Assassination of Meir Kahane
| Assassination of Meir Kahane | |
|---|---|
525 Lexington Avenue, formerly the New York Marriott East Side | |
| Location | 40°45′20″N 73°58′22″W / 40.75556°N 73.97278°W 525 Lexington Avenue New York Marriott East Side, New York City, U.S. |
| Date | 5 November 1990 (18 Cheshvan 5751) Shortly after 9:00 p.m. (EST) |
Attack type | Assassination by shooting |
| Weapons | .357-caliber pistol[1] |
| Perpetrator | El Sayyid Nosair |
| Motive | Islamic extremism |
On 5 November 1990, Meir Kahane, an Israeli-American rabbi, ultranationalist politician, and convicted domestic terrorist,[2] was assassinated by El Sayyid Nosair, an American Islamic extremist, at the New York Marriott East Side hotel (now named 525 Lexington Avenue) in Manhattan, New York City.
On the second floor of the hotel, while Kahane was speaking to an audience, Nosair fatally shot him in the neck with a pistol, then escaped onto Lexington Avenue. While trying to take over a taxi at gunpoint, he shot a U.S. Postal Inspection Service officer who saw the carjacking attempt, Carlos Acosta. Acosta then shot and arrested Nosair; the two survived their injuries.
Nosair initially denied being Kahane's assassin. He was convicted for assault, possession of an illegal firearm, and of shooting Acosta, but not the assassination; Kahane's family opposed him getting an autopsy. He was sentenced to 22 years in prison, and took responsibility for the shooting years later.
Background
Meir David HaKohen Kahane (/kəˈhɑːnə/ kə-HAH-nə; Hebrew: רבי מאיר דוד הכהן כהנא; born Martin David Kahane;[3] August 1, 1932 – November 5, 1990) was an Israeli Orthodox ordained rabbi, writer and ultra-nationalist politician. He was the founder of the Israeli political party Kach, whose ideology continues to influence militant and far-right political groups active today in Israel.[4] Kahane was convicted of multiple acts of terrorism in the United States and in Israel.
El Sayyid Nosair was born in 1955 in Port Said, Egypt, and immigrated to the United States in 1981. He became an American citizen in 1989.[5] In the United States, Nosair worked various jobs in New Jersey and New York City.[6] Nosair was employed by the City of New York to repair the air conditioning equipment at the criminal courts building.[5]
Nosair expressed dislike for American culture and what he perceived to be rampant moral corruption. Nosair became involved with the al-Farouq Mosque in Brooklyn, which was supported by the Maktab al-Khidamat (Afghanistan Services Bureau). The Maktab al-Khidamat was established in 1984 by Osama bin Laden and Abdullah Azzam in Peshawar, Pakistan to raise funds for the Arab mujahadeen during the Soviet–Afghan War, and later to recruit participants in al Qaeda. Ali Mohamed, a sergeant at Fort Bragg, provided United States Army manuals and other assistance to individuals at the al-Farouq Mosque, and some members, including Mahmoud Abouhalima and Nosair, practiced at the Calverton Shooting Range on Long Island.[6][7]
Assassination
On the evening of 5 November 1990, Kahane gave a speech in the second-floor lecture hall of the New York Marriott East Side hotel, in Manhattan, at 525 Lexington Avenue, to an audience, most of whom were Orthodox Jews. After his speech, a crowd of well-wishers gathered around Kahane as he answered questions. Shortly after 9:00 p.m., Nosair, disguised as an Orthodox Jew, approached Kahane and shot him from close range with a .357-caliber pistol.[1] Kahane was hit in the neck, and died of his wounds shortly thereafter.[8][9][10]
Nosair then fled from the hotel and reached Lexington Avenue, where, in front of a post office, he attempted to take over a taxi at gunpoint. Carlos Acosta, an on-duty U.S. Postal Inspection Service officer, drew his pistol and ordered Nosair to freeze.[1] Instead, Nosair turned toward Acosta, and shot him in the chest. Acosta returned fire, hitting Nosair in the chin. Afterwards, Acosta arrested him.[1]
At the time, Nosair's assassination of Kahane was categorized as an antisemitic hate crime. In subsequent years, Nosair's actions have been re-evaluated as an early example of Islamic terrorism in the United States.[11][12][13]
Prosecution of Nosair
