U.S. Middle East Policy
U.S. Vetoes of U.N. Resolutions on Behalf of Israel
By Donald Neff
Former Time Magazine Bureau Chief, Israel
This updated version was published in Fifty Years of Israel
Originally printed in Washington Report, September ⁄ October 1993
Donald Neff has been a journalist for forty years. He spent 16 years in service for Time Magazine and is a regular contributor to Middle East International and the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. He has written five excellent books on the Middle East. |
On March 17, 1970, the United States cast its first veto in the United Nations Security Council during the presidency of Richard Nixon, when Henry Kissinger was the national security adviser. It was a historic moment, since up to that time Washington had been able to score heavy propaganda points because of the Soviet Union’s profligate use of its veto. The first U.S. veto in history was a gesture of support for Britain, which was under Security Council pressure to end the white minority government in southern Rhodesia.
Two years later, however, on Sept. 10, 1972, the United States employed its veto for the second time—to shield Israel.1 That veto, as it turned out, signalled the start of a cynical policy to use the U.S. veto repeatedly to shield Israel from international criticism, censure and sanctions.
Washington used its veto 32 times to shield Israel from critical draft resolutions between 1972 and 1997. This constituted nearly half of the total of 69 U.S. vetoes cast since the founding of the U.N. The Soviet Union cast 115 vetoes during the same period.2
The initial 1972 veto to protect Israel was cast by George Bush [Sr.] in his capacity as U.S. ambassador to the world body. Ironically, it was Bush as president who temporarily stopped the use of the veto to shield Israel 18 years later. The last such veto was cast on May 31, 1990, it was thought, killing a resolution approved by all 14 other council members to send a U.N. mission to study Israeli abuses of Palestinians in the occupied territories. Then President Bill Clinton came along and cast three more.
The rationale for casting the first veto to protect Israel was explained by Bush at the time as a new policy to combat terrorists. The draft resolution had condemned Israel’s heavy air attacks against Lebanon and Syria, starting Sept. 6, the day after 11 Israeli athletes were killed at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games in an abortive Palestinian attempt to seize them as hostages to trade for Palestinians in Israeli prisons.3 Between 200 and 500 Lebanese, Syrians and Palestinians, mostly civilians, were killed in the Israeli raids.4
Nonetheless, Bush complained that the resolution had failed to condemn terrorist attacks against Israel, adding: “We are implementing a new policy that is much broader than that of the question of Israel and the Jews. What is involved is the problem of terrorism, a matter that goes right to the heart of our civilized life.”5
Unfortunately, this “policy” proved to be only a rationale for protecting Israel from censure for violating a broad range of international laws. This became very clear when the next U.S. veto was cast a year later, on July 26, 1973. It had nothing to do with terrorism. The draft resolution affirmed the rights of the Palestinians and established provisions for Israeli withdrawal from occupied territories as embodied in previous General Assembly resolutions.6Nonetheless, Washington killed this international effort to end Israel’s occupation of Palestinian lands.
Washington used the veto four more times in 1975-76 while Henry Kissinger was secretary of state. One of these vetoes arguably may have involved terrorism, since the draft condemned Israeli attacks on Lebanese civilians in response to attacks on Israel. But the three other vetoes had nothing at all to do with terrorism.
