Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

338 • JEWISH DEFENSE LEAGUEfundamentalist, El Sayyid A. Nosair, on 5 November 1990 in NewYork, the prospects for a revival of the JDL appeared dim. Nosair,a follower of Sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman, was convicted for themurder of Kahane on 1 October 1995.Irving David Rubin became the leader of the JDL, but on 12 December2000 he and another JDL figure, Earl Leslie Krugel, werearrested for conspiracy both to bomb the King Fahd Mosque in LosAngeles and to assassinate an Arab American member of Congress,Darrell Issa, Republican representative for the 49th District of California.Rubin had been convicted in 1980 for solicitation in 1978 tomurder the American neo-Nazis involved in anti-Semitic demonstrationsin Skokie, Illinois. Rubin had been suspected of involvementin the 1985 murder of Alex Odeh but was never prosecuted. On 4November 2002, while awaiting his trial in the custody of the U.S.Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles, Rubin attemptedsuicide by slashing his throat and leaping over a railing, falling 18feet. After some days in a coma, he died on 10 November 2002. Hiswidow, Shelley Rubin, appointed Bill Maniaci interim JDL chair butin October 2004 fell out with him in a leadership struggle, leadingto an eventual legal settlement in April 2006. Earl Krugel, who hadpleaded guilty to conspiracy and weapons charges on 4 February2003, was later murdered by another inmate in federal prison inPhoenix, Arizona. The JDL has remained effectively a divided anddefunct entity since the death of Rubin.While living in Israel, Kahane founded the Kach Party, an ultranationalistgroup favoring expulsion of the Arabs from both Israel andthe occupied territories. Following his death, another group, KahaneChai (Kahane Lives), split off from the Kach group. Many formerJDL members who followed Kahane’s example in emigrating to Israeljoined these groups, often living in settlements within the West Bankor Gaza Strip. On 25 February 1994, a Kach Party member and formerJDL activist, Dr. Baruch Goldstein, opened fire on Palestinian Arabsin the mosque built over the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron, killingat least 29 and injuring scores more before he himself was killed. Thisincident led to anti-Israeli rioting throughout the occupied territoriesand stymied the peace negotiations under way between the PLO andIsrael. On 13 March 1994 the Israeli government banned both the Kachand Kahane Chai groups in an effort to stem the furor caused by themassacre in Hebron. See also JEWISH UNDERGROUND.