Rabbi's name on box prompts bomb scare at legislator's office
By Associated Press
Wednesday, August 16, 2006 - Updated: 05:27 PM EST
NEW YORK - A box filled with toys - but bearing the name of a controversial, assassinated rabbi - prompted a bomb scare at the office of state Assemblyman Dov Hikind Wednesday afternoon.
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.
The box was about 2 1/2 feet wide, a foot long, and didn't weigh much, Hikind said.
But what raised suspicions among his staff were the words, ''Toys from Rabbi Meir Kahane,'' 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. He recently visited the country while it was in the middle of hostilities with Hezbollah, the Lebanese-based militant group.
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 assemblyman was back in his office by 3 p.m. He said it's possible that whoever sent the toys may have wanted his office to send them to children in Israel.
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