An Algerian attorney who came to Israel determined to appear at the trial of an Arab terrorist was flown out of Israel today on the same airliner which brought him to Israel last night.
An Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman said that Jacques Verges could not be considered as having been expelled because he had never entered Israel “officially; ” The spokesman added that all French subjects must obtain a visa on arrival and that the attorney was not granted one when he arrived on a flight from Zurich.
The attorney, a bitter critic of Israel, had indicated previously he wanted to serve as defense counsel for Mahmoud Hejazi, an Arab infiltrator Who was captured in a clash with an Israeli patrol in January 1965. Hejazi was sentenced to death by a military tribunal but received a new trial on grounds he had not been allowed a free choice of attorneys; He was given a court-appointed attorney; However, he declined to cooperate with him and said he would conduct his own defense.
When M. Verges arrived last night, he was met by police officials who told him he would not be allowed to enter Israel and that he would have to leave as soon as he finished his evening meal. After he ate his dinner, he was taken to a room in the airport building where a bed had been prepared for him. He remained there under guard until the airliner prepared to depart. He was then placed on the airliner.
The Algerian attorney had been declared “undesirable” and was barred from entering Israel for repeated public statements that Israel had no right to exist and for publicly vilifying Israel’s legal institutions, according to the Foreign Ministry spokesman; The spokesman said that the action taken against the attorney was in accordance with a paragraph of Israel’s Law of Entry which provides that the Interior Minister may order removal of any person who enters Israel and is found not entitled to do so. Such a person may be held by order of the airport control officer pending departure from Israel.
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.
