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Wednesday, 12 December, 2001, 22:53 GMT
Jewish militants held over 'mosque plot'
Rubin (left) denies the
charges
By
the BBC's Steve Kingston in Washington
In the United States
the leader of a militant Jewish group has been charged with plotting to
blow up buildings used by Muslims.
Irving Rubin, who leads
the Jewish Defence League, was arrested along with one of its members, Earl
Krugel, at a house in Los Angeles.
The FBI say they had
just taken delivery of a quantity of high explosives.
Bomb-making equipment
and guns were also found in the house.
Tip-off
The two men are accused
of planning to bomb The King Fahd mosque in Culver City, part of greater
Los Angeles, as well as the offices of Darrell Issa, an Arab-American
congressman from southern California.
The authorities were
acting on a tip-off from a third participant in the alleged plot, which was
described by an FBI spokesman as a "planned act of violent
hatred".
The Jewish Defence
League was founded in the late 1960s and has been controversial in
promoting the Jewish cause.
Mr Rubin denies the
charges.
His lawyer says the
arrests are part of an over-reaction to the events of 11 September.
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