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About
Shmuel (Seth) Sackett is an American-Israeli political activist who made aliyah to Israel in 1990 with his wife and six children, initially settling in Karnei Shomron in the West Bank. He attended Touro College in New York City, earning a B.S. degree in Talmudic scholarship and secular subjects, and previously resided in Woodmere, New York, before moving to Herzliya Pituach, Israel. In the 1970s, Sackett was a member of the Jewish Defense League (JDL) and a loyal follower of Meir Kahane's Kach and Kahane Chai movements, serving as Director of Kahane Chai and as a close friend of Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane. He is the co-founder of the Zo Artzeinu protest movement and the Manhigut Yehudit faction alongside Moshe Feiglin, where he later served as International Director. During the 1990s, he engaged in civil disobedience against the Oslo Accords as part of his Religious Zionist activism. Sackett is also the founder and director of the Am Yisrael Chai Foundation, established in 2001, which focuses on building and supporting agriculture, infrastructure, and communities in Israel. He was listed 12th on the Zehut party list for the April 2019 elections and 15th for the September 2019 elections. Sackett has spoken in over 500 Jewish communities across the USA, Canada, and England. His affiliations with the JDL, Kach, and Kahane Chai—groups designated as terrorist organizations by Israel and the US—have drawn criticism; in a 2013 article, he rejected calls to renounce Kahane despite disagreeing with some tactics used by Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane.