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The Jewish Defense League (JDL) is an anti-Arab, Islamophobic, Zionist Jewish extremist organization classified by the FBI as a terrorist group.[1][2] The JDL was founded and largely led by the militant leader Meir Kahane, who played an active part in his group's actions and ideology.[3]

The FBI describes them as "Jewish-American extremists who consider themselves to be a front line of defense against antisemitism"[4]:16 The Anti-Defamation League has referred to the JDL as "thugs and hooligans."[5]

## Contents

* 1 Activities
* 2 Meir Kahane
* 3 Baruch Goldstein
* 4 Irv Rubin
* 5 See also
* 6 References

## Activities[edit]

JDL activities consisted of forcefully occupying offices, spray-painting Hebrew slogans proclaiming “the Jewish nation lives” (cf. "Am Yisrael Chai"), disrupting meetings, intimidation, and incurring bombings, and shootings against their opponents.[6][7] The JDL were suspected by the FBI of killing Alex Odeh, a Palestinian activist against discrimination, and killing many others.[8][9] A JDL spokesman declared that Odeh "got exactly what he deserved."[10] Several were convicted of these crimes, including Robert Manning, a JDL member.[11][12][13][14]

## Meir Kahane[edit]

Meir David HaKohen Kahane (1932–1990) was an Israeli-American orthodox rabbi and politician whose ideology, Kahanism, emphasized ultranationalism and religious Zionism. Alongside the JDL, he also founded the Kach party while living in Israel, a far-right ultranationalist political group whose open racism and advocacy of violence against non-Jews led to its electoral ban.[citation needed] He was assassinated in 1990 while giving a speech to an audience of Orthodox Jews from Brooklyn, warning them to flee to Israel before it was "too late."[15][16][17][18]

During the mid-1960s, Kahane joined the John Birch Society under the pseudonym "Michael King."[19]:279,349n19

## Baruch Goldstein[edit]

Baruch Kopel Goldstein (1956–1994), a member of the JDL who fatally shot 29 Palestinian Muslims and was hailed as a luminary by the French JDL.[20][21][22] As if this wasn't enough, Baruch turned into what would qualify as a folk hero among not only the JDL, but other militant Jewish groups as well.[23] Following the murders, the Kach group and its offshoots were designated as terrorist groups in Israel and subsequently banned.

## Irv Rubin[edit]

Kahane's successor, Irving David Rubin (1945–2002) turned the JDL into an organized crime group that partook in the trafficking of women and car parts, as well as running protection rackets against prominent rappers such as Tupac Shakur.[24] Rubin was also known for an on-screen brawl on the Jerry Springer Show, where he and fellow JDL members faced off against Ku Klux Klan members, after one Klansman mocked Rubin by wearing a kippah under his Klan hood. Rubin was eventually brought down when two of his associates were caught by the FBI trying to organize terrorist attacks against a Californian mosque and the office of Lebanese-American Congressional representative Darrell Issa (a Christian). Rubin committed suicide in prison while awaiting trial.

## See also[edit]

* Zionist terrorism
* Itamar Ben-Gvir
* Bentzi Gopstein

## References[edit]

1. ↑ The Federal Bureau of Investigation
2. ↑ TrackingTerrorism.org
3. ↑ Meir Kahane on the FBI
4. ↑ FBI Analysis of Terrorist Incidents and Terrorist Related Activities in the United States, 1985 (1985) The Federal Bureau of Investigation.
5. ↑ Bohn, Michael K. The Achille Lauro Hijacking. 2004, pp. 176–7
6. ↑ If Americans Knew
7. ↑ CarolMoore.net
8. ↑ The LA Times
9. ↑ The New York Times
10. ↑ The Anti-Defamation League
11. ↑ Alex Odeh's Murder 26 Years Ago Was An Early Sign of Southern California's Treatment of Palestinians, MondoWeiss.net
12. ↑ If Americans Knew, under the "Kahane became an outspoken advocate for the 'transfer' of all Palestinians" section
13. ↑ JDL Member Gets Life Term in Bombing, JWeekly.com
14. ↑ Robert Manning Sentenced To Life in Prison for 1980 Mail Bomb Killing, JTA.org
15. ↑ Specter, Michael (November 6, 1990). "Jewish Leader Kahane Slain in New York". The Washington Post
16. ↑ http://articles.latimes.com/1990-11-06/news/mn-3996_1_jewish-defense-league
17. ↑ Juergensmeyer, Mark (2003). Terror in the Mind of God. University of California Press. page 59
18. ↑ Katz, Samuel M. "Relentless Pursuit: The DSS and the manhunt for the al-Qaeda terrorists", 2002
19. ↑ Birchers: How the John Birch Society Radicalized the American Right by Matthew Dallek (2023) Basic Books. ISBN 1541673565.
20. ↑ http://mondoweiss.net/2013/07/murderer-baruch-goldstein
21. ↑ http://www.jta.org/2014/03/02/news-opinion/world/french-jdl-praises-baruch-goldsteins-massacre-of-Palestinians
22. ↑ http://www.timesofisrael.com/french-jdl-praises-hebron-massacre-of-palestinians/
23. ↑ Militant Jews are Turning Mass Killer Baruch Goldstein Into a Folk Hero
24. ↑ "FBI Files on Tupac Shakur Murder show he received Death Threats from Jewish Gang". Haaretz. April 14, 2011.