A RACE, NOT A RELIGION:

Rabbi Meir Kahane is considered something of a prophet by the Israeli right-wing.

He openly advocated expelling all Palestinians from historic Palestine between the river and the sea - what he called "the Land of Israel".

"The Jews and Arabs of the Land of Israel ultimately cannot coexist," he wrote in his 1981 manifesto, They Must Go. "There is only one path for us to take: the immediate transfer of Arabs from Eretz Yisrael, the Land of Israel."

Although liberal Israeli elites still view Kahane as a fanatic extremist, the reality is that Kahanism has today gone mainstream in Israel.

The latest sign of that came last week, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu brokered a merger agreement between two far-right parties in next month's general election, to form the "Religious Zionism" list.

Former Transport Minister Bezalel Smotrich united with fanatical Kahanist settler and lawyer Itamar Ben-Gvir of the "Jewish Power" party. In return, Netanyahu offered Smotrich a vote-sharing agreement and chairs on the judicial appointments committee. Netanyahu wanted to avoid the right-wing vote being split too much, which would have damaged his chances of forming a ruling coalition.

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