A 24-year-old rabbinical student identified as the “administrative director” of the Jewish Defense League was arrested here yesterday on charges of having falsified passport affidavits and later released on $5000 bail. Assistant U.S. Attorney Elliot G. Sagor declared that Harry Pearl, a resident of Forest Hills, Queens, lied to obtain passports for Avraham and Nancy Joan Hershkovitz who were arrested at Kennedy Airport Sept. 27 when they attempted to board a London-bound plane armed with four loaded guns and a live hand grenade. The Hershkovitz couple, also linked to the JDL, are residents of Boro Park. Brooklyn. Law enforcement officials said they intended to fly to London where they planned to hijack a United Arab Airlines plane and divert it to Israel. Mr. Pearl is charged with signing affidavits to obtain passports for the Hershkovitzes under fictitious names and addresses. U.S. Commissioner Earle N. Bishopp of Manhattan Federal Court, set a hearing for next Tuesday. The JDL was also implicated in the bombing of the offices of the Palestine Liberation Organization here Tuesday night. An unidentified member of the group was picked up by police for questioning yesterday but was later released. Police are searching for a suspect described by office-building personnel as an “Arab type man.” An official for the PLO said yesterday that as a result of the bombing, the antagonisms in the Middle East could be extended “into the streets of New York.” The official, Saadat Hasan, was attacked last May by persons he charged were JDL members.
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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.
