Meir Weinstein, the former Canadian chairman of the Jewish Defence League, has launched a new organization that will investigate and publicly identify people and businesses it accuses of supporting terrorist groups. The organization, called The Jewish Defense Force, is being formed through Israel Now, the group Weinstein established after leaving the JDL in 2021.
Weinstein said the organization will collect information on individuals, organizations and businesses it considers a threat to Canadian Jews. Its planned activities include publishing the names and home addresses of alleged Hamas supporters and organizing demonstrations outside their residences. The group also intends to identify restaurants and businesses it accuses of glorifying terrorists or providing gathering places for their supporters.
A website for the organization is expected to launch shortly.
“Now is the time to join the new Jewish Defense Force and fight back against those who threaten the Jewish community,” Weinstein said. “Enough being a victim.”
Weinstein said the organization was created in response to repeated attacks against Jewish schools, synagogues and businesses, as well as demonstrations where support for Hamas and other terrorist organizations has allegedly been expressed. He has also accused established Jewish organizations of relying too heavily on public statements and government advocacy while failing to confront those responsible for threats and intimidation.
The organization’s name and proposed tactics closely resemble the approach of the Jewish Defence League, although Weinstein has not formally described it as a relaunch of the organization.
Weinstein served for decades as the JDL’s Canadian chairman and national director. He established its Toronto branch in 1979 and later helped revive the organization after a period of inactivity. Founded in New York by Rabbi Meir Kahane in 1968, the JDL promoted Jewish self-defence and direct confrontation with groups it considered hostile to Jews. The organization became deeply controversial in the United States after members were linked to bombings, assaults and criminal plots.
Weinstein has maintained that the Canadian organization operated separately and concentrated on protests, community security and opposition to groups it considered anti-Jewish or supportive of terrorism. He left the JDL in 2021 and formed Israel Now, which has continued to promote self-defence training, intelligence gathering, public demonstrations and cooperation with police.
The New Jewish Defense Force represents a return to that model under a new name at a time when Canadian Jewish institutions have faced shootings, vandalism, firebombings and repeated security threats. Its plans to publish residential addresses and organize demonstrations outside private homes are also likely to raise legal and security concerns, including questions about privacy, harassment and the risk of confrontation.
Weinstein has said the organization intends to operate within Canadian law.
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