Dr. Soblen Deported from Israel; Tries to Commit Suicide on Plane

Dr. Robert A. Soblen, the psychiatrist convicted in the United States of espionage, who flew here last week to escape a life sentence, was deported from Israel early this morning. He was placed aboard an E1 A1 Britannia airplane making its first stop in Athens. The Greek and American Governments have an extradition treaty permitting the man’s immediate transfer into the hands of American authorities at Athens.

(Dr. Soblen tried to commit suicide on the plane on which he was being taken from Athens back to New York, and was placed in a hospital in London this afternoon after the plane landed at the London airport en route to New York. He was nabbed by five American agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation as soon as the E1 A1 plane bringing him from Israel landed at the Athens airport. Aboard the plane, he tried to slash his wrists with a razor blade and to stab himself with a steak knife.)

Moshe Haim Shapiro, Israel’s Minister of the Interior, signed the deportation order Friday, after conferring with Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, but implementation of the order was deferred until after the Sabbath. Dr. Soblen was informed last night that he would be deported early in the morning. Israeli authorities explained they were determined to send Dr. Soblen out of the country”to dissuade other Jews, convicts or criminals, from considering Israel as a place of shelter from justice.”