Next, we can look at the JDL and the several bombings they committed on US soil throughout the late-20th-century:
The
Jewish Defense League (
JDL) is a
far-right religious and political organization in the
United States and
Canada. Its stated goal is to "protect
Jews from
antisemitism by
whatever means necessary";
[1] it has been classified as "right-wing terrorist group" by the
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) since 2001,
[2] and is also designated as
hate group by the
Southern Poverty Law Center.
[3] According to the FBI, the JDL has been involved in plotting and executing
acts of terrorism within the United States.
[2][4]
1970: On October 6, the JDL is suspected of bombing the New York office of the
Palestine Liberation Organization after the PLO hijacked four airliners the previous month.
United Press International reported that an anonymous caller phoned in about a half hour before the explosion and proclaimed the JDL slogan, "Never again."
[45]
1971: On January 8, 1971, a bombing outside of the Soviet cultural center in
Washington, D.C. was followed by a phone call including the JDL slogan "Never again." A JDL spokesperson denied the group's involvement in the bombing, but refused to condemn it.
[1]
1972: In 1972, a smoke bomb was planted in the Manhattan office of music impresario
Sol Hurok, who organized Soviet performers' U.S. tours. Iris Kones, a Jewish secretary from Long Island, died of smoke inhalation, and Hurok and 12 others were injured and hospitalized.
[51] Jerome Zeller of the JDL was indicted for the bombing and Kahane later admitted his part in the attack.
[28] JDL activities were condemned by Moscow
refuseniks who felt that the group's actions were making it less likely that the Soviet Union would relax restrictions on Jewish emigration.
1984-1986: During the 1980s, past-JDL member
Victor Vancier (who later founded the Jewish Task Force), and two other former JDL members were arrested in connection with six incidents: 1984
firebombing of an automobile at a Soviet diplomatic residence, the 1985 and 1986
pipe bombings of rival JDL members' cars, the 1986 firebombing at a hall where the
Soviet State Symphony Orchestra was performing, and two 1986 detonations of
tear gas grenades to protest performances by Soviet dance troupes.
[1] In a 1984 interview, the JDL leader
Meir Kahane admitted that the JDL "bombed the Russian mission in New York, the Russian cultural mission here [Washington] in 1971, the Soviet trade offices."
[28][57] The attacks, which caused minor diplomatic crisis in relations between the U.S. and the USSR, prompted the
New York City Police Department (NYPD) to infiltrate the group and one undercover officer discovered a chain of weapon caches across
Brooklyn, containing "enough shotguns and rifles to arm a small militia."
[51]
1985: On October 11, 1985,
Alex Odeh, regional director of the
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), was killed in a
mail bombing at his office in
Santa Ana, California. Shortly before his killing, Odeh had appeared on the television show
Nightline, where he engaged in a tense dialogue with a representative from the JDL. [...] Lane Bonner stated the FBI attributed the bombing and two others to the JDL. In February 1986, the FBI classified the bombing that killed Alex Odeh as a terrorist act. [...] He was subsequently found guilty of involvement in the killing of the secretary of computer firm ProWest, Patricia Wilkerson, in another, unrelated mail bomb blast. [...] In addition, he and other JDL members were also suspected in a string of other violent attacks through 1985, including the bombing of
Boston ADC office that seriously injured two police officers, the bomb killing of suspected Nazi war criminal
Tscherim Soobzokov in
Paterson, New Jersey, and a bombing in Long Island
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