Five members of the Jewish Defense League, including its West Coast coordinator, were under arrest here today on charges of bombing the Hollywood home of a Palestinian immigrant. The pipe bomb blast early Wednesday morning damaged the apartment of Mohammed Shaath, 32, and flying debris narrowly missed Mrs. Shaath and their two infant children. Shaath was not at home at the time. Detectives said Shaath recently appeared in a television debate with Irving Rubin, 27, the JDL coordinator.
Arrested with Rubin were Robert S. Manning, 20; Philip C. Zweig, 20; Earl L. Krugel, 29; and Morton A. Zusserman, 18. Police withheld their addresses, saying they feared possible reprisals against the JDL members. Ball was set at $50,000 each.
JDL spokesmen said members were going door to door in heavily Jewish areas of the city, seeking to raise more than $5000 in donations needed for ball bond funds. The five JDL members were formally charged with conspiracy to commit and intention to injure with a destructive device. Police said the arrests resulted from information from witnesses of the bombing.
REVENGE FOR MUNICH MASSACRE
Shortly after the explosion, an anonymous caller told a news service office by telephone that “I have just bombed an Arab house in Hollywood in revenge for the killing of Israeli athletes in Munich. This must not be allowed to happen again. Never again.”
The arrests took place a week after JDL members had demonstrated peacefully in front of the Lebanese Consul office here, in protest against the Munich murders. Police permitted the demonstrators to carry unloaded rifles. Rubin told reporters then that “Jews will seek Arab blood” but carefully avoided any suggestions that JDL members would do so.
JDL spokesmen called the arrests “another incident in which we are made the scapegoats for a crime.” They said anyone could use the JDL slogan “Never Again” to incriminate the JDL. They said that JDL opposes violence “and will not go looking for it but we will not run away from it if it comes our way.”
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