Rabbi Suspends Plans for Armed Patrols by Civilians
NEW YORK — A rabbi suspended plans Sunday to organize armed civilian patrols in Jewish neighborhoods that were considered terrorist targets after residents and lawmakers complained.
“The response was so overwhelmingly negative, but God forbid anything should happen and then I’ll have to say ‘I told you so,’ ” said the rabbi, Yakove Lloyd.
Lloyd, president of the right-wing Jewish Defense Group, had called a news conference to explain details on his armed patrols. The patrols had been scheduled to begin Sunday night in Borough Park and Flatbush.
He promised a crowd of 100 supporters but showed up alone.
Lloyd said the armed patrols were conceived in response to comments that fugitive Abdul Rahman Yasin made during an interview on television June 2.
Yasin, who is sought by the FBI in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, said from Iraq that he and his accomplices originally targeted heavily Jewish neighborhoods in Brooklyn.
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