Editing Jewish Defense League (section)

==Origins==
In 1968, while [[Meir Kahane|Kahane]] served as the associate editor for ''[[The Jewish Press]]'', the paper's office began receiving numerous calls and letters about crimes being committed against Jews and Jewish institutions.<ref name="auto">{{cite book|last1=Kahane|first1=Libby|title=Rabbi Meir Kahane: His Life and Thought Vol. One: 1932–1975|date=2008|publisher=Urim Publications|location=Israel|isbn=978-965-524-008-5|page=90}}</ref> Violence in the [[New York City]] area was on the rise, with Jews making up a disproportionately large percentage of the victims.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Peter R. Eisenstadt|author2=Laura-Eve Moss|title=The Encyclopedia of New York State|date=May 19, 2005|publisher=Syracuse University Press|isbn=978-0815608080|page=93}}</ref> Elderly Jews were being harassed and mugged, storeowners were held up and Jewish teachers were assaulted while Jewish synagogues were defaced and Jewish cemeteries desecrated.<ref name="auto"/>

After discussing the matter with a few congregants, Kahane put out an ad in ''The Jewish Press'' on May 24, 1968, which read: "We are talking of JEWISH SURVIVAL! Are you willing to stand up for democracy and Jewish survival? Join and support the Jewish Defense Corps."<ref>{{cite news|title=We are talking of JEWISH SURVIVAL! |work=[[The Jewish Press]] |date=May 24, 1968|page=33}}</ref> Shortly after, Kahane renamed the group the "Jewish Defense League," fearing that "Corps" would be construed as too militant.<ref name="Newark Star Ledger">{{cite news|last1=Gershen|first1=Martin|title=New Organization Protests Against NYU Official |work=Newark Star Ledger|date=August 6, 1968}}</ref> The group's declared purpose was: "to combat anti-Semitism in the public and private sectors of life in the United States of America."<ref name="Jewish Defense League">JDL Certificate of Incorporation, approved September 25, 1968</ref> Kahane stated that the League was formed to "do the job that the [[Anti-Defamation League]] should do but doesn't."<ref name="Newark Star Ledger"/>

Shortly afterwards, the Jewish Defense League put out a four-page manifesto which stated: "America has been good to the Jew and the Jew has been good to America. A land founded on the principles of democracy and freedom has given unprecedented opportunities to a people devoted to those ideals" yet now finds itself threatened by "political extremism" and "racist militancy." Furthermore, the manifesto stated that the organization rejects all hate and illegality, believes firmly in law and order, backs police forces and will work actively in the courts to strike down all discrimination.<ref name="Jewish Defense League Manifesto">Meir Kahane, "Jewish Defense League Manifesto". New York, 1969</ref> When asked about Jewish Defense League members breaking the law, Kahane responded: "We respect the right and the obligation of the American government to prosecute us and send us to jail. No one gripes about that."<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Interview: Meir Kahane, A candid conversation with the militant leader of the Jewish Defense League|date=October 1972|magazine=Playboy}}</ref>

The group adopted the slogan "[[Never again|Never Again]]!" which was originally used by the Jewish resistance fighters in the [[Warsaw ghetto]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pedahzur|first1=Ami|last2=Perliger|first2=Arie|title=Jewish Terrorism in Israel |series=Columbia Studies in Terrorism and Irregular Warfare |date=July 12, 2011 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0231154475 |page=212}}</ref> While the phrase is usually interpreted to mean that the Nazi [[The Holocaust|Holocaust]] of six million Jews will never be permitted to recur, Kahane claimed that his intention was to declare that Jews should never again be caught by surprise or lulled into a foolish trust in others.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Breslauer|first1=S. Daniel|title=Meir Kahane: Ideologue, Hero, Thinker|date=1986|publisher=The Edwin Mellen Press|location=Lewiston, NY USA|isbn=0-88946-252-6|page=33}}</ref>

The first Jewish Defense League demonstration took place on August 5, 1968, at [[New York University]] with some 15 members chanting: "No Nazis at NYU, Jewish rights are precious too."<ref name="Newark Star Ledger"/>