JDL Extremists Join Protest Against Jewish History Center

Person in JDL shirt at protest against Center for Jewish History. Image by Shaul Magid
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.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 2
Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
- 3
Culture Did this Jewish literary titan have the right idea about Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling after all?
- 4
Opinion I first met Netanyahu in 1988. Here’s how he became the most destructive leader in Israel’s history.
In Case You Missed It
-
Opinion Gaza and Trump have left the Jewish community at war with itself — and me with a bad case of alienation
-
Fast Forward Trump administration restores student visas, but impact on pro-Palestinian protesters is unclear
-
Fast Forward Deborah Lipstadt says Trump’s campus antisemitism crackdown has ‘gone way too far’
-
Fast Forward 5 Jewish senators accuse Trump of using antisemitism as ‘guise’ to attack universities
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.