Hatewatch Tweets
Hatewatch is managed by the staff of the Intelligence Report, an investigative magazine published by the Alabama-based civil rights group Southern Poverty Law Center.
JDL Leader’s Shooting Trial to Resume Next Month in Michigan
Was it road rage or self defense? Or maybe even a politically motivated act of violence?
That’s what a jury will decide when the trial of Jewish Defense League organizer Carl Mintz begins on Oct. 14.
Mintz, 27, a state chapter organizer for the JDL in Michigan, is charged in the shooting of a 20-year-old Arab-American named Faith Said. The prosecution’s first attempt at a conviction ended with a mistrial in August when three members of the jury refused to acquit Mintz.
According to local police reports, Said approached Mintz’s car after the two came to rest at a stoplight in Farmington Hills, Mich. Said got out of his car and walked toward Mintz, loudly criticizing him for tapping his brakes as he approached the light. Mintz then reached for his concealed handgun and shot Said in the arm. Mintz is claiming self-defense, but prosecutors note that the light had already turned green when Mintz opened fire and that he could have simply driven away.
At first, local news accounts failed to mention Said’s ethnicity. That changed when reporters discovered that Mintz was not only a state chapter organizer for the JDL but had posted video clips on YouTube in which he rants against socialists and Muslims, and declares Islam to be “the enemy.”
If convicted of the felony charge of assault with intent to do great bodily harm, Mintz faces up to 10 years in prison. He faces another two years on weapons charges.
In the past, JDL members have not fared well in prison. In 2005, Earl Krugel, a key JDL member who was serving time for a 2001 plot to bomb a California mosque and the office of a Lebanese-American congressman, was killed at a federal prison in Phoenix when another inmate struck him on the head with a cement block. In 2002, JDL leader Irv Rubin died of an apparent suicide in federal detention while awaiting trial in connection with the same plot. His family and the JDL contend that he was murdered.
The JDL, which preaches a violent form of anti-Arab, Jewish nationalism, has maintained a relatively low profile in recent years. The group is still active, however, on both sides of the Atlantic. In London earlier this month, British JDL activists took to the streets together with the English Defence League in a counter-demonstration against a Muslim rally in support of Palestinians.
on September 23rd, 2010 at 11:20 am
is it known that mintz knew at the time of the incident that the person who approached his car and yelled at him is a muslim?
on September 23rd, 2010 at 1:17 pm
The greatest defense that Jewish Americans have had is their intelligence and their bent toward secularism primarily brought about by Freud and Psycho analysis. Being Jewish is an ethnic not a religion. What a shameful and sad circumstance has been brought about through this act.
on September 23rd, 2010 at 2:10 pm
I hope they get this one right.
on September 23rd, 2010 at 3:44 pm
To Charles Austin:
Well Charles it’s sort of both, I have Jewish friends who are religious and Jewish friends who aren’t, and while most American Jews aren’t religious, I think it would be jumping the gun to say Judaism “isn’t a religion”
on September 23rd, 2010 at 3:48 pm
Cases like this disprove the assertion from rightwingers in here that the SPLC selectively pursues only white supremacist terror groups.
The SPLC keeps a file on the Jewish Defense League along with white seperatist groups, black seperatist groups, anti-Latino groups, anti-gay groups and pretty much anybody who is causing trouble these days.
They’re obviously not partisan and are not anti-white either.
on September 23rd, 2010 at 6:11 pm
The 2001 JDL plot to bomb Congressman Darrell Issa’s office was apparently inspired by one of far-right blogger Debbie Schlussel’s columns, in which she referred to Issa as “Jihad Darrell”. Issa is a Republican, too, which just shows how far to the right Schlussel and the JDL are.
on September 23rd, 2010 at 7:31 pm
My hope is that both sides “stand down” and allow the peace process to begin.
on September 23rd, 2010 at 10:11 pm
“The greatest defense that Jewish Americans have had is their intelligence and their bent toward secularism primarily brought about by Freud and Psycho analysis. Being Jewish is an ethnic not a religion. ”
Judaism is a religion, sorry. Freud lived in the late 19th century, Judaism and Jews have been around for a few thousand years. Freud’s theories have also largely been discredited.
on September 24th, 2010 at 4:22 am
Snorlax, my thoughts exactly!
on September 24th, 2010 at 11:04 am
On religion vs. ethnicity: There has been that debate for the entire time Judaism has existed, 5771 years, among Jews and non-Jews alike. Considering at least biblically, that Jews can be traced back to a specific grouping of individuals is indicative of ethnicity. Also if it weren’t for the likes of Hitler who considered those with one great-grandparent as ethnically Jewish, the debate would potentially be less robust. To Jack’s point: I am one of those who are Jewish by “blood” but not necessarily by religion. During WWII regardless of my belief system I would have been relegated to slaughter.
