2 Arabs Die in Wake of Kahane Slaying

Supporters of the slain Rabbi Meir Kahane shouted “Death to the Arabs!” today, and Israeli reports said police suspected a Jewish extremist already had retaliated by killing two elderly Palestinians.

The day brought a second tragedy for Kahane’s wife, Libby, when her father died after a long illness. Rabbi Yacov Blum had been unconscious and did not know of his son-in-law’s death.

Police and army reinforcements were deployed around Israel and in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip to prevent violence. But the increased security came too late to save two Palestinians killed at about 6 a.m. local time today, about two hours after Kahane was slain in New York City.

Israeli police said they suspected that an Israeli radical killed the Palestinians and that the slayings may have been prompted by Kahane’s murder, the national Itim news agency reported.

Israel television said police received death threats against Israeli Arab members of Parliament and Palestinian leaders in the occupied territories.

Kahane was slain in New York on Monday night by a gunman believed to be of Arab descent. Israel army radio said the man, identified by police as El Sayed A. Nosair, 37, formerly lived in the occupied terrritories.

Palestinians in Israel said the name as given by police was not typical and might be Said Nasser or Nasser el-Said.

The 58-year-old Kahane, a former member of Parliament and founder of the extreme right-wing Kach movement, advocated the expulsion of all Arabs from Israeli-held territory.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said Kahane’s assassination was “an unprecedented assault on an Israeli political figure on American soil” and urged the United States to increase security against terrorism.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher called the killing “a despicable and cowardly act.” Asked about a possible vendetta by Kahane supporters, he said: “We don’t see this as a time for revenge. Now is the time for restraint.”

U.N. Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar also decried Kahane’s killing and the violence in the occupied territories. “He deplores these and all acts of violence,” said a spokeswoman, Nadia Younes.