Terrorism

Jewish and Israeli institutions around the world are shoring up security this week as terrorism experts warn of a near-certain attack to avenge the killing of a top Hezbollah leader in Syria on Feb. 13.

And while the threat of an attack in New York is considered low, police and community officials are taking precautions.

Concern was increased on Monday when a firebomb was tossed at a Jewish community center in Los Angeles, although no one was hurt and the facility was not damaged.

Hundreds of terror victims and their families, most of them Israelis, filed suit Tuesday against Arab Bank, which is already defending itself against claims by another group that it abets terrorism.
Both suits filed in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn accuse the Jordan-based Arab Bank of providing funds for the families of suicide bombers recruited by groups on the State Department’s list of terrorist organizations.
The money was transferred via the bank’s New York branch on Madison Avenue, the plaintiffs allege.

Perhaps no one since Adolph Eichmann has been charged with complicity in more Jewish murders than Sami Al-Arian, the Florida professor affiliated with Islamic Jihad.

The difference between Eichmann and Al-Arian is that in 1962, the year the Nazi was hanged for his crimes against humanity, the American public and the Jewish public cared. In 2005, with the lack of media coverage, maybe they werenít given an opportunity to care.Al-Arian was acquitted last week on eight counts, including conspiring to murder, with the jury unable to reach a verdict on nine additional counts.

One group came to be briefed. Another came to do the briefing.
Separate delegations of Israeli experts came here recently to strengthen ties and build cooperation between the terror-plagued Jewish state and New York.

When federal prosecutors tried last year to convict several fundraisers for Muslim organizations of supporting terrorism against Israel, their efforts fell flat. A Dallas jury rejected each of 197 charges against officials of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development.
Earlier last year in Chicago, terrorism charges against two alleged Hamas activists also didn’t stick, and the two were convicted only of obstruction of justice.

Israelis were shaken this week by another bus bombing that killed 13, the fear of civil war after militant settlers clashed with police and soldiers, and the Health Ministry’s recommendation that the entire population be immediately vaccinated against smallpox in the event of an Iraqi attack.
In Monday’s suicide bombing, two teenage members of Islamic Jihad from the West Bank Palestinian city of Jenin rammed their jeep into the rear of a public bus midway between Haifa and Tel Aviv, engulfing the two vehicles and two nearby cars in flames.

It was an advertising campaign that tugged at the heartstrings, complete with photos of adorable Israeli preschoolers.
The message: These vulnerable children need protection from terrorist attacks.
The campaign worked, attracting thousands of donors and raising nearly $320 million to date for the United Jewish Communities Emergency Israel Campaign. Of that, $20 million was allocated to provide security guards at kindergartens and other schools for which the Israeli budget could not pay.

The government of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon defended its siege of the Ramallah compound of Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat from intense criticism at home and abroad, saying the goal of the operation was to arrest those involved in terrorist activities who had sought refuge there.

A Chanukah menorah still stood on the kitchen table in the Sderot home of Aliza Amar on Wednesday, one week after a Palestinian Kassam rocket struck her house and punctured her legs with shrapnel.
“The house was blown apart,” said Mark Schiff, 53, a Los Angeles comedian who was touring the war-ravaged city as part of the Crossroads Comedy Tour that raises money for teens at risk.