Yes. Some ancient Romans took the word from Kabbalah and reapplied it in propaganda. The real and first “analytical” Kabbalah is a good religious text that describes a few things about Creation, how to focus on study, how to teach and a few other things. Other, more recent, “practical” versions are completely different, superstitious and are used in antithetical and idolatrous ways (e.g., a version popular in celebrity circles).
Anyway, some ancient Romans started describing the religious study as some sort of evil plot as yet another way to libel Jewish people. Medieval Europe continued the Roman tradition with that kind of description regarding meetings between Jewish people. The word, cabal, is one of the preferred words of writers like Pat Buchanan.
Well then, it is good to know word origins! That is the purpose of this thread in fact, and you have given us all something to think about.