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After F.B.I. Warning, Rabbi Renews Call for Armed
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
After F.B.I. Warning, Rabbi Renews Call for Armed Patrols
By ROBERT F. WORTH
esidents of Borough Park, Brooklyn, did not seem particularly worried yesterday by the F.B.I.'s warning on Friday that terrorists might use fuel tanker trucks for attacks on synagogues and Jewish schools.
But they did express alarm about a Queens rabbi who responded to the new threat by saying he would resume his plan to bring armed patrols to Brooklyn's Jewish neighborhoods.
The rabbi, Yakove Lloyd, first proposed running armed patrols two weeks ago, and backed down last week after opposition from residents and a promise from the commissioner of the New York Police Department that any civilians patrolling with weapons would be arrested.
Hours after the F.B.I. warning was issued on Friday, Rabbi Lloyd renewed his own promise to send 50 armed people onto the streets of Borough Park and Flatbush, saying the nightly patrols would begin at 9 tonight. The first patrol will gather at Coney Island Avenue and Avenue J in Flatbush, he said.
"We take these threats very seriously," Rabbi Lloyd said yesterday. "It's time for Jews to stop being complacent."
He said volunteers from his organization, the Jewish Defense Group, would be armed with handguns, shotguns, and baseball bats. He said that he expected them to be arrested but added that he had lawyers on hand to pay bail and invoke the patrollers' right to bear arms and right to free assembly.
Although the F.B.I. did not say when or where an attack might take place, Rabbi Lloyd said he believed recent news reports that those who planned the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center had considered attacking Jewish neighborhoods in Brooklyn.
News of Rabbi Lloyd's plans traveled quickly yesterday, but a sampling of opinion in Borough Park suggested that his patrols would not be welcomed.
"We don't need vigilantes like him coming into our neighborhoods," said Jay Lenorowitz, 21, who was standing outside Congregation Shomrei Emunah on 14th Avenue and 52nd Street. "These patrols would only cause trouble."
As for the warning about synagogues and schools, "it's so much not an issue that we're making jokes over it," Mr. Lenorowitz said. "God will watch over us, that's all we have."
Alex Spitz, 80, agreed, saying that security added in the city since Sept. 11 was more than enough to keep terrorists away. "We are not afraid," said Mr. Spitz, also outside Congregation Shomrei Emunah. "These warnings are not needed."
Asked about opposition to his patrols, Rabbi Lloyd, a social worker who is not a practicing rabbi, called his opponents a vocal minority, and said "the silent majority" in Brooklyn welcomed him. Dov Hikind, the local state assemblyman, spoke out vehemently against Rabbi Lloyd's proposed patrols last week. A spokeswoman for Mr. Hikind did not return phone calls yesterday.
Rabbi Lloyd said he had chosen Borough Park and Flatbush because they are not as well policed as other heavily Jewish areas of Brooklyn and Queens, where he lives.
Officials at the Police Department reiterated yesterday their promise to arrest armed patrollers. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/23/nyregion/23THRE.html
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
By ROBERT F. WORTH
esidents of Borough Park, Brooklyn, did not seem particularly worried yesterday by the F.B.I.'s warning on Friday that terrorists might use fuel tanker trucks for attacks on synagogues and Jewish schools.
But they did express alarm about a Queens rabbi who responded to the new threat by saying he would resume his plan to bring armed patrols to Brooklyn's Jewish neighborhoods.
The rabbi, Yakove Lloyd, first proposed running armed patrols two weeks ago, and backed down last week after opposition from residents and a promise from the commissioner of the New York Police Department that any civilians patrolling with weapons would be arrested.
Hours after the F.B.I. warning was issued on Friday, Rabbi Lloyd renewed his own promise to send 50 armed people onto the streets of Borough Park and Flatbush, saying the nightly patrols would begin at 9 tonight. The first patrol will gather at Coney Island Avenue and Avenue J in Flatbush, he said.
"We take these threats very seriously," Rabbi Lloyd said yesterday. "It's time for Jews to stop being complacent."
He said volunteers from his organization, the Jewish Defense Group, would be armed with handguns, shotguns, and baseball bats. He said that he expected them to be arrested but added that he had lawyers on hand to pay bail and invoke the patrollers' right to bear arms and right to free assembly.
Although the F.B.I. did not say when or where an attack might take place, Rabbi Lloyd said he believed recent news reports that those who planned the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center had considered attacking Jewish neighborhoods in Brooklyn.
News of Rabbi Lloyd's plans traveled quickly yesterday, but a sampling of opinion in Borough Park suggested that his patrols would not be welcomed.
"We don't need vigilantes like him coming into our neighborhoods," said Jay Lenorowitz, 21, who was standing outside Congregation Shomrei Emunah on 14th Avenue and 52nd Street. "These patrols would only cause trouble."
As for the warning about synagogues and schools, "it's so much not an issue that we're making jokes over it," Mr. Lenorowitz said. "God will watch over us, that's all we have."
Alex Spitz, 80, agreed, saying that security added in the city since Sept. 11 was more than enough to keep terrorists away. "We are not afraid," said Mr. Spitz, also outside Congregation Shomrei Emunah. "These warnings are not needed."
Asked about opposition to his patrols, Rabbi Lloyd, a social worker who is not a practicing rabbi, called his opponents a vocal minority, and said "the silent majority" in Brooklyn welcomed him. Dov Hikind, the local state assemblyman, spoke out vehemently against Rabbi Lloyd's proposed patrols last week. A spokeswoman for Mr. Hikind did not return phone calls yesterday.
Rabbi Lloyd said he had chosen Borough Park and Flatbush because they are not as well policed as other heavily Jewish areas of Brooklyn and Queens, where he lives.
Officials at the Police Department reiterated yesterday their promise to arrest armed patrollers. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/23/nyregion/23THRE.html
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Comments
quote:Mr. Lenorowitz said. "God will watch over us, that's all we have."
That was all 6,000,000 European Jews had too. How many does it take? The most famous jew of all time once said, "Let he who does not own a sword sell his cloak and buy one"
I have very little hope for the people of NYC.
Nil Illegitimus Carborundum