The Canaanites Following the Assassination Attempt on Minister of Transport David-Zvi Pinkas in 1952

The attempted assassination of David-Zvi Pinkas, Israel’s Orthodox cabinet Transport Minister, to protest his efforts to prohibit driving on Shabbat, was a prominent case of political violence in the early years of the State. Although both suspects in the attempt, former Lehi members Amos Kenan and Shaltiel Ben-Yair, were immediately apprehended, the criticism was aimed at the Canaanite group of which Kenan was a member. The Canaanites had returned to their pre-State activities which included the establishment of the newspaper Alef and the foundation of a semi-political movement called the ‘Center for Young Hebrews’, which promulgated radical anti-religious views. The assassination attempt was followed by heated public debate and a delegitimization campaign against them. For the Canaanites, the affair served as a catalyst for radicalization towards a positive view of political violence. The plans for their acts evince the radical stage they had reached, and conversely, their weakness and failure in the public arena. The Shin-Bet which had scrutinized them from the start, viewed them as an ‘underground’ movement and was cognizant of their plans. The assassination attempt and the radicalization of the movement and of those who opposed them impacted its activity and were a primary cause of its dissolution.