Rabbi Meir Kahane, founder of the Jewish Defense League, warned today the Hanafi Moslems that if they ever take over another Jewish building as they did the B’nai B’rith international headquarters here March 2, the JDL will “use the same kind of violence against you.”
Kahane made his threat as he stood on a trash can in drizzling rain across the street from the Hanafi Moslem headquarters as three rows of policemen stood between him and the Hanafis. About 200 persons attended the three-hour rally of whom half, according to a JDL spokesperson, were JDL members from across the country. There were no incidents during the rally as the JDL members waved placards, shouted slogans and sang Hatikvah.
“Two can talk about chopping off heads,” Kahane said, referring to the threats the Hanafis made to their hostages during the siege at the B’nai B’rith headquarters and two other buildings here. He also warned that Hanafi leader Khalifa Hamaas Abdul Khaalis, who was freed without bail, will never be certain of his safety again. The JDL leader told the Jews present at the rally not to congratulate him but to “join the JDL.” He said young Jews “who know how to defend themselves” should carry 22 caliber rifles.
Apparently piqued by the turnout at which the police and newsmen outnumbered demonstrators, Kahane said that at least 15,000 Jews from Washington should have been at the rally. He urged his listeners to go to their synagogues this Friday and ask their rabbis why they were not present and why representatives of Jewish organizations were not there.
“Don’t listen to Jewish leaders,” he said. “They will lead us down the primrose path like they did in the thirties. The fear that is deep in us is what will the gentiles think. It is not what gentiles think that matters, it is what we do.”
RALLY CONDEMNED BY JEWISH COUNCIL
Among those listening to Kahane was Daniel Mann, executive director of the Jewish Community Council of Greater Washington, which had issued a statement condemning the rally. The statement expressed the Council’s “strongest revulsion at the Hanafi statements (last Thursday) which contained the vilest anti-Semitism, shocking threats of violence and all consuming hatred.”
At the same time, the Council said it believed that the “public counter-threats can only serve to further inflame emotions and should be avoided.” The Council, which did not refer directly to the JDL, said that it remained “fully confident in the ability of civil authorities to provide security and a sense of calm to citizens in our community.” After Kahane announced plans for the rally last week, the Hanafis threatened a “bloodbath” against the JDL “and all Zionist Jews and their allies.”
PURPOSE OF THE RALLY
Upon arriving here today from Miami, Kahane conferred with Washington Police Chief Maurice J. Cullihane. The JDL leader told the rally the police were worried about attacks on synagogues but did not say anything about mosques because “we Jews don’t do things like that.”
Before the demonstration, Kahane stood on the steps of the closed Tiferith Israel Congregation synagogue across from the Hanafi headquarters and told newsmen the “major purpose of this rally is to let those people and every anti-Semite know when we say ‘never again’ we mean ‘never again.’ “
The heavily traveled 16th Street was lined with police and police cars. There was also at least one ambulance and one fire truck. Three police plainclothesmen were on top of the Ohev Sholom Synagogue, which they turned into a command post, next to the Hanafi house where armed men with machetes patrolled the grounds behind a high iron fence. The Hanafi headquarters is located in an area of Washington once heavily Jewish and now mostly populated by upper middle-class Blacks.
The only incident came at the beginning of the rally when a man at the edge of the crowd carried a sign saying “Zionists, Fascists, imperialists” just as a group of JDL members from New York alighted from a bus. One JDL youth lunged at the man but JDL marshals prevented him from doing anything. The man carrying the sign was hustled away by police who confiscated the placard. The JDL had marshals who maintained order throughout the rally.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
