A spokesman for United Nations Secretary General U Thant refused comment today on a denunciation of the U.N. by a former commander of the U.N. peace-keeping forces.
Swedish Major General Carl von Horn, who commanded U.N. troops in Israel, the Congo and Yemen, declared in a book, “Soldiers of Peace,” published yesterday that the world organization was riddled with “espionage and corruption.” He cited as an example that in Jerusalem, attractive Israeli girls were freed from military duty to entertain guests from the United Nations when a U.N. Truce Supervision Commission came to Jerusalem to supervise the truce arrangements which ended the Arab war against the newly-declared State of Israel in 1949.
Gen. von Horn charged that enlistment’s for Israel’s cause through the alleged entertainment by Israel girls “came second to systematic, organized corruption.” The U. N. spokesman said that Mr. Thant had read press reports quoting the General’s book but not the book itself, and that Mr. Thant would not comment on the charges now or later.
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.
