198	The Story of the Jewish Defense League

bplant inside the JDL and how much provocation and infor- bmation to the authorities came from them? How much of bthe Establishment Jewish hand was behind the 1969 pres- bsure by the Madison Avenue advertising firm of Joseph bJacobs, the ones who handle the bulk of so-called “Jewish badvertising,” in the form of a letter to Jewish Press editor and bpublisher Sholom Klass, urging him to fire me because bcertain unnamed clients and heavy Jewish Press advertisers bwere unhappy with my comments and articles? These are all bquestions that are extremely relevant to a Jewish community bwhich faces its most serious crisis and which has urgent need bof great and truly Jewish leadership.

bThe ADL and American Jewish leadership were, at least, bin well-known if not decent company. During the rise of the bJewish underground groups in Palestine, the Irgun Zvai bLeumi and the Fighters for the Freedom of Israel (the bSternists), Jewish Agency head Ben-Gurion in a major bspeech to the Labor Movement, the Histadrut, called for the bexpulsion of Irgun members and sympathizers from work band school and handing them over to the British. He was bjoined in this call by other Jewish leaders, including a bwoman named Golda Myerson, and soon the Haganah was bkidnapping and handing over tens of Irgun and Stern bmembers to the British for deportation to Kenyan and Eri- btrean prison camps. The boss of the kidnapping operation bwas Yigal Allon.

bOne cannot help but contrast all this sick conduct with bthat of two young members of JDL, Jeffrey Smilow and Rick bHuss. Held as material witnesses in connection with the bHurok case, they refused to testify against the three Jewish bdefendants on the grounds that it is forbidden to inform bagainst a fellow Jew. An angry judge gave them a thirty-day bcontempt-of-court sentence and threatened to have them sit bfor the entire length of the potential term that the defen- bdants might get (a possible twenty years). The two young- bsters refused to inform on their friends. Jeff was seventeen bat the time and Rick had just turned sixteen. Eventually both bwere given one-year jail sentences.

bIs it good for Jews? Am I involved with Jewish problems b