Israel’s right to try Nazi Adolf Eichmann was vigorously affirmed last night at a meeting which was delayed for an emergency search by 50 policemen of the premises after receipt of letters claiming that two time bombs had been placed in the building.
The meeting proceeded after a thorough search of the building failed to produce any bombs and after police were stationed in the area. Speakers included Alfred Coste-Floret, former French prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials, and Raymond Schmittlein, president of the Union for the New Republic Parliamentary group. The speakers praised Israel for having brought the former Gestapo colonel to trial.
M.Schmittlein said it was not Eichmann but “the horrors of anti-Semitism wherever it may exist” which was on trial in Jerusalem. He lauded Israel for having “dealt a mortal blow to racism throughout the world.” He charged that Nasserism and the Arab League were the “followers and successors” of the Hitler doctrines.
M. Coste-Floret discussed the contention of Dr. Robert Servatius, Eichmann’s chief defense counsel, that an Israeli court was not competent to judge Nazi criminals. The former prosecutor, who has made a thorough study of the Eichmann case from the legal point of view, said Israel was not only entitled to try Eichmann but also had a moral right to do so.
Jacques Soustelle, former Cabinet member and organizer of the meeting, said the Eichmann trial was the prosecution of a particular ideology of racism and asserted Egypt was the “last refuge” of racists and anti-Semites. He called on the western democracies to do their utmost to support Israel which he called an island of democracy and fair play in a troubled Middle East.
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.
