Kahane: Jdl Would Use Dynamite ‘if Necessary’

Claiming that he and his Jewish Defense League represented “a new type of Jew.” Rabbi Meir Kahane said today that violence was “the only way to persuade the Soviet Union to free its Jewish citizens.” He said the JDL would not “rule out the use of dynamite, if necessary,” as long as innocents are not harmed, But Kahane denied that the JDL was responsible for leaving 197 sticks of dynamite behind shrubbery on the Palisades Interstate Parkway. Federal authorities were alerted to the dynamite yesterday by an anonymous caller claiming to be a JDL member. Last Friday, Rabbi Kahane and two other JDL’ers pleaded guilty to manufacturing explosives at their Camp Jedel in Woodburne, N.Y. The JDL chairman claimed he had not known he had to have a $250 Federal stamp to explode bombs on one’s own property. He and Chaim Bleber, 41, and Stewart Cohen, 18, will be sentenced on July 23. They face terms of up to five years.

At his press conference today at JDL headquarters in Brooklyn, Rabbi Kahane charged that the U.S. Government was out to “get” him solely because the Soviets hold the United States responsible for JDL actions. He said he did not think of himself as a martyr. The 38-year-old Orthodox rabbi said “Anyone who looks forward to being a martyr is a fool. Jail is not a nice place for a Jewish boy or any boy. I don’t want to go to jail.” Accusing the established Jewish organizations of having “gone to great lengths to smear us,” he also blamed the media and the JDL itself for failing to explain JDL goals sufficiently. Kahane said that “the only thing that will put an end to JDL will be an end to Jewish suffering.” He said the JDL executive board will meet Thursday to plan a militant anti-Soviet campaign to be put into effect before July 23. It will also choose a new leader to head the JDL should Rabbi Kahane go to jail.