Kahanism, Terrorism, and Zionism: How Democrats Should Be Thinking About Israel
GWOZT
There is no such thing as a democratic state of Israel. Since its inception, Israel has been a colonizing entity whose purpose is to expel a majority of the people living within national Palestine (and beyond) and thereafter occupy the lands therein. This process began in the 19th century, and accelerated massively since 1945 and especially since 1948. This has always been the core truth of Israel’s foundation, as a colonizing entity built on the expropriation and occupation of the original Indigenous peoples of that land. It’s also a truth not at all dissimilar from America’s own founding, and indeed, we can find similar tales of expropriation and settlement throughout human history, across all societies.
Yet America, for all its faults, for all its malformed issues in its jurisprudential electoral democracy, is still a democracy. In America, women have the same legal rights as men, not just to vote but to hold office, hold property, even own businesses under their own name. In America, two consenting adults can marry, regardless of their sex or gender or their religious beliefs. In America, the color of your skin no longer determines which buildings you can enter at what times. In America, members of the Indigenous communities our ancestors enslaved and murdered en masse are full citizens of our country, with the same legal rights and obligations as all other citizens, while also maintaining their legal Tribal sovereignty.
Of course, we did wrong and still do wrong to our Indigenous communities. There is real poverty across many tracks of Indigenous-owned land, and not just fiscal poverty but harsh water poverty, whereby our Federal government and our laws are literally constructed to impoverish and dehydrate these communities, often out of neglect and sometimes, out of some cruel purpose like profit.
America needs to do far better by our Indigenous communities, and no one is saying we have a model government when it comes to Indigenous communities, yet we can say, for what little it is worth, that we are at least a democracy. We don’t restrict voting rights to someone because they are Navajo or Sioux or any one of the tens of thousands of Federally (or not) recognized Tribes. We don’t say: here, only the white man may walk, and here, the Indigenous may suffer to crawl. Meanwhile, in Israel, that’s exactly what they do to Palestinians every day, right now. Not only do Palestinians not vote in Israeli elections, not only can they not marry freely, but their physical movement is deeply restricted and condensed into three zones.
None of this should be news to anyone reading this. Israel has been like this since before 1948, as mentioned previously. If this were it, if this were the sum of Israel’s crimes, the crime of Nakba, apartheid, and genocide, then we could have perhaps a sensible policy debate within America about the Israeli entity. Perhaps we could talk about boycotts and sanctions in an attempt to coerce a one state or two state solution. Indeed, that is how the international community talked for a long time, to the point that even Yasser Arafat, the closest thing to a unifying leader the Palestinians ever had, conceded that this might be the best path forward.
However, things have changed. Israel’s criminal actions since October 7th, in both waging wars of aggression (crimes against peace) and genocide (crimes against humanity) have shown them to be far beyond the pale, far beyond the niceties of gentle politics. They are acting as an enemy nation, as defined in the UN Charter; as a nation wholly committed to war and extermination, and therefore as a nation that exists outside of international law and thus requiring an immediate international coalition to confront it.
It started before October 2023, of course. Israel has long been plagued by fascist, exterminationist forces. However, it was only in 2022 that these forces took control over the state of Israel, under the kahanist Defense Minister Smotrich and kahanist Minister of National Security Ben-Gvir. The forces that rule Israel extend far beyond these two men and their parties. They are led, coalitionally, by Netanyahu, of course, but these are just arbiters of broader Israeli society. If there were an election tomorrow in Israel, and Netanyahu’s government were to not only be ousted but thrown in their prisons, nothing would change about broader Israeli policy. The crimes against humanity and against peace would continue, if not escalate.
The fact is: Israel is a kahanist (neo-fascist) state. It has been for some time. 80% of the population supports the genocides and the various wars of aggression. If Netanyahu were to lose the next election, his replacement, Yair Lapid, has promised to not only continue Netanyahu’s policies but escalate them; in effect, his electoral promise is to “do the genocides better”.
We cannot have sensible policy debates with these kahanist terrorists or their terrorist backers in the United States. Again, it should be stated plainly: Meir Kahane is a terrorist. The people who follow and adhere to his ideology are terrorists. And, it should pain anyone to realize that the Israeli state and indeed Israeli society, are run by the spiritual successors of kahanist ideology; literally so, in the case of Smotrich and Ben Gvir.
What Is To Be Done?
What other country in the world is “run by terrorists”, what other country has an illicit nuclear weapons program; how, in other words, should the United States of America respond, policy-wise, to the challenge of an ally-turned-terrorist backer?
1979 shows us the way. Iran prior to 1979 was one of America’s greatest allies. Our partnership extended deep into the military and technical spheres. And then, their internal politics shifted and all of a sudden, an alliance that had lasted decades was suddenly shattered. We can and indeed should always consider the costs and benefits of every alliance, every rivalry, every relationship our country has. It’s only sensible; the United Kingdom started out as our nemesis but quickly thereafter became our strongest ally and trading partner.
It’s important to note this history because people like Michigan Senator Slotkin cannot imagine a future where Israel is not our ally anymore. That type of thinking is frankly wrong and antithetical to actually running an empire, and is doomed to drag us into a world war if we are not careful.
Therefore, let’s accept some facts at the outset:
Israel has a fascist, exterminationist, criminal cabinet of ministers.
The Israeli voting public supports this cabinet of criminals, and if they don’t, they at least support their policies.
Israel, either the state or the polity, will not change their policies because of slight pressure and condemnations.
The last point is key. We are far, far beyond the pale with Israel. Not only do they possess hundreds of nuclear weapons but they have an influence network that will be crucial to dismantle, from a counterintelligence standpoint, if the United States is to have a chance at all in standing up to Israeli influence and control. The backers of Israel will want to stoop this argument to the base level of debate, and simple political disagreement. That is wrong, simply put.