One, in fact, struck down a draft resolution that reflected U.S. policy against Israel’s alteration of the status of Jerusalem and establishment of Jewish settlements in occupied territory. Only two days earlier, U.S. Ambassador William W. Scranton had given a speech in the United Nations calling Israeli settlements illegal and rejecting Israel’s claim to all of Jerusalem.7 Yet on March 25, 1976, the U.S. vetoed a resolution reflecting Scranton’s positions which had been passed unanimously by the other 14 members of the council.8
The two other vetoes during Kissinger’s reign also were cast in 1976. One, on Jan. 26, killed a draft resolution calling for recognition of the right of self-determination for Palestinians. The other, on June 29, called for affirmation of the “inalienable rights” of the Palestinians.9
The Carter administration cast only one veto. But it had nothing to do with terrorism. It came on April 30, 1980, killing a draft that endorsed self-determination for the Palestinian people.10
The all-time abuser of the veto was the administration of Ronald Reagan, the most pro-Israel presidency in U.S. history, with the most pro-Israel secretary of state, George Shultz, since Kissinger. The Reagan team cynically invoked the veto 18 times to protect Israel. A record six of these vetoes were cast in 1982 alone. Nine of the Reagan vetoes resulted directly from Security Council attempts to condemn Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon, and Israel’s refusal to surrender the territory in southern Lebanon which it still occupies today. The other nine vetoes shielded Israel from council criticism for such illicit acts as the Feb. 4, 1986, skyjacking of a Libyan plane.11
Israeli warplanes forced the executive jet to land in Israel, allegedly in an effort to capture Palestinian terrorist Abu Nidal. He was not aboard and, after interrogation, the passengers were allowed to leave.12 The U.S. delegate explained that this act of piracy was excusable “because we believe that the ability to take such action in carefully defined and limited circumstances is an aspect of the inherent right of self-defense recognized in the U.N. Charter.”13
Other vetoes employed on Israel’s exclusive behalf included the Jan. 20, 1982 killing of a demand that Israel withdraw from the Golan Heights it had occupied in 196714; the April 20, 1982 condemnation of an Israeli soldier who shot 11 Muslim worshippers at the Haram Al-Sharif in the Old City of Jerusalem15; the Feb. 1, 1988 call for Israel to stop violating Palestinian human rights in the occupied territories, abide by the Fourth Geneva Convention and formalize a leading role for the United Nations in future peace negotiations16; the April 15, 1988 resolution requesting that Israel permit the return of expelled Palestinians, condemning Israel’s shooting of civilians, calling on Israel to uphold the Fourth Geneva Convention and calling for a peace settlement under U.N. auspices.17
The Bush [Sr.] administration used the veto four times to protect Israel: on Feb. 17, 1989, to kill a draft strongly deploring Israel’s repression of the Palestinian uprising and calling on Israel to respect the human rights of the Palestinians18; on June 9, 1989, deploring Israel’s violation of the human rights of the Palestinians19; on Nov. 7, 1989, demanding Israel return property confiscated from Palestinians during a tax protest and calling on Israel to allow a fact-finding mission to observe Israel’s suppression tactics against the Palestinian uprising20; and, finally, on May 31, 1990, calling for a fact-finding mission on abuses against Palestinians in Israeli-occupied lands.21
The May 31, 1990 veto was the last, presumably, as the result of a secret understanding, if not an official agreement, with Russia and the three other Security Council members with veto power. By then it had become obvious that the council could not be effective in a post-Cold War world if Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States recklessly invoked their vetoes.
Moreover, the international alliances sought by Washington to repel Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in August, 1990 made it necessary for the Bush administration to retain unity in the Security Council. As a result, instead of abstaining on or vetoing resolutions critical of Israel, as it did in 1989 and the first half of 1990, the Bush administration abruptly joined other members in late 1990, 1991 and 1992 in passing six resolutions deploring or strongly condemning Israel’s conduct against the Palestinians.22
These resolutions brought the total passed by the council against Israel since its birth to 68. If the United States had not invoked its veto, the record against Israel would total 100 resolutions condemning or otherwise criticizing its behavior or supporting the rights of Palestinians.
The agreement on vetoes held until March, 1995, when President Clinton invoked the veto after all 14 other members approved a U.N. Security Council resolution calling on Israel to rescind a decision to expropriate 130 acres of land in Arab East Jerusalem.23 The Clinton administration exercised two more vetoes in 1997, both of them on resolutions otherwise unanimously supported by the 14 other Security Council members. The draft resolution was critical of Israel’s plans to establish a new settlement at Har Homa ⁄ Jabal Abu Ghneim in East Jerusalem in the midst of Palestinian housing.24
The three Clinton vetoes brought to 32 the number Washington has cast to protect Israel.
Recommended Reading:
- Cooley, John, Green March, Black September: The Story of the Palestinian Arabs, London, Frank Cass, 1973.
- Hart, Alan, Arafat. Terrorist or Peacemaker? London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1985.
- Hirst, David, The Gun and the Olive Branch: The Roots of Violence in the Middle East, New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1977.
- Khouri, Fred, The Arab-Israeli Dilemma, 3rd ed., Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1985.
- Livingstone, Neil C. and David Halevy, Inside the PLO Secret Units, Secret Funds, and the War Against Israel and the United States, New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1990.
- Nakhleh, Ism, Encyclopedia of the Palestine Problem, 2 vols., NY: Intercontinental Books, 1991.
- Neff, Donald, Warriors Against Israel: How Israel Won the Battle to Become Israel’s Ally, Brattleboro, VT: Amana Books, 1988.
- Won the Battle to Become America’s Ally, Brattleboro, VT: Amana Books, 1988.
