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The Story of the Jewish Defense League |
bAnd so, when on the morning of our giant demonstration
bin Washington in March 1971, a group of Nazis suddenly
bappeared on Pennsylvania Avenue blithely carrying signs
bcalling for elimination of Jews, they were pummeled, teeth
bknocked out, left bleeding, and saved from worse only by
bthe untimely intervention of the police. And when the Ku
bKlux Klan burned crosses in Hightstown, New Jersey, in
bApril 1971, we sent a hundred members to march openly
bthrough the center of the town and, in the words of the JDL
bPhiladelphia chapter chairman Rabbi Harold Novoseller,
b“The people over there knew we were coming and they
bknew why. We planned to show the Klan in language they
bunderstand that if they mess with the Jewish community
bthey’re going to have to deal with the JDL.” Philadelphia,
bincidentally, under Novoseller and later Russ Kellner, to-
bgether with Los Angeles, under men like Irv Rubin, Steve
bSamson, and Bob Manning, became our two most militant
band active chapters outside New York.
bIn Los Angeles, running battles with neo-Nazi groups
bculminated in the bombing of and then the physical attack
bon the National States Rights Party conference.
bThe NSRP, a long-time hate group whose attacks on Jews
band Blacks are vitriolic, operates out of Marietta, Georgia,
band its leader, J. B. Stoner, was the attorney for the con-
bvicted killer of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. On June 19,
b1971, a group of JDL people, led by Manning, Ed Gassman,
bJan Okin, and Si Gaber, smashed into the NSRP meeting
band sent a number of the Nazis to the hospital. Other Los
bAngeles attacks on the American Nazi Party (now the Na-
btional Socialist White Peoples Party) led to a continuing
bfuror in California.
bOne of the things we had done in our efforts to obtain
bwell-trained, strong, and tough Jews for effective action
bagainst Jew-haters was to create a special group of fighters
bwhich we named the Chaya Squad. The word chaya in He-
bbrew means “beast,” and we wanted to develop Jewish
b“beasts” or “animals” who would frighten the anti-Semite to
bthe roots of his soul. They served an invaluable function in
bthe changing of the Jewish image in America.