In 1972, JDL leaflets were distributed around Hebron, calling for the mayor to stand trial for the 1929 Hebron massacre. Kahane nominally lead the JDL until April 1974.
Writing on its official website, the JDL claims: "[T]he first mention of a 'Palestinian people' dates from the aftermath of the 1967 war, when the local Arabic-speaking communities ...
Most terrorism watch groups classify the group as inactive. Founded by Rabbi Meir Kahane in New York City in 1968, the JDL's self-described purpose was to protect Jews from local manifestations of antisemitism.
The group's founder, Meir Kahane, "preached a radical form of Jewish nationalism which reflected racism, violence and political extremism," attitudes that were replicated by Irv Rubin, the successor to Kahane. ==Origins== In 1968, while Kahane served as the associate editor for the Jewish Press, the paper's office began receiving numerous calls and letters about crimes being committed against Jews and Jewish institutions.
The JDL decided that violence was necessary to draw attention to their plight, reasoning that Moscow would respond to the strain on Soviet–US relations by allowing more emigration to Israel. In 1970, according to Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin, agents of the Soviet KGB forged and sent threatening letters to Arab missions claiming to be from the JDL to discredit it.
About 75 JDL members marched near the office, chanting slogans such as "Freedom Now" and "Let My People Go." On December 30, several hundred JDL members participated in a rally for Soviet Jewry in Foley square, chanting "Let My People Go," "Open Up the Iron Door" and "Never Again!" ===1971=== On January 8, 1971, a bombing outside of the Soviet cultural center in Washington, D.C.
A hearing was held to revoke Kahane's probation for a 1971 incendiary device-making incident.
In a 1984 interview, the JDL leader Meir Kahane admitted that the JDL "bombed the Russian mission in New York, the Russian cultural mission here [Washington] in 1971, the Soviet trade offices." The attacks, which caused minor diplomatic crisis in relations between the U.S.
All were linked to the Jewish Defense League (JDL). ==Israel== Kahane immigrated to Israel from the United States in September 1971, where he initiated protests advocating the expulsion of Arabs from Israel and the Palestinian territories.
In 1971, he founded a new political party in Israel, which ran in the 1973 elections under the name "The League List".
In 1972, JDL leaflets were distributed around Hebron, calling for the mayor to stand trial for the 1929 Hebron massacre. Kahane nominally lead the JDL until April 1974.
Pistole, in his formal report before the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States. JDL is suspected of being behind the 1972 bombing of the Manhattan offices of theater empresario Sol Hurok in which 2 employees were killed. ==Violent deaths== A number of senior JDL personnel and associates have died violently.
JDL activities were condemned by Moscow refuseniks who felt that the group's actions were making it less likely that the Soviet Union would relax restrictions on Jewish emigration. In 1973, threatening phone calls made to the home of Ralph Riskin, one of the producers of Bridget Loves Bernie, resulted in the arrest of Robert S.
In 1971, he founded a new political party in Israel, which ran in the 1973 elections under the name "The League List".
In 1972, JDL leaflets were distributed around Hebron, calling for the mayor to stand trial for the 1929 Hebron massacre. Kahane nominally lead the JDL until April 1974.
Manning was later indicted on separate murder charges, and fought extradition to the United States from Israel, where he had moved. In 1975, JDL leader Meir Kahane was accused of conspiracy to kidnap a Soviet diplomat, bomb the Iraqi embassy in Washington, and ship arms abroad from Israel.
On December 31, 1975, 15 members of the League seized the office of the Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations in protest for Pope Paul VI's policy of support of Palestinian rights.
The incident was over after one hour, as the activists left the location after being ordered to do so by the local police, and no arrests were made. On April 6, 1976, six prominent refuseniks – including Alexander Lerner, Anatoly Shcharansky, and Iosif Begun – condemned the JDL's anti-Soviet activities as terrorist acts, stating that their "actions constitute a danger for Soviet Jews ...
Kach failed to gain any Knesset seats in the 1977 and 1980 elections as well.
as they might be used by the [Soviet] authorities as a pretext for new repressions and for instigating anti-Semitic hostilities." On March 16, 1978, Irv Rubin, chairman of the JDL, said about the planned American Nazi Party march in Skokie, Illinois: "We are offering $500, that I have in my hand, to any member of the community ...
Kach failed to gain any Knesset seats in the 1977 and 1980 elections as well.
Pistole, Executive Assistant Director for Counterterrorism and Counterintelligence for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) described the JDL as "a known violent extremist Jewish organization." FBI statistics show that, from 1980 through 1985, there were 18 officially classified terrorist attacks in the U.S.
and the USSR, prompted the New York City Police Department (NYPD) to infiltrate the group and one undercover officer discovered a chain of weapon caches across Brooklyn, containing "enough shotguns and rifles to arm a small militia." On October 26, 1981, after two firebombs damaged the Egyptian tourist office at Rockefeller Center, JDL Chairman Meir Kahane said at a press conference: "I'm not going to say that the JDL bombed that office.
