Free Thought Manifesto: The French Jewish Defense League

By many, the French Jewish Defense League is considered as an offshoot of the American Jewish Defense League, which was founded in New York by the ultranationalist Rabbi Meir Kahane in 1968 [1] and that the FBI considers a domestic terrorist group. [2]

The group was created in October 2000 and was first named Liberty Democracy and Judaism before being dissolved and renamed LDJ in 2003. Since that, this group has had no legal existence, and counts approximately 300 members. This organisation denies any connections with the Israeli movement Kach and claim to be independent from the American Jewish Defence League despite the fact that they use a similar logo.

The organisation’ spokesperson declared in 2009 that it is “a Zionist organization that strives every day to fight against anti-Zionism therefore against anti-Judaism and anti-Semitism “. [3]

According to a program played on the state-owned French public broadcaster, the members of the JDL exercise (Krav-maga, Israeli army martial art) in a public (state) building guarded by the National Police [4].

The organization has been involved in numerous violent protests and aggression that in most cases had no judicial proceedings:

-In 2002, during a protest, they were implicated in the stabbing of a police chief. [5]
-In 2004, they vandalized a bookshop in the Marais, Paris, during the book signing of the writer and sociologist Alain Soral as shown in the video below. [6]

Alain Soral Assaulted In A Bookstore:

-In 2005, the humorist Dieudonné, while in Martinique, was attacked by four sympathizers of the JDL. [7]
-In 2009, they vandalized a pro-Palestinian bookshop; in 2012 they attacked two anti-Zionists: Jacob Cohen, writer and Olivia Zemor, co-founder and leader of CAPJO (Coordination Group Calling for a Just Peace in the Middle East).

The Methods Of The Jewish Defense League Bared:

(Assault Zémor Olivia and Jacob Cohen)

In 2010, Saïd Bourarach, a security guard, was drowned in The Canal de l’Ourcq by some aggressors of Jewish origins suspected to be linked with the JDL [8].

The mainstream Medias, usually quick to talk endlessly about this kind of news when the victims are Jewish, have been mysteriously silent. So far, the case has not been judged. More recently, the newspaper “Le Monde” referred to this aggression as only being an accidental drowning. [9]

More recently, following the “quenelle” controversy, they are believed to be involved in other attacks in Lyon where the victims were targeted on social networks and tracked down for performing the “quenelle”, including the beating of a man suspected of performing the quenelle and locking him inside the trunk of a parked car [10]. Following this action, the JDL wrote on their twitter account:

“Two major punitive actions were carried out Saturday and Sunday in Lyon against people who performed the quenelle. The little Nazis are no longer at ease! “

The JDL seem to be close to the francophone Israeli newspaper, JSS News, which has managed to get information about Dieudonne’s followers from a hacker, including their phone numbers, email addresses, home addresses, working places, and uses those information to put pressure on their employers in order to get them sacked. [11]

Those are only few examples from a long list of aggressions that started back at the end of the 60’s with another organization called the Betar. [12]

It is interesting to note that Meyer Habib, a French born Israeli who serves as deputy of the National Assembly, vice-president of the CRIF, and a former member of the Betar (and also involved in one of their attacks in 1988) [13], has indicated that he would submit a bill to propose banning the quenelle [14].

According to Joseph Ayache, when the former French Minister of the interior, Manuel Valls, dissolved, few months ago, some far-right groups, he assured them that this would not concern them, adding more suspicion to the fact that the JDL is protected by the socialist government. [see picture below]