JDL Extremists Join Protest Against Jewish History Center

Person in JDL shirt at protest against Center for Jewish History. Image by Shaul Magid

By Josh Nathan-Kazis October 20, 2017

Two people wearing insignia of the extremist group the Jewish Defense League joined a protest against the Center for Jewish History this week, according to a Facebook account of the rally.

The rally was the latest in a series of efforts by right-wing Jewish activists to force the CJH to fire its new executive director, David Myers, over his ties to liberal groups.

According to a public Facebook post by Indiana University professor Shaul Magid, who observed the protest, two people in the crowd wore shirts bearing the insignia of the Jewish Defense League.

“I kind of feel like Hunter Thompson coming back from a John Birch Society meeting,” Magid wrote.

The JDL, which was apparently defunct in the United States until this year, has a long and violent history. Its former leader, Irv Rubin, was charged in the months after September 11, 2001 with attempting to bomb Muslim targets in California. He committed suicide in prison before trial. An Israeli group founded by the JDL’s founder, Meir Kahane, is considered a terrorist organization by the United States government.

In March, JDL members clashed with protesters outside of an AIPAC conference in Washington, D.C., leaving one Palestinian-American protester bloodied.

Contact Josh Nathan-Kazis at [email protected] or on Twitter, @joshnathankazis.

Josh Nathan-Kazis is a staff writer for the Forward. He covers charities and politics, and writes investigations and longform.

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