Jewish Defense Organization Records

The collection includes materials pertaining to the Jewish Defense Organization, a radical organization devoted to protecting Jews from their enemies, imaginary and real, using all means possible.

Collection consists of correspondence, financial documents, legal documents, such as depositions, subpoenas, and transcripts, and a large amount of printed materials.

The bulk of the materials consist of a variety of printed materials that are spread throughout the collection, with the larger segment found in Series III: Jewish Defense Organization Publications and Series IV: Printed Materials.

These materials consists of newspapers, magazines, journals, newsletters, leaflets, flyers, posters, and clippings and cover such topics as Anti-Semitism, Israel, Middle East, terrorism, Islam, labor movement, conservatives, right wing extremism, racism, and Soviet Jews.

There is also an abundance of materials pertaining to specific organizations, such as Jewish Defense League, Jewish Defense Organization, Ku Klux Klan, Palestinian Liberation Organization, and Nation of Islam.

The second largest portion of the collection deals with a number of legal cases against various members of the Jewish Defense Organization and the organization itself, in particular a case brought forward by former member Steven Rambam. These materials consist of court procedures and other legal documents in their entirety, as well as correspondence.

Other materials dealing directly with Jewish Defense Organization include official correspondence and correspondence dealing with Mordechai Levy's arrest, financial and legal documents, notes, and photographs and audio-visual materials documenting the organization’s work. These materials constitute just a fraction of the collection.

Many materials that one would expect to find among the organization’s records are missing. There are very few financial or bookkeeping records, very little membership information and aside from the printed materials, very little is documented in regards to the organization’s activities.