JDL's Irv Rubin Brain Dead After Suicide Attempt

Reuters ^ | 4 November 2002 | Dan Whitcomb

[Asmodeus]

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Jewish Defense League Chairman Irv Rubin, jailed for allegedly plotting to bomb a mosque and the offices of a Arab-American congressman, was left brain dead and on life support on Monday after slitting his throat in a suicide attempt.

"He is on life support and his prognosis is dire," Rubin's attorney, Bryan Altman, told Reuters. "He is brain dead. I don't know if there is any indication that that can change in a positive way."

Rubin, 57, had been taken from his cell at the federal Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles at about 5 a.m. PST (8 a.m. EST) on Monday when he slashed his throat with a razor blade and then jumped or fell over a railing.

He was rushed to Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center and underwent surgery for wounds to his neck and throat and severe head injuries from the fall but did not regain consciousness, U.S. Marshal's spokesman William Woolsey said.

The fiery, controversial Rubin, who emigrated to the United States from Canada in 1961 and has been national chairman of the JDL since 1985, was arrested in December and charged along with another member, Earl Krugel, with the bomb plot on the testimony of an undercover informant.

Prosecutors say that Rubin and Krugel conspired with the informant to plant bombs at the King Fahd Mosque in the Los Angeles suburb of Culver City and an office of Rep. Darrell Issa, a California Republican of Lebanese Christian descent.

The indictment against Rubin alleged that Krugel, a dental hygienist, planned to build a bomb in his own garage and that the informant was to carry out a bombing the next day. Rubin allegedly approved the bombing plans and selected the targets.

Rubin and Krugel were charged with conspiracy, conspiracy to use a destructive device, attempted arson, attempted arson of a federal facility, possession of a destructive device and solicitation to commit a crime of violence.

FACING LIFE IN PRISON

Both men, who pleaded innocent, faced a maximum punishment of life in prison if convicted. They were due in court on Monday for a status conference in the case.

"I was informed that Irv tried to slit his throat with a razor blade he obtained and then jumped over a railing and landed 20 feet below on a cement floor," Krugel's attorney Mark Werksman said.

"He's been despondent for months and the pressure of the upcoming trial weighed heavily on him," Werksman said. "He's been deteriorating for some time and the pressure of the Monday court appearance may have pushed him over the top."

Defense lawyers said the JDL has been a target of FBI (news - web sites) investigations for more than 15 years. The December arrests of the two men came amid heightened tensions following the Sept. 11 attacks on Washington and New York City, they said.

Rubin, who is married with two sons, assumed leadership of the militant Jewish group in 1985 from its controversial founder, Rabbi Meir Kahane, who moved to Israel to form a political movement. Kahane was assassinated in 1990 in New York.

Rubin, long a thorn in the side of mainstream Jewish groups, often challenged what he said was their willingness to "turn the other cheek," preferring a more combative approach that included praising an Israeli settler who turned his gun on people praying in a mosque in a killing spree.

In 1978, Rubin was charged with soliciting murder after he held a press conference to protest a march in Skokie, Illinois, by the American Nazi Party and offered to pay anyone who killed or maimed a Nazi. He was ultimately cleared.

Authorities also investigated the JDL in connection with the 1985 murder of Arab-American activist Alex Odeh, which has never been solved. Rubin said at the time that Odeh had gotten "exactly what he deserved."

Though the JDL has become marginalized in recent years and membership has dwindled, Rubin has been a loud and familiar presence at protests -- turning up almost daily at the murder trial of O.J. Simpson to spar with the former football star's supporters -- and took pride in his more than 40 arrests.

In September, he won from behind bars a ruling by a California appeals court that barred officials in suburban Burbank from invoking Jesus Christ at public meetings.

[rmlew]

I suppose he is now in your relm, Sheol?

[Cicero]

Interesting case. Brain death isn't true death. The body is still alive and its individual cells are still alive. With true death the cells die and the body starts to cool.

If, as Aristotle said and Christian theology traditionally taught (see, e.g., the Catechism of the Catholic Church), the soul is not only a spirit but the "form" of the body, then presumably it remains with the body until true death.

