292	The Story of the Jewish Defense League

bthe Soviet Jews know that they were not forgotten and that bJews were prepared to use all means to free them. We knew bthat this was like manna from heaven to a prisoner and that bthe news of the Soviet oppressors being hit by someone else bwas more important to the Soviet Jews than all the pitiful bpress releases and statements of the Jewish Establishment bsince the Bolshevik Revolution. And indeed, the Soviets bwere stupid enough to play into our hands. Not only did bthey report on everything we did, and in detail, but Pravda, bIzvestia, and the general press and radio and television gave bus an inordinate amount of time and space, with each vit- briolic comment proving to the Soviet Jews—who used the byardstick that if Pravda condemned, it must be good—that bJDL was their great hope. How often did I, later, hear from bSoviet Jews in Israel, “Every time things looked black we balways said ‘Kahane will give it to them.’”

bNot only did the main highway leading into Moscow have ba large sign with pictures of Golda Meir, Moshe Dayan, and bmyself along with the caption, “Enemies of the people,” but bthe Russians now outdid themselves in foolishness. On April b28 they released to all major motion-picture theaters a bdocumentary film titled The Criminal Course of Zionism, con- bsisting mostly of newsreels of the activities of the JDL. From bone of our members who was in the USSR at the time, I blearned that Jews flocked to see it, overjoyed at the oppor- btunity to see “their criminals” smashing the Russians. Whom bG-d would destroy, He does, indeed, first make mad . . .

bBy the end of April we had established a “hot line” which bgave news of demonstrations and items of Jewish interests to banyone calling a certain telephone number. We also were bpleasantly surprised to be contacted by our old adversary, bradio station WBAI-FM, and offered a weekly fifteen- bminute show. And the campaign went on.

bOn May 2, hundreds of JDL demonstrators blocked btraffic on Third Avenue near the Soviet Mission by sitting in bthe streets; seventy-seven were arrested. The same day, banother two hundred defied a State Supreme Court order band demonstrated at the Soviet Union’s estate at Glen Cove, band on May 12, I was arrested and charged with firearms b