Jewish Defense League
Rabbi Meir Kahane established the Jewish Defense League (JDL) in New York in 1968 as a militant and ultranationalist organization dedicated to strengthening Jewish life and protecting Jews against all forms of anti-Jewish aggression. In 1971, the organization, under the leadership of San Fernando Valley native and Air Force Veteran Irv Rubin, set up a headquarters in Los Angeles at 509 N. Fairfax Avenue. Within a few months, the organization claimed about 150 members, most of whom were between the ages of 18 and 25.
From the perspective of the Jewish Defense League, the leaders of the Jewish establishment prioritized affluence, middle-class conformity, and the ideal of assimilation into American society over the wellbeing of the Jewish community. Seeking to fill a supposed communal void, Jewish Defense League in Los Angeles pursued a range of activities under the guise of Jewish self interest. This entailed vandalizing retail stores that sold Soviet products (as a way to protest the Soviet government's treatment of Jews) and initiating violent attacks upon white supremacist organizations throughout Southern California.
Protecting the Beverly-Fairfax neighborhood from from outsiders was also high on their agenda. To this end, they established a community patrol that aimed to "protect" the neighborhood from the African-American students that transferred to Fairfax High School and were supposedly assaulting, robbing, and harassing Jewish students and local merchants. While the JDL fashioned itself as an organization concerned with the wellbeing of Fairfax’s Jewish community, they were also accused of stealing merchandise and extorting money from shopkeepers as well as spreading false rumors about African-American students.
The JDL was routinely condemned and criticized by mainstream Jewish organizations as racist, delusional, and irresponsible. Trying to prevent JDL activists from assuming positions of respectability and influence within Jewish communal affairs, the CRC and the ADL ran spy networks to track the JDL’s activities and publicly encouraged other Jewish organizations and individuals to not “support financially or otherwise, or to affiliate” with the JDL. The JDL ultimately failed to attract widespread support throughout the Jewish masses. Yet, its emphasis upon Jewish survival and Jewish pride nevertheless helped to heighten forms of Jewish consciousness and ethnic awareness throughout Los Angeles and compelled mainstream organizations to dedicate more of their resources to distinctly Jewish causes.
From the perspective of the Jewish Defense League, the leaders of the Jewish establishment prioritized affluence, middle-class conformity, and the ideal of assimilation into American society over the wellbeing of the Jewish community. Seeking to fill a supposed communal void, Jewish Defense League in Los Angeles pursued a range of activities under the guise of Jewish self interest. This entailed vandalizing retail stores that sold Soviet products (as a way to protest the Soviet government's treatment of Jews) and initiating violent attacks upon white supremacist organizations throughout Southern California.
Protecting the Beverly-Fairfax neighborhood from from outsiders was also high on their agenda. To this end, they established a community patrol that aimed to "protect" the neighborhood from the African-American students that transferred to Fairfax High School and were supposedly assaulting, robbing, and harassing Jewish students and local merchants. While the JDL fashioned itself as an organization concerned with the wellbeing of Fairfax’s Jewish community, they were also accused of stealing merchandise and extorting money from shopkeepers as well as spreading false rumors about African-American students.
The JDL was routinely condemned and criticized by mainstream Jewish organizations as racist, delusional, and irresponsible. Trying to prevent JDL activists from assuming positions of respectability and influence within Jewish communal affairs, the CRC and the ADL ran spy networks to track the JDL’s activities and publicly encouraged other Jewish organizations and individuals to not “support financially or otherwise, or to affiliate” with the JDL. The JDL ultimately failed to attract widespread support throughout the Jewish masses. Yet, its emphasis upon Jewish survival and Jewish pride nevertheless helped to heighten forms of Jewish consciousness and ethnic awareness throughout Los Angeles and compelled mainstream organizations to dedicate more of their resources to distinctly Jewish causes.
