Jewish Defense League

[[File:אידן נקמה!.jpg|thumb|right|165px|The JDL logo]]
{{judaism}}
The '''Jewish Defense League''' ('''JDL''') is an anti-Arab, [[Islamophobia|Islamophobic]], [[Zionism|Zionist]] [[Judaism|Jewish]] extremist organization classified by the [[FBI]] as a [[terrorist]] group.<ref>{{cite web | title=Terrorism 2000/2001 | website=fbi.gov | date=2011-02-07 | url=http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/terror/terrorism-2000-2001 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101016043741/http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/terror/terrorism-2000-2001 | archive-date=2010-10-16 | url-status=dead | ref={{sfnref|fbi.gov|2011}} | access-date=2025-10-02}}</ref> 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.<ref>[https://vault.fbi.gov/meir-kahane Meir Kahane] on the FBI</ref>

The [[FBI]] describes them as "Jewish-American extremists who consider themselves to be a front line of defense against antisemitism."<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20130606151950/http://www.higginsctc.org/terrorism/FBI%201985.pdf ''FBI Analysis of Terrorist Incidents and Terrorist Related Activities in the United States, 1985''] (1985) ''The Federal Bureau of Investigation''.</ref>{{rp|16}} The [[Anti-Defamation League]] has referred to the JDL as "thugs and hooligans."<ref name=lauro>Bohn, Michael K. (2004). ''The Achille Lauro Hijacking.'' {{isbn|9781574887792}}</ref>{{rp|176–7}}

== Activities ==
JDL activities consisted of forcefully occupying offices, spray-painting [[Hebrew]] slogans proclaiming “the Jewish nation lives” (cf. "{{wpl|Am Yisrael Chai||"}}), disrupting meetings, intimidation, and incurring bombings, and shootings against their opponents.<ref>{{cite web | last=Weir | first=Sarah | title=JDL Unleashes Campaign of Violence in America | website=If Americans Knew | date=1970-08-29 | url=https://ifamericansknew.org/us_ints/pg-jdl.html?v=202510012239 | access-date=2025-10-02}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | last=Moore | first=Carol | title=Street Fighting Man | website=carolmoore.net | date=2002-08-16 | url=http://www.carolmoore.net/sfm/jdl.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011226120307/http://www.carolmoore.net/sfm/jdl.html | archive-date=2001-12-26 | url-status=dead | access-date=2025-10-02}}</ref> The JDL were suspected by the FBI of killing Alex Odeh, a [[Palestine|Palestinian]] activist against discrimination, and killing many others.<ref>{{cite web | last=Friedman | first=Robert I. | title=The California Murder Case That Israel Is Sweeping Under the Rug : Justice: In 1985, Alex Odeh was killed by a pipe bomb in Orange County. The FBI has three suspects, but they are in Israel; extradition is unlikely. | website=Los Angeles Times | date=1990-05-13 | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-05-13-op-61-story.html | access-date=2025-10-02}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=F.B.I. SAYS JEWISH DEFENSE LEAGUE MAY HAVE PLANTED FATAL BOMBS | website=The New York Times | date=1985-11-09 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/11/09/us/fbi-says-jewish-defense-league-may-have-planted-fatal-bombs.html | ref={{sfnref|The New York Times|1985}} | access-date=2025-10-02}}</ref> A JDL spokesman declared that Odeh "got exactly what he deserved."<ref>{{cite web | title=Backgrounder:The Jewish Defense League | website=archive.adl.org | date=2014-07-26 | url=http://archive.adl.org/extremism/jdl_chron.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131230234645/http://archive.adl.org/extremism/jdl_chron.html | archive-date=2013-12-30 | url-status=dead | ref={{sfnref|archive.adl.org|2014}} | access-date=2025-10-02}}</ref> Several were convicted of these crimes, including Robert Manning, a JDL member.<ref>{{cite web | last=Malek | first=Alia | title=Alex Odeh’s murder, 26 years ago, was an early sign of Southern California’s treatment of Palestinian dissent | website=Mondoweiss | date=2011-10-12 | url=https://mondoweiss.net/2011/10/alex-odehs-murder-26-years-ago-was-an-early-sign-of-southern-californias-treatment-of-palestinian-dissent/ | access-date=2025-10-02}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=j. | JDL member gets life term in bombing | website=www.jweekly.com | url=http://www.jweekly.com/includes/print/1186/article/jdl-member-gets-life-term-in-bombing/ | ref={{sfnref|www.jweekly.com}} | access-date=2025-10-02}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=Robert Manning Sentenced to Life in Prison for 1980 Mail Bomb Killing | website=Jewish Telegraphic Agency | date=1994-02-10 | url=https://www.jta.org/archive/robert-manning-sentenced-to-life-in-prison-for-1980-mail-bomb-killing | ref={{sfnref|Jewish Telegraphic Agency|1994}} | access-date=2025-10-02}}</ref>

