17 August 2006
A box filled with toys, but bearing the name of an assassinated rabbi, has prompted a bomb scare at the office of New York State parliamentarian Dov Hikind on Wednesday. Tenants in the four-story building in Brooklyn's Borough Park section were evacuated for about two hours after Hikind's office alerted police around 1 p.m. on suspicion that the box contained explosives. "Toys from Rabbi Meir Kahane" was written on the box. Kahane founded the militant Jewish Defense League and supported the forced removal of Arabs from Israel; he was killed in 1990. Hikind is an outspoken Israel supporter who was involved in the league many years ago. It turned out, the box was filled with dolls, wax images and other "odds and ends," some of which police tore apart while checking for explosives, Hikind said. The politician was back in his office by 3 p.m. He said it was possible that whoever sent the toys may have wanted his office to send them to children in Israel.
