The New York Times · 14 November 1985

CP-1985-029

Anti-Semitism, Anti-Murder

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In the same week that Leon Klinghoffer was murdered in the Mediterranean for the crime of being Jewish, Alex Odeh was murdered in California for the crime of being an Arab. Mr. Odeh, a Palestinian by birth, was killed by a bomb on Oct. 11 when he opened his office door in Santa Ana, where he was West Coast director of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.

On television the day before, while condemning the Achille Lauro hijacking, he had defended the P.L.O. leader, Yasir Arafat. The Odeh murder was immediately denounced by the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith as “domestic terrorism which cannot be tolerated.”

A disturbingly different judgment was offered by Irv Rubin, chairman of the Jewish Defense League: “I have no tears for Mr. Odeh. He got exactly what he deserved.” Despite these words, the league denies any part in the crime and indignantly rejects as slander the F.B.I.’s preliminary finding that it is “the possible responsible group.”

It will take a trial to determine who killed Mr. Odeh. No trial is needed to ascertain the character of the Jewish Defense League, a promoter of blatant racism in America and Israel. Mr. Rubin was named U.S. chairman by the league’s founder, Rabbi Meir Kahane, who immigrated to Israel and now sits in its Parliament as the choice of 1.2 percent of the voters.

Rabbi Kahane derides Arabs as “dogs” and “jackals” and says they must be driven from Israel with “their luggage of abomination.” In a sordid, unintended parody of Nazi ideology, he advocates making Israel ethnically pure. To defend its democracy against racism, Israel is changing its election laws to try to disqualify Mr.

Kahane’s party. But the J.D.L. also poses a moral and political problem for the United States. A life is a life, and there can be no distinction between the murder of a Jew by the P.L.O. and the murder of an Arab to punish the P.L.O. When Mr. Rubin condones the killing of Mr. Odeh, he dishonors the memory of Mr. Klinghoffer.

He needs to be reminded that anti-Semitism is odious whether practiced against Jew or Arab. The way to drive that message home is to bring Mr. Odeh’s killers to justice.

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• Two Americans killed in one week, and the papers that said so

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