Aj Congress Appeals for Pressure to Release Hijacked Israelis Held by Syria

A move to spur efforts to obtain the freedom of two Israeli passengers held by Syria since their Trans World Airlines plane was hijacked Aug. 29 to Damascus is being made by the American Jewish Congress with a public appeal for a massive boycott of any country involved in such hijacking. The appeal is made in a half-page advertisement scheduled to appear in tomorrow’s New York Times.

Entitled “The One Way to Stop Air Piracy,” the advertisement said neither governments nor the United Nations had persuaded Syria to release the two Israelis and that their fate “and the fate of all other potential victims” of the “hijacking epidemic” required strong action by “the civil aviation community.” The organization urged the International Air Transport Association, the International Civil Aviation Organization and the International Federation of Airline Pilots Associations to declare they would not fly to any nation which refuses to return immediately a hijacked plane, its passengers and crew or which gives sanctuary to the hijackers or fails to prosecute or extradite them promptly.

The advertisement urged a letter-writing campaign to the three civil aviation agencies, declaring that “the thugs and criminals” who hijacked the TWA plane and the governments “who encouraged them” had gone “scot free” because of the world’s “do-nothing policy.” The advertisement added that the Jewish people “will not rest” until Prof. Shlomo Samueloff and Salah Muallem are freed by Syria.

(The Red Cross reported in Jerusalem yesterday that the two Israelis were in good health and good spirits. Jacques Moreilon, head of the International Red Cross delegation in Israel, said Red Cross representatives made a second visit Tuesday to the two men who were first visited three weeks ago. Mr. Moreilon said on a radio interview that two weeks was the usual interval between visits and that Mr. Muallem, a diabetic, was getting medical attention.)