As far as the JDL goes, I despise their beliefs and methods, but as I understand black groups that seem to exist for the protection of those with the same color skin, so I also understand the formation of the JDL. It does show, however, how hate and fear can destroy the most thoughtful of people. Kahane’s JDL started, however misguidedly, as an organization to protect Jews through the use of violence and had it’s heyday during the Soviet Union’s existence when they would disallow Jewish emigration as much as possible. With the dissolution of the Soviets the JDL has followed the same racist path as the KKK, Nazi’s, Nation of Islam, etc. It should be disbanded forthwith.
on September 24th, 2010 at 11:58 am
I couldn’t care if the guy was Jewish or Islamic or a tadpole: he is a major jackass. What do Islamic people look like? Do they have some special characteristic? What do Jewish people look like do they have some special defining physical characteristic. Both may wear clothing that is religious in nature but they are just folks….and some of them are real assh$les
The whole idea of “road-rage” makes me sick. Because you don’t happen to like the way someone drives, you hurt him or her?
The idea of using a deadly weapon is also disgusting. Put the immature creep away for a good long time and take away his right to drive!
Yep…the firearms issue is moot….get that jerk off the road!
on September 24th, 2010 at 12:03 pm
It’s a shame and a benefit to give these Israeli terrorists a trial in the first place. They don’t give trials to their victims around the world, do they?
on September 24th, 2010 at 1:55 pm
Even the Third Reich’s criteria of who was “Jewish” was totally arbitrary. Their own criteria was 1/4 officially, but they tried to claim Roosevelt and Churchill were Jews. Meanwhile they ignored the half-Jewishness of their greatest field commander, Erich von Mannstein(Lewinski) who even admitted his Jewish ancestry.
on September 27th, 2010 at 1:10 pm
The Jdl is a extremist group although they are not nearly as bad as the jewish task force(jtf dot org) , The leader of Jtf said it was obivous Obama parents were swinging in the trees and the site calls Obama a monkey on a regular basis, They have a whole section on the site praising Milosevic Jtf is the most extreme anti muslim and islamophobic website ive seen even more then gates of viena and thats saying alot
on September 27th, 2010 at 4:58 pm
Lex, thanks for that information. I have been complaining about the John and Ken Show, talk radio hosts of KFI640 AM radio in Los Angeles. On Thursday, 9-23-2010, on their broadcast, they called Obama’s aunt a ‘B’ (they said the actual word). They went on to tell their listeners to vote for Van Tran instead of Loretta Sanchez, adding something to the effect of, “all of you Vietnamese in Santa Ana better get out and vote for Tran. You know Loretta Sanchez doesn’t like Vietnamese.” I think they accused her of going on a Spanish radio/teevee station saying this.
This is all but race-baiting. These guys are known for calling immigrants ‘illegal aliens, beaners…’ on the air. I think these guys are on the extreme right. So much so, the district attorneys in Orange County Calif tried to have a change of venue and cited this show as the reasons – the case was state of calif vs. Mike Carona – former Orange County Sheriff.
on September 27th, 2010 at 7:22 pm
What’s the big deal about using the term “illegal Alien”? I’ve heard dozens of times about small gray skinned people with big black eyes that don’t have appropriate legal Visas. They simply fly around without observing any laws regarding air-space travel what so ever.
Beaming people into their mother-ships for anal probes IS going way too far however. It’s a Fourth Amendment issue damn it!
on September 28th, 2010 at 4:03 pm
Carter,
You’re too funny! I love it!
But, on a serious note, I think this is disrespectful for people to call the immigrants (brown people) ‘illegal aliens.’ Here’s the reason I say this, I’ve noticed when it comes to ‘European’ immigrants, it is often said by these same people, ‘oh, he’s German’, or, ‘he’s a German citizen’, and sometimes ‘he’s a German national.’ I guess more familiar would be Russians, you would normally hear they are Russians, immigrant/national/citizen is more than often left out.
But, thanks for the joke! I was rolling on the floor laughing with this one!
on March 18th, 2011 at 9:25 am
Clear case of self defense.