The Jewish Defense League (JDL) was an active terrorist organization based in the U.S. and active for roughly two decades. Shortly after its 1968 founding in New York City, the group would unleash a terrorist offensive in the United States. JDL was the second-most active group in the U.S. during its existence. Only the Puerto Rican separatist group, Armed Forces of National Liberation, was a larger terrorist threat at that time.
The Jewish Defense League began as a vigilante group in New York City, committed to protecting the orthodox Jewish population throughout the city and particularly in Brooklyn. Within a year of the JDL's founding, the group moved beyond mere "protection" and initiated aggressive terrorist actions. The group began with the burglary of the Palestine Liberation Organization's UN mission, as well as attacks against Soviet institutions. Throughout the group's terrorist campaign, JDL repeatedly targeted Soviet institutions, but would also target facilities of any government that was believed anti-Semitic. In 1985, JDL moved beyond attacks against institutions and began to directly target individuals for assassination.
While JDL was founded by Rabbi Meir Kahane, Kahane left the U.S. shortly after the group's formation. In 1971, Kahane emigrated to Israel and founded the Kach party. Despite his absence during most of the group's terrorist campaign, Rabbi Kahane remained the group's official leader until 1985. The assassination of Alex Odeh, director of the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), finally prompted Meir Kahane to officially step down as JDL's leader.
The Jewish Defense League was dealt a significant blow in 1987 upon the conviction of several group members. Today, JDL is not actively engaged in terrorist actions. Two JDL members, however, were arrested in 2001 for their plot to bomb the office of a Lebanese-American Congressman from Orange County California and a mosque in Culver City California. Former JDL leader Irving Rubin committed suicide in prison while awaiting trial and West Coast Coordinator Earl Krugel pleaded guilty to the plot in 2003. In September 2005, Krugel was sentenced to 20 years in jail for his role in the plot. Two months later he was killed in prison by unknown assailants.
These data were collected for the Terrorism Knowledge Base® (TKB®), managed by the Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism (MIPT) until March 2008. START has neither reviewed nor verified these data, but is presenting this information as a service to the homeland security community.
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