JDL leader Irv Rubin buried
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Jewish Defense League chairman Irv Rubin was remembered Sunday as a tireless activist who dedicated his life to the fight against anti-Semitism. About 200 relatives, friends and supporters gathered at the Sholom Memorial Park in Sylmar to attend funeral services for Rubin. He died Wednesday of his injuries from what federal authorities said was a suicide attempt in jail, where he was awaiting trial for an alleged bomb plot. “He gave up so much, and now he gave up his life,” said Rabbi Tzvi Block.
Block, who officiated Rubin’s wedding to his wife, Shelley, in 1980, said the militant activist occupied an important, yet sometimes unpopular, role in the Jewish community.
“Irv Rubin was our spokesperson. He was also the person who did what most of us would or could not do,” Block said. “Who else did anybody call in Los Angeles if you had a problem or a trouble?”
Rubin and fellow JDL member Earl Krugel had been in jail since December for allegedly plotting to bomb a Southern California mosque and the office of Rep. Darrell E. Issa, R-Calif., who is the grandson of Lebanese immigrants.
Federal officials said Rubin slashed his neck Nov. 4 with a jail-issued razor blade and tumbled 18 feet over a railing at the federal Metropolitan Detention Center hours before he and Krugel were to appear in court.
Shelley Rubin, who did not speak during the service, has called for a further investigation, believing that Rubin would not attempt suicide.
Last week, Rubin attorney Peter Morris conceded suicide was a possibility, but continued to press for an investigation. The family is considering a lawsuit, if the government does not agree to the request, he added.
The FBI and federal prison officials have finished interviewing witnesses and are awaiting autopsy results before closing their probe into Rubin’s death.
Family members thanked the public for their support in a statement issued to reporters.
“The outpouring of love we have received from all segments of the community, both Jewish and non-Jewish, has been overwhelming and extremely comforting to us,” the statement said. “We still want to know the truth of what happened to Irv.”
JDL spokesman Brett Stone said Rubin should be remembered as a selfless fighter.
“He didn’t do this for personal gain. He didn’t get wealthy for all his work with the Jewish Defense League,” Stone said.
Rubin, who by his own account had been arrested more than 40 times, joined the JDL early in the 1970s and quickly moved up, becoming chairman in 1985. He assumed leadership of the group in 1990, after its founder, Rabbi Meir Kahane, was gunned down by an Arab extremist in New York.
The JDL, whose symbol is a raised fist inside a Star of David, has the motto “Never Again,” referring to the Holocaust. It was founded in 1968 by Kahane to mount armed response to anti-Semitic acts in New York City. The organization claims to have nearly 13,000 members nationwide but probably has only a few dozen active members.