Cult News

Since the death of its leader Irv Rubin the so-called “Jewish Defense League” (JDL) has apparently split up into two rival camps, one led by Rubin’s widow and another by a Colorado attorney.

Bill Maniaci the “Director [of] Intelligence and Security” for the non-Rubin group told CutNews that he initially “took the reins as the Chairman” to form “a new and totally different organization.”

And they have their own Web site too.

Maniaci and his comrades had a convention last year during October in Nevada and voted in a new leader.

Attorney Matthew Fineberg of Boulder City, Colorado is the would-be Rubin replacement, but apparently Rubin’s widow Shelley isn’t buying it.

Maniaci says she “refused to attend the October 2004 conference and has since maintained an unauthorized and rogue chapter calling itself the Jewish Defense League.”

“Rogue chapter”?

But many people thought that the JDL was a “rogue” Jewish organization in the first place.

Maybe these dueling factions are attempting to redefine the term “fringe group”?

The “new JDL” appears impatient to dispense with the grieving widow. They “will soon be resolving [their] issues with Mrs. Rubin in court,” said Maniaci.

So much for her mourning period.

According to the “Director of Intelligence” for the repackaged JDL “Mrs. Rubin mistakenly believed that she should have inherited the organization after her Husband’s murder.”

“Murder”?

Irv Rubin died after he hung himself in a jail cell. A pitiful suicide after he was locked up over a bomb plot.

Well it looks like the so-called “new and totally different” JDL hasn’t lost one lasting Rubin legacy, a penchant for conspiracy theories.

Earl Krugel has now pleaded guilty regarding a conspiracy to bomb an American mosque.

The 60-year-old Jewish Defense League (JDL) member may ultimately end his life in prison based upon the terms of his plea agreement reports Associated Press and Fox News.

According to the deal negotiated with prosecutors Krugel will serve no less than ten years in prison for his involvement in the bomb plot.

The FBI arrested Krugel and his JDL leader Irv Rubin in December of 2001.

Rabbi Meir Kahane founded the JDL in 1968. A Moslem fanatic murdered him in 1990.

Kahane was not unlike other charismatic hate group leaders such as William Pierce and Osama bin Laden who largely defined their groups through the power of their individual personalities.

The hate-filled rhetoric of the radical rabbi was often described as extremist and incited violence. One man associated with an Israeli Kahane-connected organization murdered 29 Moslems at prayer in a Hebron mosque.

Fortunately it seems the FBI stopped Rubin and Krugel before they could wreak havoc and death on a mosque.

In 1994 the party Kahane founded in Israel was outlawed and later declared a foreign terrorist organization by the United States State Department.

Now perhaps the JDL’s reign of terror will end. Without Rubin or some other strong personality to fill its present void, perhaps the JDL will fade away.