An IDF Reservist to Coordinate Jdl Members Patrolling Yeshiva University in Response to Sniper Attac

A reservist in the Israel Defense Force will coordinate the more than 25 members of the Jewish Defense League who today began armed patrols of the four-block campus of Yeshiva University in response to a series of attacks on university students. Andy Barry, who identified himself as chief of security for the IDL and said he had served in the IDF in Lebanon and is trained in hand-to-hand combat and weaponry, said the patrols around the Mannhattan upper West Side campus will be designed to act as “decoy units” in an effort to flush out the assailant. “The objective is to catch him and turn him over to authorities,” Barry said.

A JDL spokesperson said Barry was American and in his late 20’s, but would provide no details regarding his status in the IDF. Nor would the spokesperson specify the type of weapons the members of the JDL patrol will carry.

REACTIONS TO JDL’S ACTIONS

The university dissociated itself from the JDL actions at the campus, saying the JDL was not invited and that the university has no connection with the JDL. “The university believes that the best way to protect our students and to investigate the case is to rely on the manpower of the New York City Police Department, ” a university source said.

The American Jewish Committee today called on the JDL to “remove its personnel from the area immediately and to cease its unwanted intrusion” into the campus vicinity. “The intrusion of the Jewish Defense League into the investigation … is an unwarranted interference with proper police procedure and could result in further injury to innocent residents” of the upper West Side area, said James Greilsheimer, president of the New York City chapter of the AJCommittee.

The police authorities said yesterday they had not been informed of the JDL patrols. “We think it’s vigilantism and do not believe it will accomplish anything. There’s always the possibility of someone getting hurt,” Alice McGillion the department’s Deputy Commissioner of Public Information, was quoted as saying.

But the university source said Yeshiva University “is not a closed campus. Members of the JDL like everyone else are free to walk the city streets around the buildings. If members of the JDL cause problems, in any way, it is a police matter.”

JDL CONVINCED ASSAILANT WILL RETURN

Barry said today that the JDL is convinced that the assailant will return to the campus area and may mistake a JDL member as a student. He said the JDL members will maintain a low profile and will seek the participation of the student body when classes resume on October 1.

The JDL patrols are in response to a series of shootings apparently targeting Yeshiva University students, with all four incidents recently linked to each other. The latest shooting incident occurred on the Bronx-Whitestone Expressway where one student was shot in the knee and a woman passenger in a car in front of the student’s, was killed by the bullet fired from a high velocity rifle.

The City has offered a reward of $10,000 and the American Jewish Committee has added $5,000 to the fund for information leading to the apprehension and indictment of those responsible for the shootings. The university is expected to announce tomorrow the offering of a substantial reward for the capture of those responsible.