This is speculative, of course. But it seems plausible to me.

[cornelis]

Brain death isn't true death

It's just the Descartes won't do him any good right now.

[SamKeck]

Too bad, but I for one won't miss him.

[I_saw_the_light]

Sorry to interrupt, As a RN, brain death is death. The body is an empty shell without the conciousness which in my opinion would be where the soul resides. True brain death, where there are NO brain waves would simply leave a hull, a shadow, I cant reconcile myself to the fact that this is where the soul resides.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

Did someone else slit his throat and toss him over? what would the response be if this were the case? I hope he regains consciousness and talks about it. No witnesses?

[Tom Jefferson]

It does seem suspicious. I suppose it is possible to cut your throat and then jump off an 18 foot balcony, but not very likely, in my view. I think he may have been "assisted" in his "suicide".

[OReilly]

Sorry to interrupt, As a RN, brain death is death.

Correct... but there are some in congress that (are/have been) brain dead for quite some time and have been kept on life support, both literally and figuratively as a place holder.

[VOA]

Bummer.

Because it will give some propaganda ammo to the congregants at all the local
mosques. Especially here in Southern California.

And does leave the impression that Rubin likely did at least step "over the line"
in his activities.

Love him or loath him, it is a sad outcome.
Mr. Rubin was always at least entertaining when he'd call into late-night talk radio
here in Los Angeles. At least in this sense, he will be missed.

I had hoped that if he had actually taken these more aggressive steps, he'd at least
hang in there and use a trial as a bully-pulpit (as much as possible) and go to
jail showing his firm belief in his convictions.

[Lent]

That's the debate that's going on:HERE

[I_saw_the_light]

The thing about brain death is, the body tends not to survive long afterward. I would say these boys are about to Code-tomorrow perhaps?

[Thinkin' Gal]

True brain death, where there are NO brain waves would simply leave a hull, a shadow, I cant reconcile myself to the fact that this is where the soul resides.

If a brain-dead person doesn't have a soul, this would go a long way in explaining the average demoncrat.

[NautiNurse]

Brain death isn't true death.

In brain death, the patient is completely dependent upon mechanical ventilation and medications until the rest of the body shuts down. There is no blood flow to the brain. The brain cells that control the respiratory function are dead. There are no reflexes. There are no senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch).

[VOA]

It does seem suspicious. I suppose it is possible to cut your throat and then jump off
an 18 foot balcony, but not very likely, in my view. I think he may have been
"assisted" in his "suicide".

I don't want to start any sort of rumor mill...
but my naive Gentile guess is that a Jewish activist like Mr. Rubin would
not have many friends if his jail had any Nation of Islam and Aryan Nation
adherents.

It MIGHT be that he'd already been hassled or even just mentally taunted enough to
decide that he'd take this exit instead of being punked out or just killed outright in jail.

[ErnBatavia]

Your tinfoil is showing, guys! :)

Rubin was on tv and talk radio out here in SoKal quite frequently...an extremely unstable personality; suicide does not surprise me one bit.

Life is not ALL scripted "Murder She Wrote", for crying out loud. There's no conspiracy theory here, IMO.

[I_saw_the_light]

Unfortunately, most democraps are probably in a chronic vegatative state. The brain works well enough to sustain bodily functions but the higher brain doesnt work-comparable to say, an amoeba or some blood sucking parasite like a tapeworm.

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

Good grief, where have I been? I didn't know a thing about this!

[bybybill]

The world is a better place after that coward left it.

[Cicero]

I said that my position is speculative, but this is speculative, too. If you pull the plug or cease feeding, THEN death results.

Flatlining certainly looks like death, but it's still not certain that it is. What is it that keeps the body's cells alive? They are not individually alive, but when life finally goes, they all die a short time after.

It's possible to be in a coma, and lack all the five senses, but still to have a living person inside there. Does the soul need the brain to think with or be conscious? We don't know. But traditional belief says that mind is separable from body at death. So lack of brain function doesn't certainly indicate death.

There have been incidents where patients were pronounced brain dead, but subsequently recovered. I suppose they probably didn't completely flatline, but I don't know that for sure in all cases.