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- <text id=94TT1122>
- <title>
- Aug. 08, 1994: Middle East:Is U.S. a Target--Again?
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1994
- Aug. 08, 1994 Everybody's Hip (And That's Not Cool)
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- MIDDLE EAST, Page 43
- Is the U.S. a Target--Again?
- </hdr>
- <body>
- <p> For Israelis abroad, a new state of siege has begun. Their
- embassy in Washington, the U.N. mission and consulates in nine
- U.S. cities were put under increased protection after two weeks
- of anti-Jewish bombings. In New York City an after-midnight
- caller to the FBI warned of possible car bombings at two Israeli
- offices. The city responded by increasing patrols around Israeli
- buildings and blocking entrances with concrete barriers and
- trucks loaded with sand.
- </p>
- <p> More than 100 representatives of New York's Jewish community
- gathered at city hall for a security briefing. Senior police
- officers told them that "based on all the things happening in
- the world right now," the city was taking the threat seriously.
- Though Israeli targets seemed to be most at risk, everyone was
- urged to be vigilant. "To the best of our knowledge," said Michael
- S. Miller, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations
- Council, "there have been no threats directed at the Jewish
- community." But as the bombing of the World Trade Center reminds
- Americans, almost anything could become a target.
- </p>
- <p> Fighting the faceless terrorists will be no easier this time
- around. Israeli, American and British officials are convinced
- that the attacks in Buenos Aires and London, and possibly a
- bomb that destroyed a commuter plane in Panama, were the work
- of Iran's global network of killers. Obscure Lebanon-based affiliates
- of Hizballah have claimed responsibility, but most intelligence
- experts agree with Uri Dromi, the Israeli government spokesman.
- Said he: "We have no evidence to present in court, but still
- we see Iranian fingerprints." A defecting Iranian diplomat has
- told Argentine officials that the blast in Buenos Aires was
- directed by a military attache and a cultural attache at the
- Iranian embassy.
- </p>
- <p> Regardless of who is sponsoring them, the apparently coordinated
- explosions in several countries provide clear warning of more.
- "We don't know if this current wave is over," says an official
- in Washington. Says another government expert on terrorism:
- "We know that Hizballah has established an infrastructure in
- the U.S. and Canada. You have reason for concern."
- </p>
-
- </body>
- </article>
- </text>
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