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JDL chairman denied bail in alleged plot to blow up mosque

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- A federal judge Tuesday denied Jewish Defense League Chairman Irv Rubin's request for bail. Rubin is accused of plotting to blow up a Culver City mosque and the office of an Arab-American congressman.

Judge Ronald Lew ruled Tuesday that Rubin "remains a flight risk and also clearly there is a danger to the community."

A second man charged in connection with the alleged plot, Earl Krugel, also was denied bail.

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Federal authorities charged Rubin and Krugel on December 12 with conspiring to blow up Arab and Muslim institutions in southern California, including the offices of Arab-American congressman Rep. Darrell Issa.

Targets included the office of the Muslim Public Affairs Council in Los Angeles, the King Fahad mosque in Culver City and the offices of Issa, who represents a district along the coast between Los Angeles and San Diego, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.

Issa, a first-term Republican and Christian of Arab-American descent, serves on a House subcommittee that deals with Middle Eastern affairs.

Both men were charged with conspiring to destroy a building with an explosive device and possessing a destructive device in connection with a violent crime, Gordon said. The first charge carries a prison sentence of up to five years, the second a mandatory 30-year sentence.

The Jewish Defense League is a militant Los Angeles-based group that advocates the return of all Jews to Israel and the use of "all necessary means -- even strength, force and violence" -- to defend the interests of Jews, according to its Web site. Its logo contains a silhouette of a clenched fist over the Star of David.

Rabbi Meir Kahane founded the organization to mount armed response to anti-Semitic acts in New York. The group gained notoriety when its members were linked to bombings, most of them aimed at Soviet targets in retaliation for the treatment of Jews in Russia.

Kahane left the group and moved to Israel. He was assassinated in New York in 1990. El Sayyid Nosair, 36, an Egyptian-born Muslim, was convicted in connection with the shooting.