Nosair was charged with murdering Kahane. During the legal proceedings, Nosair denied all charges against him. Although there were witnesses who identified Nosair as the assassin, Nosair was not convicted of Kahane's assassination, in part because Kahane's family had opposed the performing of an autopsy and the extracting of the bullets. However, Nosair was convicted of assault, possession of an illegal firearm, and of shooting a United States Postal Inspection Service agent. Nosair was sentenced to 22 years of imprisonment, the maximum allowed.[14]
Nosair iniitally served his sentence at Attica Correctional Facility, in New York. In 1993, the "Blind Sheikh," Omar Abdel-Rahman, was arrested in New York. An investigation later revealed that a terrorist cell, led by Abdel-Rahman, conducted detailed surveillance of Attica facilities and that it had discussed plans to use a truck bomb attack, combined with an armed assault, to rescue Nosair from prison.[15][16]
Several years after the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, Nosair made a confession to federal agents of assassinating Kahane.[17]
Possible accomplices
In August 2010, the Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post, which, in turn, quoted from the mid-August issue of Playboy, claimed that Nosair had two accomplices, and that his original target was Israeli military figure and future Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. "He added that on the night he shot Kahane dead, he was accompanied by two co-conspirators to the Marriot Hotel in Manhattan where Kahane was speaking – one of whom was also carrying a gun. The men, Bilal al-Kaisi of Jordan and Mohammed A. Salameh, a Palestinian illegal immigrant later involved in the World Trade Center bombing, have never been charged for their involvement.[17]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d McQuiston, John T. (6 November 1990). "Kahane Is Killed After Giving Talk in New York Hotel". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
- ^ "Middle East History: It Happened in August". webarchive.loc.gov. Archived from the original on 4 December 2024. Retrieved 12 April 2025.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ "Meir Kahane: Israeli political extremist and rabbi". Encyclopædia Britannica. 1 November 2019. Archived from the original on 27 October 2020. Retrieved 25 December 2019.
- ^ "Why Racist Rabbi Meir Kahane Is Roiling Israeli Politics 30 Years After His Death". Haaretz. 21 February 2019. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
- ^ a b "Alleged Assassin Shot by New York Policeman". The Jerusalem Post. 7 November 1990.
- ^ a b Benjamin, Daniel and Steven Simon (2003). The Age of Sacred Terror. Random House. pp. 4–6.
- ^ Benjamin, Daniel & Steven Simon. The Age of Sacred Terror, 2002
- ^ Juergensmeyer, Mark (2003). Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence. University of California Press. p. 59.
- ^ Hamm, Mark S. (2007). Terrorism as Crime: From Oklahoma City to Al-Qaeda and Beyond. NYU Press, p. 29
- ^ Specter, Michael (6 November 1990). "Jewish Leader Kahane Slain in New York". The Washington Post. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
- ^ Ganor, Boaz (16 December 2018). "Terrorism or hate crime?". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
- ^ Ebrahim, Zak; Giles, Jeff (4 September 2014). "I Grew Up the Son of an Islamic Jihadist". Time. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
- ^ "An early Islamic terrorist in the U.S.". Los Angeles Times. May 2013. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
- ^ Sullivan, Ronald (30 January 1992). "Judge Gives Maximum Term in Kahane Case". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
- ^ Burton, Fred; Stewart, Scott (18 June 2008). "The Destruction of Sarposa". Stratfor Worldview. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
- ^ O'Grady, Jim (23 September 2020). "The Sheikh". WNYC Studios. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
- ^ a b Stern, Gil; Shefler, Stern (15 August 2010). "'Sharon was Kahane killer's target'". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
External links
- Kahane Is Killed After Giving Talk in New York Hotel – published in The New York Times on 6 November 1990
- Kahane Suspect Is a Muslim With a Series of Addresses – published in The New York Times on 7 November 1990
- Kahane's Followers in Israel Bury Him and Vent Anger – published in The New York Times on 8 November 1990