ABSTRACT
An examination of the style of Rabbi Meir Kahane's writings and public speeches reveals that his revenge theory and legitimation of Jewish violence are consistently intermingled with a sense of disaster and tragedy. Kahane's short essay was a major attack on the prevailing Zionist ideo-theology of the time, the Kookist philosophy of Gush Emunim. In 1980 Kahane had plenty of time to reconsider his grand ideo-theology. One of the most characteristic elements of Kahane's career was that unlike many high priests of violence and catastrophe, his teachings never remained in the books. Mimetic desire is simply a term more comprehensive than violence for religious pollution. By ideologizing and sanctifying anti-Gentile violence, Kahane reversed Rene Girard's primitive religion and in fact, all religion. In 1973 and 1974 the leader of the Jewish Defence League wrote two long essays: Israel's Eternity and Victory and Numbers 23:9, in which he first developed his catastrophic Messianism.
