The Jewish Defense League (JDL) is a militant Jewish organization whose stated goal is to protect Jews from anti-Semitism.

History
The JDL was founded in 1968 by Rabbi Meir Kahane. Its goal was to protect Jews, initially in New York City, and to protest local manifestations of anti-Semitism.[2]

Founding
1968-71- Rabbi Meir Kahane.
1971-73- David Fisch, a religious Columbia University student, who later wrote articles for Jewish magazines, and who wrote at least one book, "Jews for Nothing."
1973-74- No Chairman. There was infighting and chaos until Rabbi Kahane returned in August 1974 to straighten things out.
1974-76- Russel Kelner, originally from Philadelphia. Formerly a US Army lieutenant trained in counter-guerrilla warfare, he moved to New York to direct the JDL's paramilitary camp JEDEL, and later to run the national office as chairman.
1976-78- Bonnie Pechter.
September 1978-December 1978- Victor Vancier, imprisoned for bombing Egyptian targets in a failed effort to stop Israel's withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula.
1979-81- Brett Becker, originally from South Florida. He came to New York to become Chairman.
1981-83- Meir Jolowitz, originally from Arizona. He also came to New York.
1983-84- Fern Sidman, National Director.
1984-1987- Victor Vancier. In 1985 Irv Rubin also claimed to be Chairman but none of the JDL chapters outside of Los Angeles supported him.
1987-2002- Irv Rubin.
2002-present- Shelley Rubin. (For more information on the period of disputed leadership, October 2004 through April 2006, see Section 2.3: Schism and its immediate aftermath.)

JDL Chairmen
In 1990 the JDL's founder, Meir Kahane, was assassinated by a gunman during a Zionist conference in New York City. The police shot and apprehended the suspected perpetrator, El Sayyid Nosair, an Egyptian-born Muslim extremist, but Nosair was acquitted by the jury. [3]. The murder investigation remains open.[4]

Assassination of Kahane
On December 12, 2001, Irv Rubin, JDL International Chairman, and Earl Krugel, a member of the organization, were charged with conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism. Authorities claimed that the two planned attacks on Arab-American Congressman Darrell Issa's office, and on the King Fahd Mosque in Culver City, California.
Rubin maintained that he was innocent, and was reportedly eager to wage a vigorous court battle in his defense. On November 4, 2002, at the federal Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles, California, Rubin fell 18 feet to the concrete floor below. He was in a coma for 10 days before dying on November 13. The prison's official report was that he slashed his own neck before throwing himself over the railing. [5]. Many have noted that this was an unusual method of committing suicide, and although the incident has been ruled a suicide, some of Rubin's supporters have alleged murder.
On February 4, 2003, Earl Krugel pled guilty to conspiracy and weapons charges stemming from the terrorist plot, and was expected to serve up to 20 years in prison. He was murdered by another inmate while at the Federal Correctional Institution in north Phoenix, Arizona on November 4, 2005.

Imprisonment and deaths of Irv Rubin and Earl Krugel
After Rubin's death in November 2002, Bill Maniaci was appointed interim chairman by Shelley Rubin. Around two years later, the Jewish Defense League became mired in a state of modest upheaval over legal control of the organization.
In October 2004, Maniaci rejected Shelley Rubin's call for him to resign; as a result, Maniaci was stripped of his title and membership. At that point the JDL split into two separate factions, each vying for legal control of the associated "intellectual property." During that period the sides operated as separate organizations with the same name, while a lengthy legal battle ensued.
In April 2005 the original domain name of the organization, jdl.org, was suspended by Network Solutions due to allegation 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 symbols are Kahanist symbols and not the exclusive property of JDL. Others point out that the logo is no longer in general use by the Kahanist groups.) The agreement also states: "Domain names registered on behalf of JDL, including but not limited to jdl.org and jewishdefenseleague.org, are owned and operated by JDL." Meanwhile, the opposing group formed B'nai Elim. B'nai Elim is the latest of many JDL splinter groups to have formed over the years, a list which also includes Victor Vancier's Jewish Task Force.
In France there exists an organization, Ligue de Défense Juive (LDJ), that is similar to the original JDL. It is not connected in any way to the current JDL organization.

Schism, and its immediate aftermath
The JDL espouses the official doctrine that outside of Jews there is historically no people corresponding to the Palestinian ethnicity. Writing on its official website, the JDL claims:
and that
On this basis, the JDL argues that "Zionism [should be] under no obligation to accommodate a separate "Palestinian" claim, there being no historical evidence or witness for any such Arab category," which it defines as any marriage between a Jew and a non-Jew.
The JDL insists that it is not a racist organization; as evidence, it offers up the aid it has given Arab immigrants to the United States, commenting that

LOVE OF JEWRY: pride in and knowledge of Jewish tradition, faith, culture, land, history, strength, pain and peoplehood
DIGNITY AND PRIDE: the need to both move to help Jews everywhere and to change the Jewish image through sacrifice and all necessary means -- even strength, force and violence.
IRON: the need to both move to help Jews everywhere and to change the Jewish image through sacrifice and all necessary means -- even strength, force and violence.
DISCIPLINE AND UNITY: the knowledge that he (or she) can and will do whatever must be done, and the unity and strength of willpower to bring this into reality.
FAITH IN THE INDESTRUCTIBILITY OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE: Faith in the greatness and indestructibility of the Jewish people, our religion and our Land of Israel. Official JDL Positions