And we are not ashamed to say that Goldstein was a charter member of the Jewish Defense League." In a similar attack nearly twelve years earlier, on April 11, 1982, an American-born JDL member and immigrant to Israel, Allan H.
The 1982 shooting sparked an Arab riot in which another Palestinian was shot dead by the police.
In 1983, Goodman was sentenced by an Israeli court to life in prison (which usually means 25 years in Israel); he was released after serving 15 1/2 years on the condition of returning to the United States. ==Terrorism and other illegal activities== In a 2004 congressional testimony, John S.
In a 1984 interview, the JDL leader Meir Kahane admitted that the JDL "bombed the Russian mission in New York, the Russian cultural mission here [Washington] in 1971, the Soviet trade offices." The attacks, which caused minor diplomatic crisis in relations between the U.S.
In the 1984 elections, the party won 25,907 votes (1.2%), passing the electoral threshold for the first time, and winning one seat, which was duly taken by Kahane. Kahane's popularity grew, with polls showing that Kach would have likely received three to four seats in the coming November 1988 elections, and some forecasting as many as twelve seats, possibly making Kach the third largest party.
A number of JDL members have been linked to violent, and sometimes deadly, attacks in the United States and in other countries, including the murder of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee regional director Alex Odeh in 1985, the Cave of the Patriarchs massacre in 1994, and a plot to assassinate Congressman Darrell Issa in 2001.
In addition, he and other JDL members were also suspected in a string of other violent attacks through 1985, including the bombing of Boston ADC office that seriously injured two police officers, the bomb killing of suspected Nazi war criminal Tscherim Soobzokov in Paterson, New Jersey, and a bombing in Long Island that maimed a passerby.
Pistole, Executive Assistant Director for Counterterrorism and Counterintelligence for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) described the JDL as "a known violent extremist Jewish organization." FBI statistics show that, from 1980 through 1985, there were 18 officially classified terrorist attacks in the U.S.
In February 1986, the FBI classified the bombing that killed Alex Odeh as a terrorist act.
That's tragic." In 1987, Floyd Clarke, then assistant director of the FBI, wrote in an internal memo that key suspects had fled to Israel and were living in the West Bank urban settlement of Kiryat Arba.
In 1988, the FBI arrested Rochelle Manning as a suspect in the bombing, and also charged her husband, Robert Steven Manning, whom they considered a prime suspect in the attack; both were members of the JDL.
In the 1984 elections, the party won 25,907 votes (1.2%), passing the electoral threshold for the first time, and winning one seat, which was duly taken by Kahane. Kahane's popularity grew, with polls showing that Kach would have likely received three to four seats in the coming November 1988 elections, and some forecasting as many as twelve seats, possibly making Kach the third largest party.
However, after the Knesset passed an amendment to the Elections Law, Kach was disqualified from running in the 1988 elections by the Central Elections Committee, on the grounds of incitement to racism and negation of the democratic character of the State. On 5 November 1990, Kahane was assassinated after making a speech in New York.
However, after the Knesset passed an amendment to the Elections Law, Kach was disqualified from running in the 1988 elections by the Central Elections Committee, on the grounds of incitement to racism and negation of the democratic character of the State. On 5 November 1990, Kahane was assassinated after making a speech in New York.
Meir Kahane, the JDL's founding chairman, was assassinated in 1990 as was his son, Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane, in 2000.
Assassinated in 1990 by Islamic militant El Sayyid Nosair, who was later convicted in Terrorism Conspiracy. 1971–1973 – David Fisch, a religious Columbia University student, who later wrote articles for Jewish magazines and the book Jews for Nothing. 1974–1976 – Russel Kelner, originally from Philadelphia.
Both parties were banned from participating in the 1992 elections on the basis that they were followers of the original Kach.
A number of JDL members have been linked to violent, and sometimes deadly, attacks in the United States and in other countries, including the murder of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee regional director Alex Odeh in 1985, the Cave of the Patriarchs massacre in 1994, and a plot to assassinate Congressman Darrell Issa in 2001.
Rochelle Manning was re-indicted for her alleged involvement, and was detained in Israel, pending extradition, when she died of a heart attack in 1994. ===1990–1999=== When Ruthless Records recording artist and former N.W.A member Dr.
Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane and his wife Talya were shot and killed by Palestinian terrorists on December 31, 2000. On February 25, 1994, Baruch Goldstein, an American-born Israeli member of Kach, who in his youth was a JDL activist, opened fire on Muslims kneeling in prayer at the revered Cave of the Patriarchs mosque in the West Bank city of Hebron, killing 29 worshippers and injuring 125 before he ran out of ammunition and was himself killed.
Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane and his wife Talya were shot and killed by Palestinian terrorists on December 31, 2000. On February 25, 1994, Baruch Goldstein, an American-born Israeli member of Kach, who in his youth was a JDL activist, opened fire on Muslims kneeling in prayer at the revered Cave of the Patriarchs mosque in the West Bank city of Hebron, killing 29 worshippers and injuring 125 before he ran out of ammunition and was himself killed.
committed by Jews; 15 of those by members of the JDL. In its report, Terrorism 2000/2001, the FBI referred to the JDL as a "violent extremist Jewish organization" and stated that the FBI was responsible for thwarting at least one of its terrorist acts.
Meir Kahane, the JDL's founding chairman, was assassinated in 1990 as was his son, Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane, in 2000.
It is classified as "a right wing terrorist group" by the FBI since 2001, and has been designated a [group] by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
A number of JDL members have been linked to violent, and sometimes deadly, attacks in the United States and in other countries, including the murder of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee regional director Alex Odeh in 1985, the Cave of the Patriarchs massacre in 1994, and a plot to assassinate Congressman Darrell Issa in 2001.
On November 4, 2002, at the federal Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles, Rubin slit his throat with a safety razor and jumped out of a third story window.
Krugel was subsequently murdered in prison by a fellow inmate in 2005. In 2002, in France, attackers from Betar and Ligue de Défense Juive (LDJ) violently assaulted Jewish demonstrators from Peace Now, journalists, police officers (one of whom was stabbed), and Arab bystanders.
Long-time JDL chairman Irv Rubin died in 2002 in a Los Angeles federal detention center "after allegedly cutting his throat with a jail-issued razor and then jumping or falling over a railing and plummeting to his death." Rubin's deputy, Earl Krugel, was murdered by a fellow prison inmate in 2005.
Arrested on terrorism charges; died in jail awaiting trial. 2002–present – Shelley Rubin, Administrative Director (2002–2006); Chairman/CEO (2006–present). 2017–present – Meir Weinstein, North American co-ordinator (2017–present); Canadian Chairman (1979–present) ===Schism=== After Rubin's death in prison in November 2002, Bill Maniaci was appointed interim chairman by Shelley Rubin.
On February 4, 2003, Krugel pleaded guilty to conspiracy and weapons charges stemming from the plot, and was expected to serve up to 20 years in prison.
In 1983, Goodman was sentenced by an Israeli court to life in prison (which usually means 25 years in Israel); he was released after serving 15 1/2 years on the condition of returning to the United States. ==Terrorism and other illegal activities== In a 2004 congressional testimony, John S.
In October 2004, Maniaci rejected Shelley Rubin's call for him to resign; as a result, Maniaci was stripped of his title and membership.
Krugel was subsequently murdered in prison by a fellow inmate in 2005. In 2002, in France, attackers from Betar and Ligue de Défense Juive (LDJ) violently assaulted Jewish demonstrators from Peace Now, journalists, police officers (one of whom was stabbed), and Arab bystanders.
Long-time JDL chairman Irv Rubin died in 2002 in a Los Angeles federal detention center "after allegedly cutting his throat with a jail-issued razor and then jumping or falling over a railing and plummeting to his death." Rubin's deputy, Earl Krugel, was murdered by a fellow prison inmate in 2005.
In April 2005, the original domain name of the organization, jdl.org, was suspended by Network Solutions due to allegations of infringement; the organization went back online soon thereafter at domain name jewishdefenseleague.org.
In April 2006, news of a settlement was announced in which signatories agreed to not object to "Shelley Rubin's titles of permanent chairman and CEO of JDL." The agreement also confirmed that "the name 'Jewish Defense League,' the acronym 'JDL,' and the 'Fist and Star' logo are the exclusive intellectual property of JDL." (Opponents of both groups claim that these are Kahanist symbols and not the exclusive property of JDL.
At least two of the suspects in the 2010 murder of a French Muslim Saïd Bourarach appeared to have ties to the French chapter of the JDL.
In 2011, the Canadian JDL organized a "support rally" for the English Defence League (EDL) featuring a live speech, via Skype, by EDL leader Tommy Robinson.
Rubin's son and JDL vice-chairman Ari Rubin committed suicide in 2012. ==Organization== ===Chapters=== ===Chairs=== According to the organization's official list of Chairmen or Highest Ranking Directors: 1968–1971 – Rabbi Meir Kahane, International Chairman.
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