If this were the 1940s, we would not, in our public conscience, suffer the opinions of pro-imperial Italians or Japanese, who would want to wax lyrical about either the Italian Empire or the Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere. We would all sooner drown ourselves in earwax than submit to a notion that Japan is a “truer democracy”, that it alone can represent “Asian interests”. Indeed, the charred and broken corpses from Nanjing to Pearl Harbor would be our retort.
So too must it be with Israel. Israel is an enemy state of the United States, and it is high time it is treated such in both public discourse and in terms of the law. Let us center ourselves within that bosom and corpus of the law, for that will inform and educate how the public ought to think about Israel (as less a state and more a terrorist entity!).
If a Democratic Party is to have a sensible Israel policy, let it be thus:
Diplomatic Rupture
Sever formal relations: The US Embassy and other consular buildings within Israel’s territory should be closed (excluding those in Palestinian territories), with Israeli diplomats expelled.
Revoke Israel’s status as a Major Non-NATO Ally.
Terrorism Designations
Declare Israel to be a State Sponsor of Terrorism. This would be a Secretary of State determination under Arms Export Control Act §40, Foreign Assistance Act §620A, and NDAA FY2019 §1754(c). It would immediately ban all US aid, arms imports and exports, implement dual-use restrictions (dual-use: something civilian commodity good that can be used in a military context), financial restrictions, and with secondary sanctions on third parties (e.g. if India or China continues to trade with Israel).
Declare every Israeli legal entity (government agency, private corporation, city, etc.) to be Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO) and a Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGT) under INA §219, IEEPA + EO 13224, 18 USC §2339B. This would allow the US to ban any material support for Israel, block asset transfers to any Israeli entity, bar immigration to and from Israel, and ensure that banks comply with US laws. See below for fuller details
Comprehensive Economic Sanctions (Iran Model)
Once designated, the full Iran sanctions playbook applies via IEEPA (50 USC §1701 et seq.), multiple executive orders, and statutes like the Iran Sanctions Act.
Asset freezes: Block all Israeli government assets in the US (central bank reserves, bonds, etc.), as done with ~$9B in Afghan assets post-Taliban takeover.
Trade/investment ban: Near-total embargo on US persons dealing with Israel or its government (imports, exports, services, financing). Exceptions only for narrow humanitarian carve-outs via OFAC general licenses.
Secondary sanctions: Penalize foreign banks/companies that transact with Israel (e.g., Iran’s oil sector sanctions). Banks would over-comply, isolating Israel globally.
Sector-specific: Energy, tech, defense, finance—all prohibited, mirroring Iran’s petroleum/development bans.
Military Cutoff
Immediate suspension: End the ~$3.8B annual FMF/missile defense MOU, all arms sales, and Qualitative Military Edge commitments. Invoke Leahy Law, Foreign Assistance Act §620I (humanitarian aid restrictions), and Arms Export Control Act for gross violations.
End-use enforcement: Revoke all prior licenses; treat Israel like Iran (no defense exports).
No exceptions: Unlike current targeted West Bank sanctions, this would be a blanket ban.
Domestic Influence and FARA/Advocacy Crackdown
Aggressive FARA enforcement: Every Israel-linked group, lobby, or influencer would face mandatory registration as foreign agents. DOJ could pursue criminal charges for non-compliance. Precedent: Iran-linked entities are routinely targeted.
Terrorism material support bans: If entities are SDGT/FTO-linked, providing funds, PR, or lobbying will be criminalized.
Divestment mandates: Federal law requiring US pensions, endowments, and contractors to divest from Israeli assets (reversing current anti-BDS state laws). New legislation could prohibit any US entity from boycotting the boycott.
Campaign finance: Enhanced scrutiny or bans on PACs tied to designated entities.
Other Tools and Broader Isolation
Export controls / CFIUS: Treat Israel as a “country of concern” (like China/Iran); block dual-use tech and scrutinize/invalidate investments.
Immigration/travel: Bar Israeli officials/members of designated entities from visiting the US or any US ally.
Intelligence/military posture: Shift to adversarial (surveillance, no joint ops); possible naval/air restrictions in region.
Humanitarian carve-outs: Limited, as with Afghanistan; aid could flow via NGOs but with heavy restrictions to avoid benefiting the “regime.”
All of this could be done with a stroke of a President’s pen. If that President is ever to be a Democrat again, they must enact this policy programme. Anything less risks our country going down the drain with Israel to inevitable doom as it wars against the entire world in its mad bid to make ‘Greater Israel’ a reality. Surely as Hitler and the Nazis failed to make Großdeutschland reality, so too will the Israelis fail to take everything from “the Nile to the Euphrates”, as they constantly call their ‘lebensraum’.
Even if the next President isn’t a Democrat, and is, say, a Republican, we can only hope that they have not been fully captured by the pro-Israel lobby, the way that President Trump has been. Either way, the next President must treat Israel as a terrorist, enemy entity, and anything less risks utter damnation for our own American polity.
There is, of course, a policy goal in isolating Israel. Israel’s isolation is not a goal in itself. The goal, if it can be stated as plainly as possible, is regime change. The new regime post that regime change should place itself, and its nuclear warheads, at the sole discretion and control of the United States President, who shall then dismantle their state and their nuclear program, bit by bit. In its place, America shall create a new regime entity, one that follows international laws as it pertains to human rights and the peaceful obligation of states, and one that is totally devoid of even nuclear power (goodbye, Dimona!).
Only then will America be able to conceive of Israel as anything other than an enemy to be defeated. If that requires harsh confrontation, even a Cold War against the zionist entity, so be it. For the sake of the future of humanity, we must act.