A Denver Post Obituary Tribute to a Jewish Terrorist?

JDL leader unworthy

STEVE LAUDEMAN

Denver

Denver Post, Letter to Editor

November 19, 2002

Re: "JDL leader Rubin battled anti- Semitism," Nov. 15 news story.

After following the story of Irv Rubin's arrest for plotting to blow up a southern California mosque and his recent suicide attempt, I was surprised to see his obituary featured in The Post.

The Post's policy is that it will print news obituaries for individuals who have "made significant contributions to the community" or who have "made a difference in the lives of their loved ones."

From what I have read about Rubin, he was a criminal, a sociopath and a terrorist. Which of these contributed to the community or the lives of his loved ones?

Perhaps his loved ones were gratified by the hateful rhetoric he spewed against Arabs and Muslims and the pro-Israel terrorism he apparently was involved in.

(Denver Post Editor's note: The writer cites the policy for expanded local obituaries. The Post also publishes news stories on deaths of newsworthy individuals, regardless of what their contributions may have been.)

 

 

Original Obituary in the Denver Post, 11/15/02:

JDL leader Rubin battled anti-semitism

11/15/2002

Denver Post

Obituary Section

LOS ANGELES – Jewish Defense League leader Irv Rubin, who fought with Arabs, neo-Nazis, Klansmen and others he regarded as enemies of the Jewish people, died after what federal authorities said was a suicide attempt in jail. He was 57.

The chairman of the militant organization died in the hospital Wednesday night. Federal officials said Mr. Rubin slashed his throat with a prison-issued razor blade Nov. 4 and tumbled 18 feet over a railing at the federal Metropolitan Detention Center.

The apparent suicide attempt occurred just hours before Mr. Rubin was to appear in court on charges he plotted to bomb a Southern California mosque and the office of Rep. Darrell E. Issa, R-Calif., a Lebanese-American.

Mr. Rubin's wife, Shelley Rubin, has called for a further investigation into his injuries, saying that her husband would not have tried to kill himself.

Mr. Rubin, who by his own account had been arrested more than 40 times, joined the JDL early in the 1970s and became chairman in 1985.

In 1989, the leader of the rival Jewish Defense Organization was charged with firing shots at Mr. Rubin and wounding three others in New York. Mordechai Levy was convicted of assault.

Mr. Rubin offered insight into his militant roots in a biography posted on the JDL's Web site.

As a boy growing up in Montreal, he encountered signs declaring "No dogs or Jews Allowed" outside hotels and other businesses. He also endured taunts from French Canadian schoolchildren.

"It was here that Irv Rubin learned to fight back," the biography states.

His family immigrated to the United States in 1961, and he became a U.S. citizen and joined the Air Force in 1966, serving four years. In 1973, he served in Israel's civil defense corps during the Yom Kippur War.

The JDL, whose symbol is a raised fist inside a Star of David, has the motto "Never Again," referring to the World War II murder of 6 million Jews by the Nazis. It was founded in 1968 by Meir Kahane to mount armed response to anti-Semitic acts in New York City.

The group was suspected in a 1985 bombing in Santa Ana that killed Southern California Arab anti-discrimination leader Alex Odeh, but no arrests were ever made.

Mr. Rubin often could be found protesting outside courthouses where white supremacists were being tried. He clashed with Ku Klux Klansmen on The Jerry Springer Show.

 

 

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