Jewish Leaders Reject JDL Role in South Bay

Many Jewish leaders in the South Bay, rankled the last four years by the presence of a group that claims the Holocaust never happened, are even more incensed by the recent arrival of a militant Jewish group as a self-proclaimed savior.

“They have made a bad situation into a deplorable situation,” said Doug Stone, a spokesman for the the Jewish Federation Council of Greater Los Angeles’ southern region, although he later softened his term to “unfortunate.”

“Here we have two radical extremist groups and both have a legal right to establish storefronts. However, we would like it if they both left Torrance.”

The newcomer is the Jewish Defense League, a national organization whose demonstrations against anti-Semitism have often erupted into fistfights. Irv Rubin, the league’s recently appointed national leader, said it opened an office in Torrance in July because local Jewish leaders have done nothing to force out the Institute for Historical Review, the group that denies the Holocaust.

Ordinance Proposed

Rubin has proposed to the Torrance City Council an ordinance that he said would discourage the institute from remaining in the city and would allow public comment on the group. Acknowledging that the legislative approach is unusual for the militant league, Rubin said: “I want to get away from the image that scares Jews so much.”

Bradley Smith, a spokesman for the institute, has denounced the proposed ordinance as “harassment” and “an attempt to suppress free inquiry into the Holocaust by legislation.” He added that “the JDL has a history of commiting violent acts against people with whom it disagrees. We don’t know exactly what Rubin will do.”

The institute--which is essentially a three-person office that distributes books--acknowledges that Jews were held in Nazi concentration camps but claims that few, if any, were systematically put to death. Rather, it says most of them died of hunger or illness. It says the widely accepted belief that 6 million Jews died at Nazi hands is grossly exaggerated.

The group has been the target of several attacks in the past four years, including three firebombings at its former office and warehouse on 237th Street. The most recent attack came on July 4, 1984, when the building was destroyed by a firebomb. The institute opened a new office about a year ago on Cabrillo Avenue. Police say they believe they know who committed the attack, but lack enough evidence for a conviction.

Involvement Denied

Rubin said the league was not involved in any of the bombings, but he applauded them. He accused the institute of being tied to neo-Nazis and other anti-Semites. The institute denies such ties, saying it simply publishes another view of history.

But instead of a confrontation between the league and the institute, Rubin’s arrival has prompted a battle of words between his group and South Bay Jewish leaders.

Told that Rubin accused them of “not lifting a finger” against the institute, several Jewish leaders became incensed and met to coordinate a response. No specific action was decided, but some of them spoke out afterward.

“We didn’t just sit around and do nothing,” said Dr. Jerome Unatin, a Torrance orthopedic surgeon and president of the federation’s southern region, which covers the South Bay. Unatin said the group has had speakers, movies and other programs on the Holocaust at various schools and libraries since the institute set up shop. Alluding to the league’s violent past, he said: “We explored legal means. We don’t agree with any group that advocated breaking the law.”

‘Equally Unwelcome’

“I have no trouble with the goal of closing the offices of the IHR,” said Rabbi David Lieb of reform Temple Beth-El in San Pedro, “but if the JDL is intent on following the same patterns of behavior as in the past, then they are equally unwelcome.”

JDL leader Rubin, by his own estimate, has been arrested more than 30 times, mostly on charges of disturbing the peace. The JDL has staged numerous demonstrations that have erupted into fights and, in 1978, Rubin offered a $500 reward for anyone who kills, maims or seriously injures a member of the American Nazi Party.

“The JDL does not speak for the majority of Jews in Torrance, the South Bay, Los Angeles, California or the United States,” said Stone, the southern region spokesman. “We view them as an irresponsible organization.”

Local Jewish leaders also say it is unfair to say that the institute is only the problem of Torrance-area Jews.

‘National Problem’

“It is an accident that it is in Torrance,” said Rabbi Lieb. “It seems unfair that what is a national problem should be borne entirely by the local community. To focus on their address is a disservice to all Jews. It is a national problem.”

Torrance Mayor Jim Armstrong also squirms about a possible perception that because the institute is based in Torrance, the city condones its actions.

“A few square feet in an industrial area does not make a city,” Armstrong said, repeating a line he often uses when asked why the institute is in Torrance. “That is not what Torrance is all about.”

Local Jewish leaders and even Armstrong, who has been cited by the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith for publicly speaking out against the institute, are caught in a quandary. They oppose what the institute espouses, yet they recognize its right to freedom of speech.

