December 13, 2001	Thursday	Ramazan 27, 1422

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LOS ANGELES, Dec 12: The chairman of the militant Jewish Defense League and one of his followers have been arrested in an alleged plot to bomb a major Los Angeles area mosque and the office of a California congressman, among other targets, federal officials said on Wednesday.

JDL Chairman Irv Rubin and group member Earl Krugel, who were arrested at their homes on Tuesday night, were charged with conspiring to bomb the King Fahd Mosque in Culver City, a Los Angeles suburb; the offices of Southern California Congressman Darrell Issa, the grandson of Lebanese immigrants; and the Muslim Public Affairs Council office in Los Angeles.

Officials said the two men plotted with a third to make and detonate bombs. A complaint against the two men said that Krugel told the informant the bombings were necessary because “Arabs need a wake-up call.”

The complaint added that the unnamed source was asked to help purchase bomb components and that Krugel said he would build the bombs at his residence. The source would then place the explosives.

The source told officials that one bomb was to be placed in the offices of the Muslim Public Affairs Council.

A relative of one of the men had earlier told reporters he thought the arrests were connected to the 1985 assassination in Santa Ana, California, of Alexander Odeh, regional director of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.—Reuters