Posted October 11, 2007

In response to the latest libelous article printed in today's Los Angeles Times, the Jewish Defense League reiterates the fact that it had no involvement in the 1985 death of Alex Odeh. The Times claims new information has been uncovered by federal and local authorities in recent months, but the only details it refers to are hearsay statements allegedly coming from deceased ex-JDL member Earl Krugel about a supposed conversation with late JDL Chairman Irv Rubin. Krugel is alleged to have offered this information while he was trying to secure favorable sentencing for his plea to unrelated felony charges, a plea bargain which federal prosecutors at one time publicly threatened to revoke on the basis that Krugel had not given them the information they desired.

"Alleged hearsay of a desperate prisoner facing life imprisonment is not evidence by any definition of the word," said JDL chairman Shelley Rubin. She continued, "If he indeed offered that story, one should consider the source. After changing his plea to guilty it was apparent that Earl was seeking lenient sentencing, and especially given the degree of government coercion on him it is obvious to me that he was prepared to say whatever the authorities wanted to hear in an attempt to ameliorate his situation." Rubin notes that the suspects mentioned in this supposed conversation were long ago previously named by the FBI and thus would have been easy names for Krugel to include in a fabrication for authorities.

Rubin also questioned the peculiar timing of the publication of this hollow article, on the 22nd anniversary of Odeh's death: "Given international concern over heightening levels of Islamist terrorism, I would not put it past leftist editors at the Times to publish this non-story in yet another attempt to divert the public's attention away from true terrorists." Rubin views this development as a mere continuation of the FBI's decades long illicit assault against JDL, which she blames for the unlawful imprisonment and subsequent death of her husband. "JDL had no involvement in Odeh's death, a fact about which my husband was adamant to the end," she said. JDL has always speculated that it was an act perpetrated by Odeh's Arab political rivals. Finally, Rubin restates a challenge to authorities made by her husband many years ago: "JDL members were wrongly accused by a sham of an investigation. The FBI lacked the goods then as it does now. Once again, it's time to put up or shut up."