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?
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