|
Rabbi Calls for Armed Jewish Patrols on New York Streets
 |
| Members
of the media and New York city police at the site where the
group said it would start armed patrols
|
NEW
YORK, June 25 (IslamOnline and News Agencies) - Emboldened by alleged
threats, armed Jewish patrols were set to take to the streets of New
York City on Sunday, June 23, despite police warnings that they face
arrest.
The
armed patrols, however, failed to materialize, with only reporters,
police, community leaders and curious residents showing up, reported
news agencies.
Rabbi
Yakov Lloyd, leader of a rightwing group called the Jewish Defense
Group who initiated the idea of the patrols, however, said early
Monday that the patrols had gone ahead as scheduled, with 25 group
members patrolling the streets holding shotguns in bags, handguns and
bats.
Lloyd
had originally planned to start patrols of Jewish neighborhoods in
Brooklyn
with shotguns and baseball bats last week.
Strong
criticism from local residents and Jewish community leaders, coupled
with police warnings that anyone found carrying a weapon would be
arrested, saw Lloyd back down.
However,
he decided to revive his plans after police across the nation were
told Friday to watch out for fuel tanker trucks that could be used as
weapons against Jewish neighborhoods, including schools and
synagogues.
The
FBI claimed the warning was based on interviews with captured Al-Qaeda
and Taliban fighters.
“This
new threat only underlines what I have been saying all along. The
Jewish community must take steps to protect itself,” Lloyd said,
adding that around 50 armed volunteers would gather at around
9:00 pm
on Sunday (0100 GMT Monday) to launch the first patrol.
New
York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly has repeatedly warned Lloyd and
his supporters to drop their plans, saying anyone carrying a gun would
be arrested, but the rabbi said preparations had been made for any
police action. The police had no comment on reports that the group did
actually patrol.
“If
we see a violation of the law we will take appropriate action,”
police spokeswoman Sgt. Mary Williams said Sunday.
“The
patrols were suspended by a week because we were specifically
threatened with immediate arrest for unlawful assembly,” Lloyd said.
“We
will be going ahead this time, and we will have lawyers and money
ready for bail.”
Local
residents say they fear the move will create tensions in an area that
also has a sizeable Muslim population.
An
ordained orthodox rabbi, Lloyd founded the Jewish Defense Group in
1985 “to combat anti-Semitism and defend Jews.”
The
initial catalyst for the armed patrols was a series of news reports
that terrorists who bombed the
World
Trade
Center
in 1993 had originally targeted Jewish neighborhoods in
Brooklyn
.
New
York state senator Carl Kruger, who represents the Brooklyn
neighborhood, commenting on Lloyd and his alleged patrol, commented,
“If Rabbi Lloyd would crawl out of his hole and show himself with
his phantom troops that don’t exist I’d tell him that he’s the
real terrorist.”
Lloyd’s
Jewish Defense Group follows the principles of Rabbi Meir Kahane,
founder of the right-wing Jewish Defense League. Kahane was
assassinated in 1990.
In
January, Jewish Defense League chairman Irv Rubin and a group member
were charged with conspiring to blow up a mosque and the office of an
Arab-American congressman in
California
. They have pleaded innocent, news agencies reported.
|
