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192———Jewish Terrorist Groups in the United States

September 1977 hijacking of another Japan Airlines
plane; the plane, flying from Bombay, India, was JDL. See JEWISH TERRORIST GROUPS IN THE
forced to land at Dacca, Bangladesh. During the UNITED STATES.
ensuing standoff, elements in the Bangladeshi Army
attempted a coup d’état, which resulted in consider-
able confusion, but eventually the government JEM. See JAISH-E-MOHAMMED.
restored control, and the JRA freed the hostages in
exchange for a prisoner.
In the hostage taking in 1974 and 1977, the JRA
had also demanded and received large ransoms. By JEWISH TERRORIST GROUPS IN
the early 1980s, however, the JRA was seriously THE UNITED STATES
short of funds, and the country where it had found
permanent refuge, Lebanon, was embroiled in civil
war. Little was heard from the group for several The few organized Jewish terrorist groups outside
years. Between 1985 and 1987, several prominent Israel operate mainly in the United States. They were
former JRA members were arrested on charges of most active during the 1970s and 1980s and were
smuggling and trafficking in false passports. In April responsible for numerous bombings directed at Soviet
1988, a JRA member was arrested in New Jersey personnel and institutions and individuals doing busi-
with bomb-making materials; on April 15, a U.S. ness with the Soviet government.
officers’ club in Naples, Italy, was bombed and
five people killed in what was believed to be a JRA THE JEWISH DEFENSE LEAGUE
attack. The group’s surprising resurgence resulted in
strict security during the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, The Jewish Defense League (JDL) was founded in
South Korea. 1968 by Meir Kahane, an orthodox Brooklyn rabbi.
The JRA seemed once again to fade into oblivion The group’s original function was to protect elderly
until 1997, when five JRA members were deported Brooklyn residents from street attacks. Kahane, how-
from Lebanon to Japan. On November 8, 2000, JRA ever, was outspoken, even strident, and the JDL soon
leader Shigenobu was arrested in Japan (she had was known for its confrontational style.
entered on a false passport). Focusing mainly on the treatment of Jews in the
In April 2001, Shigenobu announced that the Soviet Union, who were often jailed and refused exist
group was disbanding. She is currently on trial for her visas, the JDL decided that violence was necessary to
30 years of terrorist activities. Shigenobu’s daughter draw attention to the plight of Soviet Jewry. The goal
and the children of some of the 1969 hijackers was to strain U.S.-Soviet relations; the reasoning was
have recently gone to Japan to act as their parents’ that Moscow would need to respond to the pressure by
advocates. allowing more Soviet Jews to immigrate to Israel.
The JDL began a series of demonstrations against,
See also YU KIKUMURA; POPULAR FRONT FOR THE LIBERATION physical attacks on, and harassment of Soviet offices
OF PALESTINE; ILICH RAMÍREZ SÁNCHEZ (CARLOS THE and personnel in 1969. While the majority of JDL
JACKAL); FUSAKO SHIGENOBU members participated in peaceful political demonstra-
tions, Kahane later publicly admitted that some mem-
Further Reading bers of the JDL “bombed the Russian mission in New
York, the Russian cultural mission here [Washington]
Farrell, William. Blood and Rage: The Story of the
Japanese Red Army. Lexington, MA: D. C. Heath, 1990. in 1970, and the Soviet trade offices.”
Steinhoff, Patricia G., and Yoshinori Ito. Rengo Sekigun to JDL members were also implicated in two high-
Oumu Shinrikyo. Tokyo, Japan: Sairyusha, 1996. profile murders. Jerome Zeller was indicted for the
1972 bombing of the office of agent Sol Hurok, which
killed his receptionist and injured 12 others; in 1992
Kahane admitted that he too had had a part in that
JAR. See JEWISH TERRORIST GROUPS IN
THE UNITED STATES. attack. Two other JDL members, Robert Manning
and his wife Rochelle, were indicted for the 1985