Irving David Rubin (April 12, 1945 – November 13, 2002) was a Canadian-born American political and religious activist who served as chairman of the Jewish Defense League (JDL) from 1985 to 2002.

"[6] In 1985, Alex Odeh, the local chairman of the pro-Palestinian American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) was killed by a bomb while opening the door to his Santa Ana, California office.

During the civil suit brought by the SPLC against Aryan Nations founder and Pastor Richard Butler held in Coeur d' Alene, Idaho, in 2000, Rubin stayed for at least 4 days holding vigil during the proceedings.

These include a lively 1988 debate on Crossfire with black nationalist Steve Cokely, shortly following a controversial lecture that Cokely gave in which he stated his belief that Jewish doctors were inoculating black babies with the HIV virus, appearing on the History Channel documentary Nazi America: A Secret History, and an October 22, 1997 appearance on the Jerry Springer Show, in which he and his bodyguards scuffled with members of the Ku Klux Klan after he attacked a member of the KKK who mocked him by removing his hood to reveal a yarmulke.

One of the more celebrated debates that Rubin had was with Klansman and founder of the White Aryan Resistance Tom Metzger on KDOC Channel 56's Hot Seat with Wally George.

[12] He was involved in a cross-country grand theft auto racket where new Honda Accords would be stolen from ports on the East Coast, driven across country, and sold for $12,000.

The two allegedly were caught in the act of planning bomb attacks against the King Fahd Mosque in Culver City, California, and on the office of U.S. Representative Darrell Issa (R-CA), who is a Christian of Lebanese and Czech descent.

[15] However, according to the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles, Gillis was a former JDL member who joined the organization due to conflicts with white skinheads.

[19] In November 2002, while imprisoned at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles awaiting trial, Rubin allegedly cut his own throat and then jumped off an 18–20-foot (5.5–6-meter) balcony.

[20] Defense attorney Mark Werksman said that Rubin had been despondent for months, losing 40 pounds (18 kilograms), and that the pressure of an upcoming trial "may have pushed him over the top.