Mapping Kahanism within Religious Zionism and the Israeli Right

This chapter maps Kahanism within religious Zionism and the Israeli right, distinguishing a defined ideology from the loose rhetorical label common in public debate. It reconstructs Kahanism’s core propositions concerning Jewish sovereignty, divine command, transfer, and vigilant action, and contrasts them with adjacent currents that privilege the state’s monopoly on force or pursue mystical transformation of the polity. A typological framework identifies when actors appropriate Kahanist style, symbols, and boundary making while rejecting programmatic planks. The analysis traces institutional constraints that have repeatedly excluded formal Kahanist representation, alongside discursive dynamics that inflate its reach by branding opponents as Kahanist. Clarifying when the term signals a precise doctrinal package and when it functions as floating signifier and political cudgel, the chapter situates Kahanism without exaggeration. The result is an analytic map that supports clearer assessment of continuity, divergence, and influence across contemporary religious nationalist politics in Israel.