An anonymous telephone caller claiming to speak for the Jewish Defense League, told local news media here today that the JDL was responsible for a fire that killed an unidentified woman in a downtown Brooklyn building early this morning. The caller claimed the JDL “discovered” that the building housed the “secret headquarters” of the Palestine Liberation Organization. The FBI terrorist task force is investigating the fire.
Meir Jolovitz, JDL national chairman, said in a telephone interview with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that his group had no knowledge of the incident until news organizations called asking him if in fact the JDL was responsible. The fire was “not a JDL action” nor was it “sanctioned by the JDL.”
As for the claim that an Arab restaurant in the building was a front for the PLO, Jolowitz said that “this was the first we had heard of that.”
Detective Jack Fleming of the 76th Precinct in Brooklyn confirmed to the JTA that the fire which gutted a building at 160 Atlantic Avenue at Clinton Street in the Brooklyn Heights section was of “suspicious nature.” He said that following the calls to the media, the police contacted the JDL which denied responsibility for the fire.
According to Fleming, the blaze was reported at about 1:50 a.m. in the Tripoli restauranton the ground floor of the five-story building which he described as a “small apartment house.” He said it spread throughout the structure killing a woman on the fourth floor. He said he could not release her name until she is identified by next of kin. The Tripoli restaurant is one of many Arab-owned restaurants in the neighborhood which specialize in Middle Eastern cuisine.
JDL BUSY DEMONSTRATING AGAINST SINAI WITHDRAWAL
Meanwhile, the JDL was busy during the day demonstrating in front of the Israel Consulate and trying to take over the building which houses the Jewish Agency to protest Israel’s final withdrawal from Sinai April 25.
Chanting “No retreat from Yamit,” some 50 JDL members, headed by Rabbi Meir Kahane, rallied in front of the Consulate. The demonstrators carried Israeli flags and placards urging the Israeli government not to withdraw from Sinai. An Israeli spokesman said that before the demonstration began some 10 JDL members staged a sit-in in the labby of the Consulate but left peacefully as soon as the demonstration outside began.
The effort by JDL members to take over the Jewish Agency building was a failure. According to an Agency spokesman, some eight JDL members were trapped between two sets of security doors on the street level when they tried to enter the building. They eventually were allowed to leave.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
