All major events on the national and international scene were overshadowed in the American press this week-end by news and comments on the assassination of U.N. mediator Count Folke Bernadotte in Jerusalem last Friday. New York’s leading newspapers carried pages on the details of Bernadotte’s murder and were unanimous in emphasizing that he died a martyr’s death in the interests of peace. The Israeli Government was urged to act relentlessly in tracking down and punishing the assassins.
The New York Times, in an editorial “U.N.’s First Martyr,” states that “we can only hope that his death under such circumstances will discredit the men of blood on both sides in Palestine–that it will be, in effect, a final act of mediation.” The Herald Tribune declared that Israel must come to grips with the extremists and “cannot afford to be at the mercy, in the eyes of the world, of either nationalist fanatics or those who would use the existence of such fanatics to cast odium upon the state.”
The gunmen who killed Bernadotte “fired a volley into the very breast of Israel,” the Sun asserted, adding that “The Israeli Government properly disclaims responsibility for the murder and repudiates the murderers. Sensible folks will not blame the whole Jewish people for the fanaticism of a few gangsters.” The World-Telegram called the killing “the greatest tragedy to the Jews” and stated that “only those whose minds are poisoned by anti-Semitism will condemn the innocent Jewish community for the acts of criminals who disgrace it.” However, the newspaper insisted that “no amount of tolerance or fair play” can excuse “the Israeli Government from its responsibility for law enforcement within its borders.”
The New York Post editorial, “One More Murder,” said that the killing is a symbol of the “harvest reaped upon the field in which we as a nation have helped to plant the evil seeds of injustice.” It lumped Bernadotte’s assassination with the murders committed by the invading Arab armies in Palestine and condoned by British and American policy.
YIDDISH PRESS CONDEMNS ASSASSINATION; SAYS IT STRIKES AT JEWS
The Day declared that “the assassination of Count Bernadotte and his aide was a bullet in the heart of the civilized world. The entire Jewish world condemns the brutal murder of those two high officers of the United Nations and shares with their families the sadness and pain.” The Jewish Daily Forward stated that the terrorists who committed the crime “hit the very heart of the Jewish state.” It called upon Israel to “redeem itself” by uprooting the “terrorist organizations and groups which consider themselves above the law and justice.”
The Morning Journal called the shooting an “act which borders on madness,” adding that what makes the crime even greater is that “it places Israel in dancer” because it “can only play into the hands of Israel’s enemies.” The newspaper concludes that “it is to be hoped that this criminal act will serve as a lesson to the United Nations so that it will see the “necessity of settling the Palestine question according to its own original plan.”
Jewish leaders throughout the week-end continued issuing statements expressing their horror and indignation at the deed and asking the speedy apprehension and punishment of those responsible. Dr. Stephen S. Wise, president of the American and World Jewish Congresses, declared that “men everywhere and especially the Jewish people will mourn the assassination of Count Bernadotte and Col. Serot. No one core deeply deplores the crime than Jews, Dr. Wise stated, adding: “Jews will remember with gratitude the noble humanitarian services which Count Bernadotte as president of the Swedish Bed Cross rendered, and particularly during the last few months of the war when his efforts resulted in the rescue of thousands of Jews from death by the Nazis.”
Leasing J. Rosenwald, president of the American Council for Judaism, in a letter to Secretary of State George C. Marshall asking him to convey condolences to Bernadotte’s family and the United Nations said: “All Americans of Jewish faith, who are at all concerned that there be peace in Palestine and amity among all its people, are bowed down with grief at his dreadful crime.” He called for imposition of a solution of the Palestine problem “without regard to the fanatical nationalisms that have up until now, impeded the efforts at peace and conciliation.”
A statement by former Gov. Herbert H. Lehman, declared” “I am shocked beyond measure by the assassination of Count Bernadotte and Colonel Serot, the French officer accompanying him. This cold blooded murder was a completely inexcusable act of terrorism. I condemn this revolting outrage with all my force. Whoever the criminals are they must be promptly apprehended, tried and summarily punished,”
Similar sentiments were stated by Mrs. Joseph M. Welt, president of the National Council for Jewish Women, Justice Meir Steinbrink, chairman of the Anti-Defamation League, and many others.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
