The Kahane Regime Revisited

DaHound22

Banned
So a Rav Meir Kahane regime in Israel has always interested me. To be frank, I find the idea of theocracy in the Holy Land to be an irresitable what if. For awhile, I ran with an idea given to me by a thread on this very site, an incredible loss leaving the Jewish people wanting protection. However, recent events in Brexit, Trump and etc. have changed my mind on the matter.

So my new POD is Kahane's Kach party is not banned in the 1987 revised Basic Laws for the Israeli Knesset and thus wins the 12 seats in the Knesset it was predicted to win in 1988, kicking off a cycle as follows: Support for Kahane grows, leading to increased Palestinian violence for fear of a hostile regime, leading to the Israeli establisment uniting against Kahane, leading support for Kahane to grow as the anti-establishment, populist party, protecting Israel from Palestine. What do you think?
 
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Also, what kind of political allies in the Knesset can Kach expect after 1988, if any?

Maybe possibly the Shas. I dunno.

You would need some sort of huge cultural trauma in Israel for Kahane to ever win. I have no idea what would get him over the hump.

My best guess is a multipart-part POD. First, Syria intervenes during Black September and Arafat takes over Syria and proclaims it a Palestinian Republic. Long-term, this leads to Arafat being more pro-Syrian and less pro-Iraq, which has important implications later. The Soviets also back him as a client state. A lengthy and grinding border war between the two sides commences. Sadat doesn't order the Egyptian Army to advance into the Sinai when Syria gets in trouble and they hold their bridgehead, essentially achieving victory. This humiliates Israel. When the Iran-Iraq War swings in Iran's favor, Arafat and Syria intervene on Iran's behalf when Iran promises they will help them against Israel if Saddam can be taken out. They both invade during the Battle of Basrah and Saddam is toppled. The Shiite axis is now contiguous, and Iranian troops are stationed all along Israel's borders.

Furthermore, in Russia, a rightwing lunatic (Zhirinovsky only found out he was Jewish in 2006 so maybe he would, or Aleksandr Dugin, I don't know) takes over after the fall of the Soviet Union and expels all the Jews from Russia's area of influence, forcibly flying them to Israel on pain of letting them die of exposure to the elements on the tarmac if they are not taken. The influx of pissed-off Russian, Belarussian, etc. Jews makes Israel even more rightwing than today.

That's the best I got. Probably wouldn't be enough, but Donald Trump did become President, so anything's possible.
 

DaHound22

Banned
Well believe it or not Israeli polls from before Kahane was banned had him taking up to 12 seats in the 1988 election. Thats a solid 10% of the legislature right there. Now thats far from being Prime Minister of Israel, but it showd that Kahane's political power and idealogy was very much on the rise when he was banned. (Hell, Bibi was elected a few years later in 96 and he's the original "build a wall") It's entirely possible that with continued Intifada's and other Israeli-Palestinian violence that his influence continues to rise.
And really, I see it being very much a snowball effect. For one, the more power Kahane gets, the more Arab peoples react against him, thus the more his policies seem to be legitimatized. For two, the more power Kahane gets, the more the established powers unite against him. This makes his party the "anti-establishment, populist party for the people" kind of party, and as a result his power base grows. Repeat the cycles a few times and Kahane could be PM within a reasonable while.
 

DaHound22

Banned
So considering the sheer lack of firestorm, I assume that so far this seems like a reasonable TL and/or PoD?
 
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