- U.S. State Department, America’s Foreign Policy Current Documents 1986, Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1987.
NOTES:
- Robert Alden, New York Times, Sept. 12, 1972; and U.S. U.N. Mission, “List of Vetoes Cast in Public Meetings of the Security Council,” Aug. 4, 1986. Also Neff, Warriors Against Israel, p. 96.
- A complete list of the vetoes was printed in Donald Neff, “Vetoes Cast by the United States to Shield Israel from Criticism by the U.N. Security Council,” Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, March 1993.
- Cooley, Green March, Black September, pp. 125-28; Arafat, pp. 350-53; and Livingstone and Halevy, Inside the PLO, p. 39 and pp. 104-5.
- Hirst, The Gun and the Olive Branch, p. 25 1. Also see Nakhleh,Encyclopedia of the Palestine Problem, pp. 450, 790 and 824.
- Robert Alden, New York Times, Sept. 12, 1972. The source was identified as a key member of the American delegation but internal indications in the story strongly suggest the “key member” was Ambassador Bush.
- New York Times, July 27, 1973.
- New York Times, March 25, 1976.
- Text of the draft resolutions is in New York Times, Jan. 27, 1976. Also see U.S. U.N. Mission, “List of Vetoes Cast in Public Meetings of the Security Council,” and Khouri, The Arab-Israeli Dilemma, p. 382.
- U.S. U.N. Mission, “List of Vetoes Cast in Public Meetings of the Security Council,” Aug. 4, 1986.
- New York Times, Feb. 7, 1986.
- U.S. State Department, American Foreign Policy Current Documents 1986, p. 374.
- U.S. U.N. Mission, “List of Vetoes Cast in Public Meetings of the Security Council,” Aug. 4, 1986.
- New York Times, April 21,,1982.
- Michael J. Berlin, Washington Post, Feb. 2, 1988.
- New York Times, April 16, 1988.
- Paul Lewis, New York Times, Feb. 18, 1989.
- New York Times, June 10, 1989.
- Associated Press, #VO51 1, Nov. 7, 1989, and Nakhleh,Encyclopedia of the Palestine Problem, p. 778. Nakhleh has the text of the resolution draft as well as excerpts from the discussion by several delegates and opinions by lawyers and columnist Anthony Lewis.
- Associated Press, #VO498, 09:50 EDT, June 1, 1990.
- The resolutions are #672 of Oct. 12, 1990; #673 of Oct. 24, 1990; #681 of Dec. 20, 1990; #694 of May 24, 1991; #726 of Jan. 6, 1992; and #799 of Dec. 18, 1992.
- The resolutions are #672 of Oct. 12, 1990; #673 of Oct. 24, 1990; #681 of Dec. 20, 1990; #694 of May 24, 1991; #726 of Jan. 6, 1992; and #799 of Dec. 18, 1992.
- Barbara Crossette, New York Times, 5/18/95. Text of U.N. Ambassador Madeleine Albright’s remarks is in Journal of Palestine Studies, Summer 1995, pp.160-62.
- Ian Williams, “For Second Time, General Assembly Votes to Condemn Israeli Settlements,” Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, June ⁄ July, 1997.
