It’s a broad group of people, I doubt one can maintain them as a centralized terror organization. Is the Jewish Defense League (JDL} officially listed as a terror group, and in which countries? h/t gk @ET
It was described as “a right-wing terrorist group” by the FBI in 2001. According to the FBI, the JDL has been involved in plotting and executing numerous acts of terrorism within the United States.
Its inception was part of the white backlash surrounding the New York City teachers’ union strikes of 1968. The strikes brought to the surface racial tension between the predominantly Jewish teachers union, and black residents who were seeking greater control over their neighborhood schools.
“The founder, national chairman and leader of the JDL was a then-38-year-old ordained rabbi from Brooklyn, New York, Meir Kahane, who, in 1990, was assassinated in New York by an Arab extremist.”
But by 1970 the JDL had changed its primary cause to the plight of Soviet Jews. From that point on, the main objective of the JDL was to terrorize Soviet establishments in the U.S. to influence the communist nation to change its anti-Semitic policies — specifically, its ban on emigration to Israel.
The JDL today has chapters in Eastern Europe, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Russia, and the United Kingdom, in addition to those in the U.S.
ADL info: The Jewish Defense League 1969-1995
September 1969:
The President of the United Nations Security Council revealed that six UN Missions of the Arab states received telegrams from the Jewish Defense League threatening each as a “legitimate target” in revenge for acts of terrorism committed by Arabs. [now commonly called ‘price-tag’ assault by settler groups, see revenge killing Abu Khdeir in the West Bamk – Oui]The Jewish Defense League (JDL) was founded in 1968 by Rabbi Meir Kahane in New York City, with a professed goal of protecting Orthodox Jewish neighbor-hoods in NYC and of protesting against anti-Semitism. Kahane, shortly after founding the group, migrated to ISRAEL and established the KACH Party in 1971. He remained the group’s official leader until 1985.
During the 1980s, the JDL repeatedly attacked Soviet institutions, gradually widening their attacks to include institutions of other states viewed as “anti-Semitic” by the group’s leadership. Two members of the JDL were arrested in 2001 for their involvement in a plot to bomb the office of a Lebanese-American congressman from Orange County, California, and a mosque in Culver City, California. Irving Rubin, a former leader of this group, committed suicide in prison while awaiting trial on the charges, and Earl Krugel pled guilty to the charges regarding this plot in January 2003. Krugel, 60, faced 10 to 20 years in prison under terms of a plea agreement; if convicted at trial, he could have faced life without possibility of parole. JDL member Dr. Baruch Goldstein shot and killed 29 Muslims worshipping in the Mosque of Abraham (oral-Ibrihimi Mosque) at the site of the Cave of the Patriarchs in the West Bank town of Hebron on February 25, 1994.
Why Does Israel Pour Billions Into West Bank Jewish Settlements?
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Smile, You Got a Subsidy: Jewish settlers pose for pictures in the Palestinian town of Hebron. (Getty Images)Even after his death, Kahane has had a tremendous influence on the Israeli political scene. In March 1994, the Kach party and its offshoot, Kahane Chai (“Kahane Lives”), founded by Kahane’s son Binyamin Zev, were officially designated as terrorist organizations by both the Israeli government and the U.S. State Department.
The immediate cause of this designation was the February 1994 attack on the al-Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron, in which Kach member Baruch Goldstein shot 34 Muslims. Kach supported Goldstein’s actions, and referred to him as a “hero.” More recently, Binyamin Zev Kahane made waves by condoning Yigal Amir’s 1995 assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
Following the massacre by Baruch Goldstein in the Cave of Machpelah on February 24, 1994 – which was welcomed by Kach – the movement was declared illegal, but it has since continued to exist underground, with its members participating in demonstrations, clashing with the police, and attacking Palestinians and Palestinian property. After the Government approved the plan for disengagement from the Gaza Strip and the dismantlement of settlements, Kach advocated violent resistance to the removal of settlements, while verbally and physically attacking ministers.
- Hebron: One City, Two Nations – Israel/Palestine
Continued below the fold …
Hebron: One City, Two Nations – Israel/Palestine
March 1996 – From Hebron, two women talk about the tensions of living in a divided city. Ruth Hizmi, one of 400 Jewish settlers, moved to the West Bank 9 years ago. She believes that just being in her kitchen in Hebron is an act of faith. But on her way to work she gets spat on by Arab neighbours. Afifeh, a young Palestinian woman, lives on the `cease-fire line’ between the Jews and 100,000 Palestinians. From her cobbled wall, she overlooks a brand new playground built for Jewish children.
Noam Arnon, spokesperson for the Jewish community, denounces recent Palestinian elections. He takes politicians to the street where there have been attacks on Jewish settlers. Ruth wants peace but she is passionately opposed to moving out of Hebron. Afifeh is simply resigned to the hard fact that Jews and Muslims can never live together in peace.
Palestinians struggle in divided city of Hebron – 7 Nov. 2008
Palestinian children in Hebron regularly risk being attacked by Israeli soldiers as they try to go school. Children in the old part of Hebron are kept under curfew for months at a time, making it impossible for them to go to class. However, instead of giving up on their right to an education, the children scrabble across the roofs to avoid soldiers.
After Rabin’s assassination in a sphere of incitement to hatred and violence by political parties, Benyamin Netanyahu rescinds on agreements made by the previous government. Netanyahu and his Likud party decided to kill the peace process and the Oslo Accords. He has always been very clear about that.
PM Netanyahu Statement to Knesset on Hebron Protocol
Jerusalem, January 16, 1997 – With regard to Hebron, we inherited a framework agreement full of holes. I want to clarify that this is an agreement of two-three pages, which comprises a list of general instructions. This is the “written law”. I say that there was also an “oral law”, in which at least part of the coalition – an important part – had the courage and the integrity to openly state their intention, their goal – in placards posted on streets and in buses.
Part of the coalition did conceal its intention was to uproot the Jewish community in Hebron, to remove it. Some of the Labor ministers of the previous government did not conceal that this was their opinion, and the goal of the government.
I want to make this clear, not in order to indulge in polemics but to clarify a fundamental point: We are committed to the written agreements. We are not committed to the “oral law”. Our viewpoint and our objectives are completely different. We do not want to remove the Jewish community from Hebron. We want to preserve and consolidate it. We do not want to remove ourselves from Hebron; we want to remain in Hebron. From this different objective are derived those items, those paragraphs, those components which were inserted into the agreement as a result of the negotiations. The agreement today is of course much broader, much more detailed.
[Source: website Likoed Nederland]
- ○ Obama to keep qualitative military edge (QME) over its neighbors
○ Washington to provide Mubarak’s Egypt with anti-ship cruise missiles, missile boats, and antitank missiles – year 2010
○ Peace Will Be the Nail In Netanyahu’s Coffin
○ Israel Is Not Our Partner for Middle East Peace
The Israeli cabinet decided it was ‘price tag’ time for all Palestinians in a collective punishment. It’s illegal under International Law, but the only world power to make a difference applauds while saying: “Israel has the right to defend itself.” And the House of Representative unanimously backs PM Netanyahu with his Gaza bombings and raids. They are all cowards, misinformed, and living in the Washington DC bubble where capital, influence and lobby groups run daily business.
From J.J. Goldberg’s article in The Forward: “Unruly Hebron Clan Pushes Hamas — and Israel — to Brink”
More detailed accounts appeared in Hebrew in two conservative Israeli outlets, including a lengthy piece by Eldar on the Jerusalem Post’s Hebrew website, and another in Maariv by military affairs reporter Assaf Gibor.
○ UNWRA provides assistance and protection [?] for some 5 million palestine refugees