FBI Steps Up Efforts in Probe of Attacks on Arab-Americans
The FBI is stepping up efforts to identify the source of a series of violent attacks on Arab-Americans and suspected neo-Nazis in California, New York and New Jersey, FBI officials said Wednesday.
About 40 FBI intelligence agents trained in combatting terrorism were summoned to Washington last month to exchange information about the violence in three states and to coordinate efforts to apprehend those responsible, officials said.
The officials, who spoke on the condition that they not be identified, said they wished to elaborate on brief remarks made by FBI Director William H. Webster in a question-and-answer session at the National Press Club Tuesday.
‘Zone of Danger’
Webster warned that Arab-Americans were in a “zone of danger” because, he said, “a group as yet to be fully identified and brought to justice” is targeting persons it deems to be “enemies of Israel.”
Officials said he had special reference to the bombing last October of the Santa Ana office of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee in which Alex M. Odeh, the organization’s West Coast director, was killed.
Webster noted that one group has repeatedly denied responsibility for the violent acts. Officials said he was referring to the Jewish Defense League.
Similar bombings of suspected Nazis have occurred in recent months in Paterson, N.J., and Brentwood, N.Y.
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