“Under our Constitution they have the right to exist and espouse what they want,” said Phillip Kraus, a Rancho Palos Verdes attorney and past president of the federation’s southern region. “But if they moved I certainly would not be sorry about that.”

Violence Condemned

Armstrong, who said Torrance does not need the league “to be our conscience for us,” warned that violent actions by either group will not be tolerated. Police have met with both sides but are reluctant to discuss publicly any potential problems so as not to give either side cannon fodder, according to Capt. Jim Popp.

“We are aware of the presence of both parties and we are communicating with them regularly to assist them in resolving their differences,” Popp said.

The institute set up its office and store in 1978 in Torrance simply out of convenience, according to spokesman Smith. He said the institute’s founder, Willis Carto, lived in Rancho Palos Verdes at the time and its first employees also lived in the South Bay. Carto, a political lobbyist, now runs the right-wing Liberty Lobby in Washington, D.C.

Tom Marcellus, director of the institute, declined to be interviewed. Smith, editor of the institute newsletter, said the institute is nothing more than a three-person office that publishes books that have other views of history. He said the institute is not racist or anti-Semitic.

The institute’s publications are primarily titles with historical references, such as a book on Raphael Lemkin, the man who introduced the term “genocide,” and “Is the Diary of Anne Frank Genuine?” Its most best-known book is “The Hoax of the Twentieth Century,” a 369-page book in which author Arthur R. Butz, an associate professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences at Northwestern University, attempts to disprove that the Holocaust occurred.

“The institute does not deal with the question of race,” Smith said. “The idea that you are anti-Semitic because you criticize someone who is Jewish is simply neurotic. If you discuss race, are you a racist? If we talk about these things, ipso facto we’re evil.”

He also denies charges by the league that the institute promotes Nazism. “There are no Nazis,” he said. “National Socialism died with Hitler. He created it and he killed it. What does it mean to be a Nazi in 1985 when there is no National Socialist movement?”

Smith said that if individuals or groups that promote anti-Semitism or racist feelings read books published by the institute, it is purely coincidental.

“If somebody who is anti-Semitic reads a book published by the IHR, how can that make the IHR anti-Semitic?” he said. “I read articles by Rabbi (Meir) Kahane. Does that make me a Zionist?” Kahane founded the Jewish Defense League in 1968.

Settled Lawsuit

The institute suffered a blow in early August when it settled out of court a suit filed by a Long Beach businessman who accepted a challenge by the institute for anyone to prove that a single Jew was gassed in Nazi Germany. The institute had offered a $50,000 reward, but balked at paying even after a court ruled that the Holocaust was a legal fact. In an out-of-court settlement the institute paid the man $100,000 and issued a public apology, although it did not acknowledge that any Jews were gassed.

Jewish leaders across the country applauded the verdict and declared it a victory against bigotry.

But not Rubin.

“It was a defeat,” said Rubin, who said the settlement is part of the reason he ventured out of his Beverly Hills-Fairfax office and set up shop on Sepulveda Boulevard in Torrance. He said the league has 800 members on the West Coast but would not say if it has any in the South Bay.

“The IHR is alive and well and it’s in Torrance. I’m insulted by the fact that there is a sizable Jewish community in the South Bay that has done absolutely nothing.”

Publicize Addresses

That’s why he has proposed his so-called “consumer protection” ordinance. Rubin and Jan Tucker, a Torrance private investigator working with the league, in early August asked the City Council to consider the ordinance, which would require companies based out of state--like the institute, which has corporate headquarters in Texas--to make public the home address and phone numbers of its officers and employees and require persons claiming academic credentials to list with the city what institutions awarded them.

Rubin said he hopes such public disclosure would frighten the institute out of the city because its employees would fear being attacked at home. City Atty. Stanley Remelmeyer said his staff is reviewing the proposed ordinance and he will make a recommendation to the City Council in about a month.

Rubin said he is proposing the ordinance in an effort to force the institute out through normal channels rather than violence.

“I’m hoping and praying that I don’t have to go into the streets with demonstration after demonstration in front of the IHR,” he said. “That would take a lot of energy. This is not a natural activist area.”

Rubin Not Surprised

Rubin said he is not surprised that the federation has denounced his efforts: “If the Jewish Federation Council would let the word out that the JDL is, indeed, a good organization, a viable organization, and is needed by the Jewish community, can you imagine what would happen to the funds that automatically go the JFC? We judge our success literally by the amount of vigor that the condemnation has with it. If the Establishment condemns us, then we know we are doing right.

“The purpose of a militant group, be it Jew or Gentile, is to provide a catalyst or a gadfly to push the more moderate groups. . . .