FBI Alerts Jewish Organizations After Scare at B’nai B’rith Office

The suspicious package discovered Thursday at B’nai B’rith--sparking an hours-long chemical-hazard alert that closed several downtown streets--was sent by someone claiming to be associated with a group called the Counter Holocaust Lobbyists of Hillel, according to the FBI Joint Terrorist Task Force.

The task force sent an advisory to Jewish organizations across the country Friday describing the package as a 5-by-10-inch, brownish, bubble-lined envelope containing a cellophane-wrapped petri dish and a threatening letter.

According to the advisory, the “rambling” two-page letter, which was typed and unsigned, called the package a “chemical weapon” and derided Jewish liberalism and the Jewish community in general.

Federal authorities have not disclosed the identity of the red, gelatin-like substance in the petri dish, but they have said it is not toxic. The postmark began “MA,” and the rest was indecipherable, the advisory said.

David C. Friedman, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, said Friday that he had never heard of Counter Holocaust Lobbyists of Hillel.

Sidney M. Clearfield, executive vice president of B’nai B’rith, called for an investigation into what he called the District of Columbia’s lack of preparedness and training for such an incident.

“It is inexcusable for police and fire personnel, in a city which is so vulnerable to terrorist incidents, to not have the highest level of training and appropriate resources for dealing with situations as potentially deadly as this,” said Clearfield, who was held hostage in the B’nai B’rith building 20 years ago during a siege by Hanafi Muslims.

FBI officials said they were generally pleased with the city’s response, which they called quick and appropriate.

The incident began Wednesday, when a package arrived at the B’nai B’rith world headquarters in downtown Washington. The building was closed Tuesday and Wednesday for Passover, but mail clerk Rusty Mason came in to sort mail.

Mason, who is trained to look for suspicious packages, put it aside because it was addressed simply to “B’nai B’rith” with no department specified, and he couldn’t read the postmark. By Thursday morning, when he looked at the package again, a red liquid was oozing from the envelope, and it was emitting an “ammonia-type” odor.

Mason contacted Carmen Fontana, the chief of security, and about 10:30 a.m., they placed the package in a wastebasket and put it on the lawn. Then they called 911.