington DC. He emigrated as a child with his family from the United States to Israel at the age of 11, completed high school, and served in the IDF. Ha'ivri is an Orthodox Jew, and lives with his wife and eight children in Kfar Tapuach in the West Bank. He is a religious Zionist leader, writer, and speaker. In November 2018 Ha'ivri was elected to the Shomron Regional Municipal council and in May 2021 he was elected as Second to the Chairman of the Council.
Ben-Zion "Bentzi" Gopstein is a political activist affiliated with the far-right in Israel, a student of Meir Kahane, and founder and director of Lehava ("Flame"), an Israeli Jewish anti-assimilation organization. He was a member of the Council of Kiryat Arba, an Israeli settlement where Otzma Yehudit leader Itamar Ben-Gvir also resides, between 2010 and 2013. In November 2019, he was indicted on charges of incitement to terrorism, violence, and racism. In April 2024, he was sanctioned by the U.S. Department of State and the European Union.
Meir Ettinger is an Israeli Kahanist activist, extremist who is known for leading the Hilltop Youth, a group that pursues the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, conducts punitive price tag attacks on Palestinian villages, and targets Muslim and Christian sites. Ettinger has called for the demolition of the secular state of Israel, and its replacement by a religious society based on Biblical principles.
They Must Go is an English-language book created by Rabbi Meir Kahane in 1981 and published via Grosset & Dunlap.