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Subject: From CIA Freedom of Information Act web site:
JAPAN'S PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS
| Title: | JAPAN'S PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS |
| Abstract: | (BEST COPY AVAILABLE) |
| Pages: | 0022 |
| Pub Date: | 10/9/1963 |
| Release Date: | 2/29/2000 |
| Keywords: | PROBLEMS|PROSPECTS|MILITARY|ECONOMIC|POLITICAL|JAPAN|INTERNATIONAL|NIE 41-63 |
THE OKINAWAN ISSUE IN JAPANESE POLITICS
| Title: | THE OKINAWAN ISSUE IN JAPANESE POLITICS |
| Abstract: | |
| Pages: | 0009 |
| Pub Date: | 5/5/1967 |
| Release Date: | 4/24/2001 |
| Keywords: | JAPAN|OKINAWA|OKINAWAN|RYUKYU ISLANDS|JAPANESE POLITICS|REVERSION|LDP|GOVERNMENT POLICY |
| Case Number: | EO-2000-00456 |
| Copyright: | 0 |
| Release Decision: | RIPPUB |
| Classification: | U |
Subject: From CIA Freedom of Information Act web site:
KOMEITO SEEKS THE MIDDLE ROAD IN JAPANESE POLITICS
| Title: | KOMEITO SEEKS THE MIDDLE ROAD IN JAPANESE POLITICS |
| Abstract: | |
| Pages: | 0009 |
| Pub Date: | 11/15/1968 |
| Release Date: | 4/17/2001 |
| Keywords: | COMMUNIST CHINA|JAPAN|SOKA GAKKAI|JAPANESE POLITICS|KOMEITO |
| Case Number: | EO-2000-00715 |
| Copyright: | 0 |
| Release Decision: | RIFPUB |
| Classification: | U |
NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE ESTIMATE, NUMBER 41-70; JAPAN IN THE SEVENTIES: THE PROBL
| Title: | NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE ESTIMATE, NUMBER 41-70; JAPAN IN THE SEVENTIES: THE PROBL |
| Abstract: | |
| Pages: | 0026 |
| Pub Date: | 6/25/1970 |
| Release Date: | 11/7/2000 |
| Keywords: | POLITICS|PROBLEM|JAPAN|SOCIAL ISSUES|PACIFIC|NATIONAL POWER|EAST ASIA|ECONOMIC ISSUES|WAMPLER ROBERT|NIE 41-70|SEVENTIES|WORLD ROLE |
| Case Number: | F-1998-00963 |
| Copyright: | 0 |
| Release Decision: | RIFPUB |
| Classification: | U |
TERRORISM REVIEW FOR 13 JANUARY 1987
| Title: | TERRORISM REVIEW FOR 13 JANUARY 1987 |
| Abstract: | |
| Pages: | 0037 |
| Pub Date: | 1/13/1987 |
| Release Date: | 7/7/1999 |
| Keywords: | ROMANIA|KUWAIT|ITALY|TERRORISM|FRANCE|EL SALVADOR|IRAQ|LEBANON|AFRICA|REVIEW|ETHIOPIA|PAKISTAN|PERU|SWEDEN|SPAIN|GREECE|COLOMBIA|HOSTAGE|LARF|PORTUGAL|HIZBALLAH|ISLAMIC JIHAD|ANDERSON TERRY J |
| Case Number: | F-1992-01432 |
| Copyright: | 0 |
| Release Decision: | RIPPUB |
| Classification: | U |
________________________________________________
Congressman's Vista office evacuated because of bomb scare - KSWBBogus bomb threat empties Congressman's Vista office
7:55 a.m. PST, December 2, 2011
VISTA, Calif. -- A bogus bomb threat targeting a congressman's North County office prompted authorities to evacuate the building and close the frontage road for about three hours Thursday while determining that the area was safe, authorities reported.
One of the lawmaker's staffers received the threat by telephone shortly after 1 p.m., according to Rep.
Darrell Issa, R-Vista.
"During this call, a staff member was told that something had been left outside that would explode,'' Issa said in a statement. "My district office staff immediately contacted the San Diego County Sheriff's (Department) and was thereafter evacuated from the office along with other occupants of the building.''
Deputies found a plastic bottle containing some kind of liquid outside the complex in the 1800 block of Thibodo Road, sheriff's Lt. Jim Nolan said.
Authorities cleared everyone out of the area, shut down a stretch of the street and called in a bomb squad, which searched the buildings and surrounding grounds with a service dog.
About 4:30 p.m., the ordnance team determined that the bottle posed no threat, according to Nolan. Investigators thought the liquid inside it might have been urine, the lieutenant said.
It was unclear who made the threat and left the container outside the congressman's office. Prior to the bomb scare, the complex had been the site of a demonstration by "individuals associated with
MoveOn.org and Occupy North County, as well as individuals participating in a counter-protest,'' according to Issa.
It was unclear, however, if any of those people might have been involved in the bomb threat.
FBI says Issa office target of alleged bomb plotFBI says Issa office target of alleged bomb plot
MSNBC/December 13, 2001
The San Clemente office of Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, was among the targets of a bombing plot allegedly planned by two members of a militant Jewish organization as a "wake-up call" to Arabs, federal authorities said Wednesday. A Los Angeles mosque also was targeted.
Issa, a freshman lawmaker who is the grandson of a Lebanese immigrant, has traveled to the volatile Middle East region, both as a private citizen and a representative of Congress, to encourage the various factions to work for peace.
Issa said Wednesday that he was on his way to a committee meeting at the Capitol when he learned of the plot and the men's arrests. He said he was shocked by the news and could only speculate on the reasons why he was singled out.
