How Kahanist Ideology Became the Matrix of Israeli Power

[On May 5] the Knesset [the Israeli Parliament] opened its summer session. On this occasion, the head of the government coalition, Ofir Katz, spoke about the violent clashes that occurred during a commemorative ceremony [Yom HaZikaron, the “Remembrance Day” in Hebrew, in memory of those who died for Israel], which took place in the progressive synagogue of Raanana at the end of April. Those who expected that this moderate figure of the Likud would condemn the violence were disappointed.

Rather than denouncing his party's activists who forced their way into the synagogue, threw stones, and insulted the congregation and police, Ofir Katz delivered a speech that could just as easily have been given by a lawmaker from the religious ultra-right party, Otzma Yehudit ("Jewish Power").

“The demonstration in front of Raanana was legitimate, and I’m glad people protested, ” he said. “It sparked a media frenzy about the violence. I watched the videos. I didn’t see any violence .”

The attack on this gathering in the midst of worship was therefore not only supported by the government, but was also planned and encouraged by the Likud and Kahanist circles. This is one of the latest developments to reinforce a long process of ideological and rhetorical rapprochement between the Likud and Otzma Yehudit.

This far-right party, led by the current Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, is the ideological heir to the Kach movement, founded by Rabbi Meir Kahane in 1971 and banned in 1994 due to its extremism. Once excluded from the Israeli political spectrum, the party's ideas have now gained legitimacy in the public eye.

So much so that in 2025, the differences between the two parties are very difficult to identify.

Liran Harsgor, a professor at the School of Political Science at the University of Haifa, explains that “the ideological and rhetorical boundaries that separated Likud and Otzma Yehudit have become considerably blurred in recent years .”

This phenomenon, however, is not specific to Israel, she adds. It is part of a global process in which far-right populist movements are gaining ground , and traditional right-wing parties are responding by adopting increasingly extreme positions.

In Israel, she emphasizes, this shift is not only ideological; it is also reinforced by the arrival of a new generation. In the 1990s and 2000s, Likud officials who advocated a more pragmatic line on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict—and who championed the dream of a Greater Israel—left the party.

Since then, the Likud's positions, which tend towards national liberalism, have drifted towards populist and conspiratorial views, under the influence of Benjamin Netanyahu.

According to Liran Harsgor, the arrival of Netanyahu has clearly accelerated this radicalization. “Moderate figures have been