JDL activities
The Jewish Defense League during the early seventies campaigned to allow the emigration of Soviet Jews from the Soviet Union. The organization was linked with a 1970 bomb explosion outside of Aeroflot's New York City office, and a 1971 detonation outside of Soviet cultural offices in Washington, D.C. Also in 1971, a JDL member allegedly fired a rifle into the Soviet Union's mission office at the United Nations. In 1972 two JDL members were arrested and charged with bomb possession and burglary in a conspiracy to blow up the Long Island residence of the Soviet Mission to the UN. The two JDL members pleaded guilty and were sentenced to serve 3 years in prison for one, and a year and a day for the other.
In 1975, JDL leader Meir Kahane was accused of conspiring to kidnap a Soviet diplomat, to bomb the Iraqi Embassy in Washington, and to ship arms abroad from Israel. A hearing was held to revoke Kahane's probation for a 1971 firebomb-making incident. He was found guilty of violating probation and served a one year prison sentence. 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. On April 6, 1976, six prominent refuseniks, Vladimir Slepak, Alexander Lerner, Anatoly Shcharansky, and Iosif Begun condemned the JDL's activities as "terrorist acts," stating "Such actions constitute a danger for Soviet Jews... as they might be used by the authorities as a pretext for new repressions and for instigating anti-Semitic hostilities." [6]
During the 1980s, the then JDL Chairman and current Jewish Task Force Chairman Chaim Ben Pesach led a campaign of bombing Soviet targets which he credits as the reason for the complete removal of the ban of Jewish emigration from the Soviet Union and as well as the reason for the fall of the Soviet Union. He has said that the bombings brought strains in US-Soviet relations which he says helped the cause.

Anti-Soviet activities
The JDL has branches in Eastern Europe, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Russia, France and the United Kingdom.
Meir Weinstein, also known as Meir Halevi, is the long-time chairman of the JDL in Canada. The Canadian group resumed activities in 2006 after a long absence.

Controversies
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has described the Jewish Defense League in Congressional testimony as a "violent" and "extremist" group. It identified the group in a 1999 terrorism report as the perpetrator of several bombing and arson incidents that took place between 1980 and 1989. Mary Doran, an FBI street agent, described the JDL in 2004 Congressional testimony as "a proscribed terrorist group," though Doran also acknowledged that she is not involved in "policy and administrative decision-making processes." In 2001 JDL leaders Irv Rubin and Earl Krugel were charged with planning a terror attack against the office of Arab-American Congressman Darrell Issa. [9].
The Jewish Defense League denies that it is a terrorist organization or a sponsor of terror. Its website states: "The Jewish Defense League unconditionally condemns terrorism of all forms. Terrorism is never a legitimate means to the furtherance of political goals."[10]
In a 1984 interview with Washington Post correspondent Carla Hall, 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 case against the JDL and Rubin was subsequently dropped when the primary suspects fled to Israel, but was renewed again when

Terrorism
On 25 February 1994, a JDL member opened fire on Palestinian Muslims kneeling in prayer at mosque in the West Bank city of Hebron, killing 29. The incident is referred to as the Cave of the Patriarchs massacre. A statement on the official website of the JDL glorifies Baruch Goldstein and his crime, claiming him as one of their own:
"Dr. Goldstein was a brilliant surgeon, a mild-mannered Yeshiva-educated man who was promoted to the rank of major in the IDF. He was warned by his superiors in the military to prepare an open field hospital in anticipation of another murderous attack by the hostile Arab population of Hevron during the Jewish festival of Purim. Many of these Arabs were standing outside Goldstein's synagogue in the Cave of the Patriarchs and yelling "Slaughter the Jew." Goldstein had lost 30 close friends in the last few years; they were murdered by Arabs in the Hevron-Kiryat Arba area. One of those was the son of his best friend, Mordechai Lapid; as Goldstein rushed to give the young man medical aid, he was held back by the Arabs on the scene and the young man died. Additionally, as there is proof that the Arabs were hoarding food and supplies in response to a Muslim call for a massacre on the Jewish holiday of Purim, we feel that Goldstein took a preventative measure against yet another Arab attack on Jews. We understand his motivation, his grief and his actions. And we are not ashamed to say that Goldstein was a charter member of the Jewish Defense League." [12]
Goldstein is revered as a saint by extreme right-wingers in Israel and his tomb was converted into a shrine by his supporters until its dismantlement by the Israeli authorities in 1999. [13]

Hebron massacre
The JDL has been criticized by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) for presenting a "gross distortion" of the real situation of American Jews. The ADL also states that JDL's founder, Meir Kahane, "preached a radical form of Jewish nationalism which reflected racism, violence and political extremism" and that those attitudes "were replicated" by Irv Rubin, the successor to Kahane [14] [15].
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has added the JDL to its list of watched "hate groups".

Death Row Records and Jewish Defense League