L.A. Community
Beefs Up Security
Los Angeles (JTA) — Jewish
community organizations and po-
lice have implemented tougher
security measures this week, in
the wake of three local bomb
scares that came within days of
the attacks on Jewish institutions
in Buenos Aires and London.
In the first reported incident,
on July 27, police cordoned off a
section of Wilshire Boulevard, af-
ter a suspicious car was reported
parked on the sixth level of the
17-story building housing the Is-
raeli Consulate.
The previous day, a bomb ex-
ploded outside the Israeli Con-
sulate in London, injuring 13
people. Early in the morning of
July 27, another bomb exploded
in front of a Jewish communal
building in London, injuring an-
other five people.
After the car was spotted at
the consulate in Los Angeles, a
stretch of Wilshire Boulevard, the
city's busiest thoroughfare, re-
mained closed to traffic between
6 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Police
checked out the car, as well as
other cars parked near the Jew-
ish Community Building, two
blocks from the consulate.
Following the police investi-
gation, the alert was lifted, said
Ido Aharoni, consul for commu-
nications and public affairs, who
noted that no threats had been
received at the consulate or by Is-
raelis living in Los Angeles.
In the second incident on the
same day, a bomb threat was re-
ceived by phone at the Univer-
sity of Judaism in West Los
Angeles. The main building was
evacuated while police searched
the premises for about 90 min-
utes before giving the all-clear,
said Warren Spry, the universi-
ty's facilities director.
The following day, the Simon
Wiesenthal Center and its ad-
joining Museum of Tolerance
were evacuated for three hours,
following two separate but almost
simultaneous incidents, accord-
ing to Rabbi Abraham Cooper,
the center's associate dean.
Two oversized vans tried to en-
ter the center's parking lot
around 3:30 p.m., but were
turned back and the drivers de-
tained until police arrived. Sub-
sequent questioning showed that
the vans were connected with a
group scheduled to tour the mu-
seum, and the drivers were re-
leased.
At almost the same time, a col-
lege student phoned police from
a public phone directly across
Pico Boulevard from the Wiesen-
thal Center, and said that a bomb
would explode at the Museum of
Tolerance at 4 p.m.
Police immediately appre-
hended the caller, described as a
U.S. citizen of Asian descent, and
after determining that he and his
roommate had just finished vis-
iting the museum, ordered an
evacuation of the premises.
During the three-hour evacu-
ation, Pico Boulevard, another
major east-west traffic artery,
was cordoned off for several
blocks, as well.
Since the attack on the main
Jewish community center in
Buenos Aires on July 18, in which.
about 100 people were killed, po-
lice throughout the metropolitan
area have been patrolling Jewish
institutions more frequently and
in greater strength, said Rabbi
Gary Greenebaum, Western re-
gional director of the American
Jewish Committee.
Rabbi Greenebaum is a mem-
ber and immediate past president
of the Los Angeles Police Com-
mission.
At the Jewish Community
Building, housing the Jewish
Federation Council, its agencies
and other Jewish organizations,
added security measures were
implemented following a meet-
ing of executives.
No one will be allowed to park
in front of the building, employ-
ees and visitors will have to wear
clear identifications and police
will maintain a constant surveil-
lance, said Gary Wexler, the fed-
eration's communications
director.
The federation and the Anti-
Defamation League will shortly
hold security seminars for Jew-
ish institutions to reinforce in-
structions first issued during the
1991 Persian Gulf War.
Austrian Bishop
Bans Cult
Vienna (JTA) — On the eve of his
retirement, Austrian Bishop
Reinhold Stecher has banned an
anti-Semitic cult that worships a
small child said to have been rit-
ually murdered by Jews during
the Middle Ages.
Bishop Stecher's liberal posi-
tions have been acknowledged
and in some cases honored by
Jewish organizations. He im-
posed the ban in the name of Aus-
tria's Roman Catholic church to
ensure that his successor, who
may be of a more conservative
bent, complies with the decree,
which has the full weight of
church law.
The decree denied that Jews
ever took part in ritual murders,
adding, "This was a terrible su-
perstition all over Europe."
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