==Meir Kahane==
'''Meir David HaKohen Kahane''' {{lived|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 {{wpl|Kach (political party)|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.<ref>{{cite web | title=THE KACH MOVEMENT-BACKGROUND-03-Mar-94 | website=mfa.gov.il | date=2014-10-09 | url=https://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/aboutisrael/state/law/pages/the%20kach%20movement%20-%20background%20-%2003-mar-94.aspx | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160223164753/http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/aboutisrael/state/law/pages/the%20kach%20movement%20-%20background%20-%2003-mar-94.aspx | archive-date=2016-02-23 | language=he | ref={{sfnref|mfa.gov.il|2014}} | access-date=2025-10-02}}</ref> 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."<ref>Specter, Michael (November 6, 1990). "Jewish Leader Kahane Slain in New York". The Washington Post</ref><ref>{{cite web | last=Goldman | first=John J. | title=Militant Rabbi Kahane Slain by N.Y. Gunman : Assassination: The radical Zionist and founder of the Jewish Defense League had just given a speech. Attacker is wounded and captured. | website=Los Angeles Times | date=1990-11-06 | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-11-06-mn-3996-story.html | access-date=2025-10-02}}</ref><ref>Juergensmeyer, Mark (2003). ''Terror in the Mind of God.'' University of California Press. page 59</ref><ref>''Relentless Pursuit: The DSS and the manhunt for the al-Qaeda terrorists.'' Katz, Samuel M. (2002).</ref>

During the mid-1960s, Kahane joined the [[John Birch Society]] under the [[pseudonym]] "Michael King."<ref>''Birchers: How the John Birch Society Radicalized the American Right'' by Matthew Dallek (2023) Basic Books. {{isbn|1541673565}}.</ref>{{rp|279,349n19}}

==Baruch Goldstein==
'''Baruch Kopel Goldstein''' {{lived|1956|1994}}, a member of the JDL who fatally shot 29 [[Palestine|Palestinian]] [[Islam|Muslims]] and was hailed as a luminary by the [[French]] JDL.<ref>{{cite web | last=Klein | first=Jeff | title=A visit to the grave of mass-murderer Baruch Goldstein | website=Mondoweiss | date=2013-07-04 | url=https://mondoweiss.net/2013/07/murderer-baruch-goldstein/ | access-date=2025-10-02}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | last=Liphshiz | first=Cnaan | title=French JDL praises Baruch Goldstein’s massacre of Palestinians | website=Jewish Telegraphic Agency | date=2014-03-02 | url=https://www.jta.org/2014/03/02/global/french-jdl-praises-baruch-goldsteins-massacre-of-palestinians | access-date=2025-10-02}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | last=Fabian | first=Emanuel | title=French JDL praises 1994 Hebron massacre of Palestinians | website=The Times of Israel | date=2014-03-02 | url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/french-jdl-praises-hebron-massacre-of-palestinians/ | access-date=2025-10-02}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web | last=Helm | first=Sarah | title=The Independent | website=The Independent | date=1994-02-28 | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/hebron-settlers-shed-no-tears-after-slaughter-militant-jews-are-turning-mass-killer-baruch-goldstein-into-a-folk-hero-writes-sarah-helm-from-kiryat-arba-1397002.html | access-date=2025-10-02}}</ref> Following the murders, the Kach group and its offshoots were designated as terrorist groups in Israel and subsequently banned.

==Irv Rubin==
Kahane's successor, '''Irving David Rubin''' {{lived|1945|2002}} turned the JDL into an [[organized crime]] group that partook in the [[Human trafficking|trafficking of women]] and car parts, as well as running protection rackets against prominent [[rapper]]s such as [[Tupac Shakur]].<ref>{{cite news |title=FBI Files on Tupac Shakur Murder show he received Death Threats from Jewish Gang |url=https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/2011-04-14/ty-article/fbi-files-on-tupac-shakur-murder-show-he-received-death-threats-from-jewish-gang/0000017f-f5c3-d318-afff-f7e3913c0000 |work=Haaretz |date=April 14, 2011}}</ref> 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 [[Terrorism|terrorist attacks]] against a [[California]]n mosque and the office of [[Lebanon|Lebanese]]-American [[Congress]]ional representative Darrell Issa (a [[Christian]]). Rubin committed [[suicide]] in prison while awaiting trial.

==See also==
*[[Zionism#Zionist terrorism|Zionist terrorism]]
*[[Itamar Ben-Gvir]]
*[[Bentzi Gopstein]]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

[[Category:Anti-Christian bigotry]]
[[Category:Hate groups]]
[[Category:Islamophobia]]
[[Category:Jewish extremism]]
[[Category:Racism]]
[[Category:Fascism]]
[[Category:Terrorism]]
[[Category:Terrorist organisations]]
[[Category:We're on a mission from God]]

Categories: Anti-Christian bigotry, Hate groups, Islamophobia, Jewish extremism, Racism, Fascism, Terrorism, Terrorist organisations, We're on a mission from God