"Your initial reaction is 'You've got to be kidding'," Issa said in a telephone interview from Washington, D.C., where some offices in the U.S. Capitol are still barricaded because of anthrax contamination. "Nothing should shock you anymore, but it still does."
FBI agents were alerted to the alleged plan by a government source who participated in several strategy meetings held by Jewish Defense League Chairman Irving David Rubin, 56, and JDL member Earl Leslie Krugel, 59.
The men were arrested Tuesday night after the last component of the bomb ---- explosive powder ---- was delivered to Krugel's home, authorities said. It was not immediately clear when the alleged plot began or what prompted it.
In one meeting, the men told the FBI source to gather information on Islamic institutions in San Diego for a possible attack, court papers state. Rubin and Krugel were arraigned in federal court Wednesday afternoon on two counts of possessing a destructive device with the intent to commit a crime of violence. Both men are being held without bail.
If convicted on both counts, each man faces up to 35 years in prison.
Issa said several safety measures have been taken to protect his San Clemente staff members, who were temporarily moved to his Vista office inside the courthouse where all visitors would be subject to a security screening by sheriff's deputies.
Staff members declined to comment on their reactions to the threat. Three people work full-time in the Vista office, two in San Clemente in Orange County and one in the Riverside County community of Temecula. Issa represents the 49th Congressional District.
Issa said his wife was with him in Washington, D.C., and his son has been alerted to take extra precautions. His chief of staff, Dale Neugebauer, said the Capitol police have been in touch with the San Diego County Sheriff's Department office in Vista about security for Issa's son.
In a statement released by the Anti-Defamation League, San Diego resident and regional director Morris Casuto said the league has been tracking the activities of the JDL for more than 25 years.
"For many years, the JDL has engaged in counterproductive tactics against those it perceives as a threat," the statement reads. "If the current allegations prove true, ADL abhors and condemns this potential terrorist plot to attack members of our community."
Originally formed by Meir Kahane to mount armed response to anti-Semitic acts in New York, the JDL gained notoriety when its members were linked to bombings in the United States, most of them aimed at Soviet targets in retaliation for the way that country treated its Jews. [That is a dodge on the part of the Jews. It is emphatically and massively documented that the Soviet Union and Russia before and since then has been and is massively run by the
Haburah, the
Jews' Kahal - and see
Kahal. The Jews Haburah has a long history of
False Flag Black Operations wherein they create terrorism and blame it on someone else in order to manipulate governments.
911 is the biggest example of that recently.]
Kahane left the JDL in the 1980s. A power struggle ensued, with Rubin among the contenders for its leadership. Kahane was assassinated in New York in 1990. The JDL claims to have 13,000 members, but experts say it may have only a few dozen active members.
Issa, 46, serves on the House Committee on International Relations and supports Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. He made two trips to the Middle East following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to broker support for the war against terrorism and promote talks between Palestinians and Israelis.
"All agree this was an unusual act by a small band" of individuals, Issa said in Washington, flanked by several Jewish lawmakers. "Perhaps in another country, we would be adversaries," he said. "We're not going to be divided by ethnic backgrounds."
Tajuddin Shuaib, director of the King Fahd Mosque in Culver City, which was also targeted, said no threats had been received by the mosque. He noted that the alleged plot came during the holy month of Ramadan, when as many as 1,000 people attend the mosque to pray.
"I can't understand why people would do such a thing," he said. "We are not against Jews. We are not against anybody. We are like any church or synagogue or temple."
Federal authorities said the original target was the Muslim Public Affairs Council in Los Angeles, but that target was dropped during a meeting last weekend.
Rubin's attorney, Peter Morris, said his client had nothing to do with the explosives. "It seems to us that, given the timing ... the government's action is part of an overreaction to the Sept. 11 events," he said.
Rubin's wife, Shelley, said her husband and Krugel "are completely innocent of anything."
"They are law-abiding, good people," she said.
Rubin has made a career out of confrontation, challenging white supremacists to fistfights, or burning a Confederate flag outside a courthouse. By his own count he has been arrested more than 40 times. In 1980, he was tried and acquitted of soliciting the murders of Nazis in the United States.
Maher Hathout, a senior adviser for the Los Angeles chapter of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, said the arrests sent an encouraging message to the Muslim community.
"We can easily develop an attitude that (federal authorities) are out to get us," he said. "But it seems they are out to get anyone who breaks the law."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
To see more documents/articles regarding this group/organization/subject click here.
