NEW YORK, April 5: The Jewish American aid worker who treated Palestinian wounded in Yasser Arafat’s besieged compound denounced his critics on Thursday and said police and the FBI were investigating death threats that have led his parents to temporarily leave their Brooklyn home.

“So far they are safe and trying to stay that way,” Adam Shapiro — described as “the Jewish Taliban” in some US media reports — said of his parents, Doreen and Stuart Shapiro, in a telephone interview from his apartment in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

“The (New York) police and FBI are checking on the nature of these threats and how serious they are,” he added.

Shapiro persuaded Israeli authorities to allow him to enter the PLO presidential compound last weekend to treat wounded aides of Arafat and became trapped inside as Israeli troops pounded the complex with heavy gunfire.

He caused a storm in some New York Jewish circles when it was learned after he emerged from the compound that Arafat ate breakfast with him as a gesture of thanks for aiding the wounded.

The Shapiros, both teachers, are living out of state after death threats sent to their Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, home via telephone and e-mail.

Critics have said Adam Shapiro, who was raised a Jew but says he does not now follow a particular religion, is a traitor to America and the Jews.

“I think it’s utterly ridiculous and irresponsible for the press to report such ludicrous statements,” he said. “I have a long track record of speaking out against violence.”

Shapiro is a member of The International Solidarity Movement, a group working to raise awareness of the Palestinian struggle and to end the Israeli occupation.

In New York, Shapiro’s brother Noah said the “disgusting” telephone calls and emails had left their parents “emotional and distraught”.—Reuters