Ex-JDL Member Gets 20 Years in Prison
JUDGE ORDERS MAXIMUM PENALTY FOR EARL KRUGEL, WHO ADMITTED TO PLOT TO BOMB A CULVER CITY MOSQUE AND THE FIELD OFFICE OF REP. ISSA.
September 23, 2005|David Rosenzweig |
Times Staff Writer A former Jewish Defense League member who admitted plotting to bomb a Culver City mosque and the field office of Arab American Rep. Darrell E. Issa (R-Vista) was sentenced Thursday to 20 years in federal prison.
Earl Krugel, a 62-year-old dental technician from Reseda, apologized for his actions, telling the court they were "dangerous, wrong and illegal and for that I am sorry."
But U.S. District Judge Ronald S.W. Lew said he did not believe Krugel's claim that he was a changed man. Lew assailed him for "promoting hatred in the most vile way" and sentenced him to the maximum provided under federal guidelines.
Krugel was charged in the plot in 2001 along with JDL leader Irv Rubin, 57, who later committed suicide while in custody.
Before Krugel's sentencing, lawyers for both sides argued over whether the defendant had lived up to the terms of a plea agreement in which he promised to cooperate with federal officials in investigating the long-unsolved slaying of Arab American leader Alex Odeh. Odeh, western regional director of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, was killed in 1985 by a bomb that was triggered to explode when he opened the door to his Santa Ana office.
Over the years, the FBI has investigated several onetime JDL members in connection with the slaying. No charges have ever been brought, and the JDL has denied involvement.
Defense attorney Jay Lichtman said Krugel had provided the FBI with the names of four persons mentioned by Rubin, the late JDL leader, as involved in the 1985 killing. The names were not revealed in court; however, one source close to the probe confirmed that three of them were former JDL members Keith Fuchs, Andy Green and Robert Manning. The trio had been publicly identified as possible suspects as early as 1988.
Fuchs and Green are believed to be living in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Manning is serving a life prison term in California for sending a letter bomb that killed a Los Angeles secretary in 1980. The bombing was contracted by a fellow JDL member who had a business dispute with the owner of a firm where the secretary worked.
Lichtman acknowledged that Krugel had stalled for five months before revealing the names, three of which, he said, were already known to the FBI.
Assistant U.S. Atty. Gregory Jessner declined to comment on Lichtman's disclosure, saying it involved matters under investigation. Mary Hogan, the FBI agent in charge of the Odeh case, attended Thursday's hearing and also declined to comment.
Reached at his business in Orange County, Odeh's brother, Sami, said he remains "hopeful that whoever committed the crime will eventually pay for it."
Krugel and Rubin were arrested by FBI agents Dec. 11, 2001, as they were mapping plans to bomb the King Fahd Mosque in Culver City and Issa's field office in San Diego County.
After Rubin's death, Krugel negotiated a deal with prosecutors in which he pleaded guilty to conspiring to bomb Issa's office, an offense that carried a mandatory 10-year prison term, and violating the civil rights of worshipers at the King Fahd Mosque, punishable by up to 10 years.
In his plea agreement, Krugel acknowledged that Rubin selected the targets to be bombed while he supervised a young JDL member, Danny Gillis, who was to plant the explosives. Gillis, however, tipped off the FBI and wore a concealed tape recorder during numerous meetings with the two senior JDL members.
Although explosive powder and pipes were seized from Krugel's home, Lichtman said Thursday that the plotters were a long way from planting any bombs.
Moreover, he said, the tape recordings show that Rubin and Krugel contemplated setting off the bombs in the dead of night "because they didn't want to hurt any innocent people."
Jessner called that argument absurd, saying the conspirators could have caused many deaths and serious injuries. The judge agreed.
Lew also heard Thursday from Salam Al-Marayati, executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, who urged the judge to treat Krugel "like any other terrorist" and give him the maximum punishment possible.
At one point, the JDL plotters had considered planting an explosive device outside the council's Los Angeles office. According to court documents, Rubin vetoed the idea because it might cause collateral damage to other offices in the building.
Al-Marayati said the Muslim community has been living under a lingering threat because of Krugel's actions and because Odeh's killers remain at large.
The Muslim leader said the bombing plot has had one unintended consequence: It has brought the Muslim, Christian and Jewish communities together in their opposition to all forms of racial, religious and ethnic hatred.
In Washington, Issa issued a statement thanking the FBI and the U.S. attorney's office for foiling the plot and bringing Krugel to justice.
